ELECTRICAL PROGRESS IN 1914-Continued. on naming the alloys according to their chemical composition by weight, the names of the component metals being placed in the order of increasing numerical importance. The extraction of casein from milk by an electrolytic process was announced by a French authority. A submarine oxy-hydrogen torch was reported to have been experimented with in Kiel Harbor, superseding those with acid lining, Germany, for the purpose of testing the possibility of dismantling sunken vessels. Basic linings of magnesite brick in copper converters are as with the former the life of the converter is longer. Iron ore from the Mesaba mines of Michigan was converted into a high grade of pig iron by an electric furnace at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pa. The Borchgrevink electrolytic process for the treatment of zinc ore was experimented with in Germany. Mr. Borchgrevink succeeded in making his process a success with zinc ore in limestone containing less than 6 per cent. zinc. A new porous filter tile that is white and rigid was brought out by the General Filtration Company of Rochester, N. Y. An Important bulletin on electric furnaces for making iron and steel was published by the Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. С. An electric welding process for welding iron sheets which will compete with riveting was brought out in Germany. For the electrothermic treatment of iron ores by a modified type of the original Bie Lorentzen process a smelter was erected at Ulefos, Norway. This is the first instance in Norway where a marketable pig fron from its own mine is produced by the electrothermic method. An improved apparatus for graphitizing carbon was patented by M. P. L. V. Héroult of In the present patent the carbon is broken into a suitable size and subjected to a Paris, France. blast of air. It is then heated to a graphitizing temperature electrically. A new process termed ferro-zincing or ironizing for coating steel with almost pure fron was devised, thus making a practically rustless steel. An electric furnace was brought out in Sweden having three electrodes, two mounted hori zontally in the same plane above the charge and the third vertical between the two horizontal. For extracting benzine from coal a new electric process was invented by a Swedish engineer. The principle that the components of explosive gaseous mixtures will combine without flame and at temperatures below the ignition points when in contact with incandescent solids has been applied by Prof. W. A. Bone and Mr. C. D. McCourt in the design of furnaces for commercial pur poses. TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE. Wireless telephone messages were successfully sent from New York to Philadelphia, a distance of about 90 miles. At sea warships 40 miles apart communicated with each other without any trouble. The longest distance attempted was between London and Berlin, but in this case the messages were not very clear. A portable wireless telegraph outfit, designed to send messages under favorable conditions 800 miles, was put in use by the United States Army Signal Corps. The telephone cable which will connect Aldeburgh, England, with Walcheren, Netherlands, a distance of 79 nautical miles, will on completion be one of the longest submarine telephone cables in the world. ground conduits between New York and Philadelphia. An ingenious apparatus was brought out in Germany which can transmit writing and drawing over a telephone or telegraph wire to an instrument that makes a perfect reproduction of the original. The Pennsylvania Railroad decided to run its telegraph, telephone, and signal wires in underExperiments were carried on by Mr. J. H. Hammond, Jr., co-operating with the United States War Department, in the developing of a system for controlling torpedoes by wireless waves. reports of the Government state that vessels moving at speeds of 30 miles an hour may be controlled with precision and reliability at distances up to 8,000 yards. Official A wireless apparatus which enables the navigating officer of a ship to take bearings of wireless telegraph stations for finding the position of his ship and also indicating the presence of another ship was brought out by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company. States was placed in service in New York City. In January the largest and best equipped long distance telephone central office in the United Along the coast of England signal guns fired by Hertzian waves are now used during fogs to The Betulander relay automatic telephone system was exhibited in London, England. In this system the selector and common relay units, after performing their respective functions, are automatically cut out of circuit and are immediately available for building up other connections. warn passing vessels of dangerous rocks and shoals. The Lackawanna Railroad started work on wireless telegraph stations which will be used for communication between Buffalo and New York. Wireless telegraphy in aeronautics was discussed in the August number of Knowledge. In the article a map is given of the wireless telegraph stations around Germany to determine the position of airships by night or during a fog. Prof. R. A. Fessenden perfected improved means for ships to communicate with each other under