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Extract from treatise on "Electric Transmission of Power," by Paget Higgs, LL.D., published in 1879:"The step from magneto-electric to dynamo-electric machines was due to S. Alfred Varley, Sir Charles Wheatstone, and Dr. Werner Siemens, who quite independently discovered and worked upon the same principle of accumulation by mutual action, the priority falling to Mr. Varley by his patent."

Extract from Sir William Thomson's Address on the Scientific Progress of the last Fifty Years, at the. Meeting of the British Association at York, in 1881 :

:

"This (viz., the production of the electric light by permanent magnets, and its application to the South Foreland light, by Prof. Holmes, in December, 1858), gave the impulse to invention by which the electromagnetic machine has been brought from the physical laboratory into the province of engineering, and has sent back to the realm of pure science a beautiful discovery-that of the fundamental principle of the dynamo, made triply and independently, and as nearly as may be, simultaneously, by Dr. Werner Siemens, Mr. S. A. Varley, and Sir Charles Wheatstone."

Note 2.-A search made at the Patent Office in 1882 revealed the fact (previously unknown) that Soren Hjorth, of Copenhagen, had, in 1854, provisionally protected an invention in which permanent magnets, combined with electro-magnets, were to be used for producing electricity, and in which the electro-magnets were to be excited by electricity produced in the machine. This invention does not appear to have been tested, and the drawings which accompany the specification do not clearly show the construction; but if a machine, acting as described in Hjorth's specifiation, had been actually made, it would have been an approach to the dynamo principle, and machines of tke pure dynamo type would, in all probability, have been produced at an earlier date than 1866.

S.A.V.

[NOVEMBER 15, 1889.

tem), and likewise one of the delegates to repre sent the London men at the conference about to be held in Manchester, as we intend this society t cover the whole of the United Kingdom, the same the engineers' or carpenters and joiners' unions. I would thank you to kindly publish this letter in answer to Mr. Wallace Jh. Sandy, and should very much like him, whoever he may be, to forward bis address and I will give him any information that lies in my power concerning the union. W. T. Gooday.

November 10th, 1889.

In reply to your correspondent Mr. Sandy, I will ask that gentleman what end we are likely to gain by making our names public. He reminds me of Captain Macheath singing—

How happy could I be with either, were t'other dear
charmer away;

But since you thus tease me together, to neither a
word will I say.

We shall be delighted to receive him amongst us and then he will know all he expresses ignorance of at the present moment. From the style of his letter I venture to think he will be of great assistance to us, and we shall be pleased to receive his name and entrance fee as early as possible. The latter is 2s. 6d.

The Chairman of the Meeting, October 26th, 1889, November 9th, 1889.

Electrical Trades Union.

I have taken the opportunity to reply to your correspondent concerning the lately formed Electrical Trades Union. You are aware that there have been two public meetings held, of which due notice was given in your valuable paper and the Star; no one was excluded from those meetings, it made no difference to us who attended, but, at the same time, experience teaches us that the men who take a prominent part in newly formed trade unions are, in a great many instances, what you may term marked men. Such being the case it behoves us to be cautious, but, at the same time, I being the chairman who presided at the opening meeting, am not afraid to have my name made public. I gave those who attended to understand that it was no agitation got up against employers but quite to the contrary, and that the men employed by the National Telephone Company in London had no grievances; so long as they treated us in the future as they had in the past we had no complaints against them. What we intend to do is to form this society on trade union principles to help each other when out of employment and likewise to assist each other in finding employment, and employers will likewise benefit when they require men. It will act as a Labour Bureau; they will be able to rely upon the men being up to their work and not taking positions they cannot fulfil, and I, for one, see no reason why we should hold our names aloof, as there is not a shadow of doubt employers would have very little trouble in finding out who are at the head of this movement. The rules of this union will be approved of at a general meeting of all members enrolled. I can assure you we are a great many considering the short time since our first meeting was held. The society will be registered under the Friendly Society Act, and if there is any rule detrimental to the employers the Registrar General will no doubt see to that.

I think this is quite sufficient proof to your correspondent that we are not what are termed professional agitators. I have been employed at the United Telephone Company six years, which will ny character. As regards the officials I have been elected treasurer (pro

Vou

of

Energy and Electricity.

Mr. Desmond FitzGerald has, I see, taken note of my remarks of a fortnight ago. It is always interesting, and often amusing, to get a third party to a controversy, who holds different views from either of the other two. In the present case it is doubly so, from the fact that it is worthy of note how many absurdities can be pressed into one short little letter. Why will Mr. FitzGerald (among others) write nonsense; for nonsense it most assuredly is, to waste editor's paper and readers' time in telling you such things as that electricity is not a vegetable product, &c. People judge of others' knowledge by their own, and therefore Mr. FitzGerald may, perhaps, on these grounds, be excused: but it is really hardly fair to others to say that "ue can predicate with certainty that electricity is not a 'Mode of Energy."" Of course he can predicate what he pleases, but he might give others a chance of doing the same.