water, and also be warned of the approach of icebergs. The Western Union Telegraph Company installed in its new building in New York City one of the largest operating departments in the country. About 1,500 employés are required to take care of the traffic, which averages approximately 150,000 messages a day. The greatest distance, it was reported, attempted during the year with radio signals was between Radio, Va., and the Eiffel Tower, Paris, in obtaining the difference in longitude between Washington and Paris. ELECTRIC RAILWAYS. The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad started electrifying a portion of a 440-mile stretch across the Belt, Rocky, and Route Mountains. Direct current of 2,400 volts will be used. and nd will have three pairs of side doors, An order for 100 cars was placed by the New York Municipal Railway Corporation for use on the elevated and subway lines. The cars will be 67 feet long thus eliminating vestibules. The maximum standing and seating capacity will be 270 people. In March a railless trolley car system at Boksburg, Transvaal, South Africa, was opened to the public. This is the first installation of its kind in the Transvaal. The electrified division of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad from New York An interesting development in connection with the electrification of the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway was the use of auxiliary trucks that can be coupled to the electric locomotives used for switching and for hauling slow freight. to New Haven, a distance of about 74 miles, was placed in regular operation in July. Three important projects for electrification of rallways in India were considered-viz., the subELECTRICAL PROGRESS IN 1914-Continued. urban ralıways of Bombay, the Ghats section of the Great Indian Peninsula and the suburban section of the Eastern Bengal State Railway at Calcutta. For the protection of grade crossings, automatic flagmen were installed on the Long Island Railroad, Long Island, N. Y. The flagmen consist of a bright swinging red light, imitating that of a man swinging a red lantern, and a loud sounding bell of the locomotive type. Several new designs of railless trolley cars were brought out in England. The chief features were dividing the car into two compartments and in bringing the floor close to the roadway so only one step was necessary. The regular operation of trains late in 1914 on the Kiruna-Riksgransen Railway from Narvik, Norway, to Lulea, Sweden, is one of the few instances, and perhaps the only one, of electric trains running within the Polar Circle. The road will be largely used for carrying iron ore. The Pennsylvania Railroad began work on a very complete plan of electrifying its suburban steam lines around Philadelphia. The single phase system will be adopted, with overhead wires. For use in the Grand Central Terminal, New York City, one of the largest electric locomotive cranes in the country was placed in service. It has two electrically operated cranes with a capacity of 100 tons at each end. The Chicago Elevated Railways ordered a large number of cars of different design from the present ones. The new cars will be all steel, of fireproof construction, have centre and end doors, and a seating capacity of 44 people. An improved car fan and lighting fixture was brought out by the safety Car Heating and Lighting Company, New York. The important feature is an air deflector under a disc fan, below which is the lamp. Electric locomotives for switching have proved, after 18 months trial on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, to be superior to steam in regard to speed of handling cars and reliability of service. Diesel electric motor cars were tried out on the line connecting Dresden, Coswig, and Melssen, Germany. The car has two trucks, one of which has three axles and the other two, the Diesel motor and dynamo being mounted on the three-axle truck and the electric motor on the two. Among the new types of trolley cars brought out was a 42-foot, double-deck, centre-door type. with inclosed stairways at each end leading to the upper deck. This car was placed in service by the Washington Railway and Electric Company of Washington, D. C. POWER AND TRANSMISSION. The electrical Installation at the Joint Dock, Hull, England, is an excellent example of the latest British electric, conveying crane and lighting equipment. The entire project cost upward of $15,000,000 and took eight years to complete. One of the largest electrical installations in any Latin-American country was made by the Havana Electric Railway and Power Company of Havana, Cuba. The generating equipment consisted of three 12,500 K. W. turbo-generators. Work was started on laying a submarine cable under the Strait of Oresund from a power station on the Laga River, Sweden, to the Danish Island of Sjaeland. The cable will transmit electricity for lighting the entire northern part of the island. An order for a 25,000 K. W. turbo-generator, which will be one of the largest ever built, was placed with the Westinghouse Machine Company for use in the power house of the Edison Illuminating Company of Brooklyn. Many new water-power developments in Norway were contemplated or work actually started on them. Among the most important is a large power station of 50,000 horse-power which will be erected on the Folla River. A new type of current transformer was designed by Vedovelli. Priestley & Co., Paris. The principal feature is the special insulating material moulded under pressure around the windings and core of the transformer, thus forming both an electrical and mechanical casing. An electrically operated wagon with a bucket conveyor was built, which was used to advantage in sand and gravel pits and for handling coal. The Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C., issued a pamphlet on safety rules to be observed in the operation and maintenance of electrical equipment and lines. A bill was introduced in the United States Senate providing for the development of electric power from the Potomac River, near Washington, D. C. It is estimated that a power plant could be built of 99,000 horse-power. A meter which records without the use of clock mechanism both the kilowatts consumed per hour and the maximum kilowatt demand was placed on the market by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. Experiments made by Prof. H. K. Onnes of Leyden, Germany, showed that at a temperature a few degrees above absolute zero the electrical resistance of certain pure metals practically vanishes. Among the metals experimented on was lead. An improved high voltage outdoor oil switch was placed on the market by the General Electric Company that can be operated by hand, solenoid, or air. The operating mechanism is completely incased and is thus protected from the weather. For the steering of large ships an apparatus consisting of two 150-horse-power 120-volt direct current motors, which operate separately or together as occasion requires, was designed and built by the Diehl Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N. J. A furnace-charging machine was installed in a steel works in England which lifts by electric magnets the charging boxes that have been filled with pig iron and empties them into the furnace. A single-phase watthour meter operating on the induction principal and having such important features as high initial and maintained accuracy was manufactured by the General Electric Company. JOINT STATE AND NAVY NEUTRALITY BOARD. SHORTLY after the outbreak of the European war the President of the United States appointed a Neutrality Board to advise the Department of State and other departments of the Government regarding the numerous questions with respect to the duties and the rights of the United States as a neutral nation, in cases which have constantly arisen and many of which are of a very delicate character. The Chairman of the Neutrality Board is Mr. James Brown Scott, formerly Solicitor for the Department of State, Secretary of the Carnegie Endowment and Director of its Division of International Law; associated with him are Capt. Harry S. Knapp, member of the General and Joint Boards of the Navy Department, and Capt. James H. Oliver, Director of the Bureau of Naval Intelligence and member of the General Board of the Navy. Headquarters, Washington, D. С. The Neutrality Board holds daily sessions to consider questions referred to it by the Department of State. TUNNELS IN AND ABOUT NEW YORK CITY. PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD SYSTEM-Tunnels under | Manhattan Cross-Town Tunnels from the Pennsylvania Railroad station, mentioned above, across New York under 32d and 33d Sts. to First Ave. Started July, 1905, completed in 1910. There are two tunnels, each with two tracks. The tunnels are built of concrete with the crown about 60 feet below the surface of the street. East River Tunnels connect with the Cross-Town Tunnels and extend under the East River to Long Island City. Started September, 1904: completed in 1910. Four separate tubes with rings 23 feet outside diameter, each tube from the Manhattan shaft to the Long Island City shaft, 3,900 feet long. HUDSON AND MANHATTAN RAILROAD SYSTEMNorth tunnels under the Hudson River from Jersey City to Morton St., New York. Started November, 1874; the first in New York, officially opened February 25, 1908. Two single track tubes, with a minimum inside diameter of 15 feet 3 inches, and approximately 5,700 feet long. Up-town tunnels connect with north tunnels at Morton St. and extend to Christopher St. thence to Sixth Ave, and up Sixth Ave. to 33d St. Started March, 1904, completed in 1910. Section from Morton to 12th Sts. shield construction, remainder cut and cover. South tunnels under Hudson River from Jersey City to the Church St. Terminal Buildings (Cortlandt, Church and Fulton Sts.), New York. Started May, 1905; opened for traffic July, 1909. Two tubes about 5.950 feet long with cast iron rings, 16 feet 7 Inches outside diameter and 15 feet 3 Inches inside diameter. Tunnels (consisting of two single track tubes) extend from the Hoboken terminal of the Lackawanna Railroad to Washington St., Jersey City, with connections to the north tunnels and to the Erie Railroad station. At Washington St. a branch runs to the Pennsylvania Railroad station at Jersey City, where connections are made with the south tunnels. West from Washington St. to a point east of Summit Ave. is a double track concrete tunnel with a centre wall dividing the tracks. Work started March, 1906; completed in July, 1911. BELMONT TUNNEL under the East River from 42d St., New York, to Long Island City. Subaqueous portion two single track tubes with cast-iron rings 16 feet 10 Inches outside diameter, and a clear inside diameter of 15 feet 6 inches. Through rock a horseshoe shaped concrete section is used and In other places a rectangular double track cross section with reinforced concrete lining. Construction started by New York and Long Island Rallroad, July 12, 1905; practically completed January 1. 