A good many-and among others, myself-support the view that electricity is a form of energy. The lightning flash is not electricity, although perhaps Mr. Mr. FitzGerald might be "cocksure that it was 80. The light, and heat thereof, are products, results, or effects of electricity; but the electricity itself is neither factor, nor product of anything or things, but simply that form which the energy has, from some cause of other, taken in the cloud, air, or earth, and which affects the condition of the said earth, air, and cloud. I should like to have asked Mr. FitzGerald what the other factor is which gives energy as the product; or even, energy being one factor, what the other factor of electricity would be; but I'm afraid an answer to these questions would be too much to expect.

I think that most people will agree with me that electricity is not matter. If it effects work (as who will gainsay it), then assuredly it is a force; I am sure that there are but few who would, in the existing state of our knowledge, deny that force and energy are one and the same thing. Electricity being force, and force being energy, electricity must be energy. Q.E.D.

Thanking you in advance for the insertion of the above, and trusting I have not taken up too much of your valuable space.

Leonard Joseph.

REGULATION OF ACCUMULATORS.

WHEN asked what method of "automatic regulation " e considered the most reliable, Mr. Edison replied, A live negro in charge of the regulating switch." The word "live" was doubtless introduced as a saving lause against the possible association of an automaton igger with the idea of an electric circuit. Mr. Edison as been credited with many pithy sayings; he never contradicts them, and since we have the quotation from gentleman who has recently arrived from the States we have ventured to reproduce it in connection with his important subject. Many methods of automatic egulation and distribution have been devised from ime to time, and some have been put into practice. The most noteworthy of these is probably that of Mr. F. King, which was tried in its crude form at Colchester in the year 1884, and recently in its more elaborated character at Chelsea. Complex as this ipparatus may appear from the description given by Major-General Webber at the last meeting of the British Association, we learn that up to the present it has been working most satisfactorily. Mr. Henry Edmunds's ystem we had an opportunity of seeing at the time when his paper was read before the then Society of Telegraph Engineers and Electricians, but we have no recent information as to its continued working. Sir David Salomons again has been elaborating a method of automatic regulation with his well-known accumulator plant at Tunbridge Wells, which is ingenious, but complicated. Mr. R. E. Crompton's scheme of distribution and regulation, although not quite automatic, is nearly so, and gives excellent results at the Kensington and Knightsbridge central station; it has the merit of extreme simplicity, but requires some hand-regulation. Which of the above systems will bear away the palm for perfection, safety, reasonable cost, and efficiency, time alone can tell; meanwhile we have the satisfaction of knowing that substantial progress is being made in this branch of the electrical industry, and we hail with pleasure the substance of an interest

ing paper from the pen of Mr. G. B. Prescott, jun., of New York, as read before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Mr. Prescott advances little that may be called new, but he develops the subject of accumulator regulation in a manner which merits the attention of every student as well as the interest of experts, and we have thought it of sufficient value to reprint the entire paper, a portion of which appears in this week's issue. We agree with the author when he says: "Every careful observer will acknowledge that, even as it exists to-day, the accumulator is a factor in electrical industry too important to be ignored by those who take a broad view of the situation," and we have often pointed out that the success or failure of storage batteries is in a large measure due to the methods of treatment; therefore, if an absolutely perfect automatic regulation can be devised and adapted to the nature of the cells, there will be no more trouble beyond the inherent defects due to the more or less healthy constitution of different types of plates. The greatest virtue which can be and is advanced in favour of accumulator distribution lies in the fact that the power plant can be used all day at its full capacity. Mr. Prescott cites an example, and notes that "if the dynamo is started at 8 a.m., and operated until 6 p.m., while maintaining the required number of lamps during that period it will still have a surplus current for charging the battery to 890 ampére-hours, an available capacity vastly in excess of requirements." But he can only charge the cells of his example at the rate of 30 ampéres, consequently he only utilises about one quarter of the available energy. If he wishes to charge at the rate which the dynamo can give in excess of the lamps requirements, he would want a battery of four times the size suggested, because the life of his cells depends upon the current rate. This would mean four times the cost in accumulators; he cannot afford so much extra expense, and prefers to lose the chance of storing up the available balance of 650 ampére-hours, equal to one-half of the entire output of his plant. This points to a weakness. It shows that the cells should