1908. (Commonly known as the Steinway Tunnel). RAPID TRANSIT TUNNEL under the East River from the Battery, New York, to Joralemon St., Brooklyn, connecting the New York and Brooklyn Subways. Started April, 1903; trains running Janu ary 9, 1908. Two tubes, 6.784 feet long, with a finished inside diameter of 15 feet 6 inches. BERGEN CUT of Erle Railroad through Bergen Hill, Jersey City, parallel to the present tunnel, which Is 4,700 feet long. The Bergen cut was started March, 1906, and completed July 1, 1910. It has five four-track tunnels, with open cuts between the tunnels, making a total length of 4,300 feet. Tunnel sections 58 feet wide at the bottom and 21 feet high. LACKAWANNA RAILROAD TUNNEL through Bergen Hill, Jersey City. Started February 28, 1906; completed February 14, 1909. Parallel to and 24 feet away from old tunnel and of the same length, viz., 4,283 feet. New tunnel is double tracked, lined with concrete, having Inside dimenslons 23 feet high by 30 feet wide. Bush track construction used. Two tunnels, both under the East River from the Battery, Manhattan, to Brooklyn, will be built. These tunnels will form part of the new subway system now under construction. *unnel from Brooklyn to Staten Island, under the Narrows, is contemplated. INTERSTATE COMMERCE LAW. THE following is a synopsis of the provisions of the Interstate Commerce law and acts amendatory thereof, prepared for the Official Congressional Directorv: Under "An act to Regulate Commerce,' approvea February 4, 1887; as amended March 2, 1889; February 10, 1891: February 8 1895: the "Elkins act" of February 19, 1903, and the amending act approved June 29. 1906. the Interstate Commerce Commission is composed of seven members, each receiving a salary of $10,000 per annum, The regulating statutes apply to all common carriers engaged in the interstate transportation of oil or other commodity, except water and except natural or artificial gas, by means of pipe lines, or partly by pipe line and partly by rail, or partly by vipe line and partly by water, and to common carriers engaged in the interstate transportation of passengers or property wholly by railroad (or partly by railroad and partly by water when both are used under a common control, management, or arrangement for a continuous carriage or shipment). Only traffictransported wholly within a single State is excepted The commission has jurisdiction on complaint, and, after full hearing, to determine and prescribe reasonabie rates, regulations, and practices, and order reparation to injured shippers; to require any carriers to cease and desist from unjust discrimination, or undue or unreasonable preference, and to institute and carry on proceedings for enforcement of the law. The commission may also inquire into the management of the business of all common carriers subject to the provisions of the regulating statutes, and it may prescribe the accounts, records, and memoranda which shall be kept by the carriers, and has authority through its special agents and examiners to inspect the same. The carriers must file annual reports with the commission, and such other reports as may from time to time be required. Various other powers are conferred upon the commission. Carriers failing to file and publish all rates and charges, as required by law are prohibited from engaging in interstate transportation, and penalties are provided for tailure on the part of carriers or of shippers to observe the rates specified in the published tariffs The commission appoints a secretary and clerks, whose duties are not specifically defined by the act, and also appoints attorneys, examiners, and special agents. Byamendment of June 18, 1910 ("Mann-Elkins law"), telegraph, telephone and caste companies are made subject to the commission. The jurisdiction of the commission is increased as to through routes and joint rates, freight classification, switch connections, long and short hauls, filing or rejection of rate schedules, investigations on own motion, making reasonable rates, suspension of proposed rates, and other matters. An important section authorized the President to appoint a special commission to investigate issuance of railroad stocks and bonds. The act of February 11, 1903, provides that suits in equity brought under the act to regulate commerce, wherein the United States is complainant, may be expedited and given precedence over other suits, and that appeals from the Circuit Court lie only to the Supreme Court. The act of February 19, 1903, commonly called the Elkins law, penalizes the offering, soliciting, or receiving of rebates, allows proceedings in the courts by injunction to restrain departures from published rates, and makes the Expediting act of February 11, 1903, include cases prosecuted under the direction of the AttorneyGeneral in the name of the commission, Under the act of August 7, 1888, all railroad and telegraph companies to which the United States have granted any subsidy in lands or bonds or loan of credit for the construction of either railroad or telegraph lines are required to file annual reports with the commission and such other reports as the commission may call for. The act also directs every such company to file with the commission copies of all contracts and agreements of every description existing between it and every other person or corporation whatsover in reference to the ownership, possession, or operation of any telegraph lines over or upon the right of way, and to decide questions relating to the interchange of business between such Government-aided telegraph company and any connecting telegraph company. The act provides penalties for failure to perform and carry out within a reasonable time the order or orders of the commission, The act of March 2, 1893, known as the "Safety Appliance act," provides that railroad cars used in interstate commerce must be equipped with automatic couplers and standard height of drawbars for freight cars, and have grab irons or hand holds in the ends and sides of each car. A further provision is that locomotive engines used in moving interstate traffic shall be fitted with a power driving-wheel brake and appliances for operating the train-brake system, and a sufficient number of cars in the train shall be equipped with power or train brakes. The act directs the commission to lodge with the proper District-Attorneys information of such violations as may come to its knowledge. The commission is authorized upon full hearing and for good cause to extend the period within which any common carrier shall comply with the provisions of the statute. The act of March 2, 1903, amended this act so as to make its provisions apply to Territories and the District of Columbia, and to all locomotives, cars, and other equipment of any railroad engaged in interstate traffic, except logging cars and cars used upon street railways, and also to power or train brakes used in railway operation. By act of April 14, 1910, the safety appliance acts were supplemented so as to require railroads to equip their cars with sill steps, hand brakes, ladders, running boards and grab irons, and the commission was authorized to designate the number, dimensions, location and manner of application of appliances. The act of Congress approved July 15, 1913, provides for mediation, conciliation, and arbitration in controversies between railroads and their employés in the following sections of the act: Section 2. That whenever a controversy concerning wages, hours of labor, or conditions of employment shall arise between an employer or employers and employés subject to this act interrupting or threatening to interrupt the business of said employer or employers to the serious detriment of the public interest, either party to such controversy may apply to the Board of Mediation and Conciliation created by this act and invoke its services for the purpose of bringing about an amicable adjustment of the controversy: and upon the request of either party the said board shall with all practicable expedition put itself in communication with the parties to such controversy and shall use its best efforts, by mediation and conciliation, to bring them to an agreement; and if such efforts to bring about an amicable adjustment through mediation and conciliation shall be unsuccessful, the said board shall at once endeavor to induce the parties to submit their controversy to arbitration in accordance with the provisions of this act. In any case in which an interruption of traffic is imminent and fraught with serious detriment to the public interest, the Board of Mediation and Conciliation may, if in its judgment such action seems desirable, proffer its services to the respective parties to the controversy. INTERSTATE COMMERCE LAW-Continue 1. In any case in which a controversy arises over the meaning or the application of any agreement reached through mediation under the provisions of this act either party to the said agreement may apply to the Board of Mediation and Conciliation for an expression of opinion from such board as to the meaning or application of such agreement and the said board shall upon receipt of such request give its opinion soon as may be practicable. Soc. 3. That whenever a controversy shall arise between an employer or employers and employés subject to this act, which cannot be settled through mediation and conciliation in the manner provided in the preceding section, such controversy may be submitted to the arbitration of a board of six, or, if the parties to the controversy prefer so to stipulate, to a board of three persons, which board shall be chosen in the following manner: In the case of a board of three, the employer or employers and the employés, parties respectively to the agreement to arbitrate, shall each name one arbitrator; and the two arbitrators thus chosen shall select the third arbitrator; but in the event of their failure to name the third arbitrator within five days after their first meeting, such third arbitrator shall be named by the Board of Mediation and Conciliation. In the case of a board of six, the employer or employers and the employes, parties respectively to the agreement to arbitrate, shall each name two arbitrators, and the four arbitrators thus chosen shall, by a majority vote, select the remaining two arbitrators; but in the event of their failure to name the two arbitrators within fifteen days after their first meeting the said two arbitrators, or as many of them as have not been named, shall be named by the Board of Mediation and Conciliation, In the event that the employés engaged in any given controversy are not members of a labor organization, such employés may select a committee which shall have the right to name the arbitrator, or the arbitrators, who are to be named by the employés as provided above in this section, The act of March 3, 1901, "requiring common carriers engaged in interstate commerce to make reports of all accidents to the Interstate Commerce Commission," makes it the duty of such carrier to monthly report, under oath, all collisions and derailments of its trains and accidents to its passengers, and to its employés while on duty in its service, and to state the nature and causes thereof. The act prescribes that a fine shall be imposed against any such carrier failing to make the report so required. By act of May 6, 1910, the prior Accident Reports law was repealed and a new statute passed giving more power to the commission as to investigating accidents, and is more comprehensive than the former law. The act of March 4, 1907, makes it the duty of the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce the provisions of the act wherein it is made unlawful to require or permit employés engaged in, or connected with, the movement of trains to be on duty more than a specified number of hours in any twentyfour. The act of May 30, 1908, directs the Interstate Commerce Commission to make regulations for the safe transportation of explosives by common carriers engaged in interstate commerce. A penalty is provided for violations of such regulations. By act of May 30, 1908, it is made the duty of the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce the provisions of the act wherein it is provided that after a certain date no locomotive shall be used in moving interstate or foreign traffic, etc., not equipped with an ash pan which can be emptied without requiring a man to go undersuch locomotive. A penalty is provided for violation of this act. Public resolution No. 46, approved June 30, 1906, and the sundry civil appropriation act of May 27, 1908, direct the commission to investigate and report on the use and need of appliances intended to promote the safety of railway operation. The act of February 17, 1911, confers jurisdiction upon the commission to enforce certain provisions, compelling railroad companies to equip their locomotives with safe and suitable boilers and appurtenances thereto. The Panama Canal act of August 24, 1912, amends sections 5 and 6 of the act to regulate commerce by conferring upon the commission jurisdiction to enforce a provision prohibiting a railroad company subject to the act, after July 1, 1914, from owning, leasing, operating, controlling or having any interest in competing water carriers operating through the Panama Canal or elsewhere. Jurisdiction is conferred upon the commission to determine questions of fact as to competition, after full hearing, on the application of any railroad company or other carrier, and to extend beyond July 1, 1914, the time during which such ownership or operation of vessels plying elsewhere than through the Panama Canal may continue, whenit is found to be in the interest of the public and is of advantage to the convenience and commerce of the people, and not in restraint of competition. This amendment gives the commission power toestablish physical connection between the lines of a rail carrier and the dock of a water carrier; authorizes the commission to establish through routes and joint rates over rail and water lines, and to determine all the terms and conditions under which such rail and water routes shall be operated; authorizes the commission to establish maximum proportional rates by rail to and from ports to which traffic is brought by water carriers: authorizes the commission, where a rail carrier has entered into arrangements with a water carrier operating from a port in the United States to a foreign country, for the handling of through business, to require the railway company to enter into similar arrangements with other water lines. The Post-Office Appropriation act of August 24, 1912, empowers the commission to co-operate with the Postmaster-General in reforming, from time to time, the classification, weight limit, rates, zones, or conditions, in order to promote the parcel post service created by the act, and requires the commission to furnish data to a Congressional committee appointed to investigate the subject of a general parcel post. By the act approved March 1, 1913, amending the act to regulate commerce, the commision is directed to investigate, ascertain, and report the value of all the property owned or used by every common carrier subject to the provisions of the act. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS. President-Laurence B. Finn, Franklin, Ky. First Vice-President-Clifford Thorne, Des Moines, Ia. Second Vice-President-Robert R. Prentis, Richmond, Va. Secretary- William H. Connolly, Washington, D. C. Assistant Secretary-William Kilpatrick, Springfield, Ill. |