B

be made not to have a greater capacity, but to receive and give current at a more rapid rate. In all storage batteries the normal discharge rate is proportional to the surfaces of the plates, and with the pasted types of plates a certain thickness has been found to give the best results both as regards capacity and durability, and certain defined limits have been reached. To go beyond these limits, even to a slight extent, means buckling, paste dropping, or generally shortening the life of the plates. Experience teaches, and the price lists of the best makers show, that a fully charged cell should not be discharged in less than 10 hours, or at a maximum working rate equal to onetenth the capacity in ampère-hours. Practice demands a maximum current for two, or at most three, hours per day; therefore, an ideal accumulator would be one which should, if required, discharge in about four hours without detriment to its durability, and without material changes in its electromotive force. We believe that such a battery will be forthcoming at an early date, as we hear of successful experimental results having been obtained from plates which have no oxide paste, but the surfaces of which are oxidised in a few hours by an entirely new process. Such an accumulator will have the effect of simplifying regulating devices, and of materially cheapening the cost and maintenance of central lighting stations.

ENGLISH versus AMERICAN PRACTICE.

THE remarks made by Mr. Addenbrooke at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and which we publish elsewhere in our pages, are in many respects deserving of notice, as they are the remarks of a man who has had practical experience in matters which are seldom spoken about. The major portion of what was said referred to the construction of overhead lines, details being given of all points relating to the same. One fact seems to stand out prominently and that is, that in America the work is done far more cheaply than is the case in this country; we do not mean cheap in the sense of "cheap and nasty," but it would appear that work which from its unsightliness would not be tolerated here, is apparently looked upon over the water with indifference. Not but that there is plenty of room for improvement in this country from the point of view of sightly lines, but at least some attempt is made to keep things shapely and trim, though this involves cost. It would have been interesting if Mr. Addenbrooke had mentioned how matters are managed as regards indoor fittings. Much of the success of the covered wire systems in this country is, no doubt, due to the very large experience which has been had in insulated wire in the shape of submarine cables; the immeasurable importance of what almost amounts to total absence of defects in the case of submarine cable cores, has rendered skilful manufacture and sound quality a rule-of-thumb business, and has also reduced what may appear to be somewhat complicated tests, to an integral part of the daily work of a cable factory. The

[NOVEMBER 22, 1889.

consequence of this is that all classes of work ar thoroughly overhauled before the finished materia leaves the factories, and with great benefit to the parchasers and users.

Speaking of electrical tramways, Mr. Addenbrook has, we think, most decidedly overdrawn the bow i endeavouring to make out that we in this country are not after all so far in arrears in this branch of elec

trical engineering. To compare the few miles of insignificant lines, which can be counted on the fingers of one hand, with the mileage in actual operation in America is, we think, quite absurd. No dout: one great reason why we are so behindhand here, the fact that the use of overhead wires for tramway purposes in city streets would not be entertained for a moment by the municipal authorities, and it is this system which appears to be almost universally used in the States.

Mr. Addenbrooke's reference to alternating current were of value, but his opinion that there is nothing to prove that an insulated wire will break down soon? by an alternating current than by a continuous one i startling, seeing that the use of alternations to brea down minute faults in insulated wires is of constar: occurrence in cable factories. We are somewhat sur prised at the remarks of the chairman which called forth the reference, viz., that "It is absolutely impossible by any known means of insulation to insulate an alternating current of 1,000 volts." Everything depend upon the good manufacture of the cables and the careful handling of the same. Given good workmen and skilled foremen to look after them, sound underground cable work which will stand such high potential alternating currents should present no difficulties in carrying out.

In referring to the Grosvenor Gallery installation. the speaker stated that a good deal of the proper regu lation of the lights was due to the arrangement of the circuits, so that the extinction of a large number of lamps on one particular circuit never took place; judicious grouping of the lamps on various circuits is we think, a point of vast importance, and is of more value than all the automatic appliances that have bee or are likely to be invented for the purpose of preventing fluctuations.

ALL things come to him who waits is a very ol proverb, but there is also another which is equally tro and that is, he who waits longest gets nothing. Both these are true in regard to Industries motor com petition. A few weeks ago our office boy, who seem to possess a wonderful prophetic vision, foretol that the award would be made known this year The announcement to this effect was made by Industries in its last issue, and our office boy, whoz we are now promoting to a higher duty, makes another prophecy, namely, that Industries will never again ope similar competitions, notwithstanding the announce ment made in that journal over three years ago to th effect that such competitions would be held occasionally

WHEN are the necessary steps to be taken in order t put a stop to electric quackery as now carried on is

NOVEMBER 22, 1889.]

different quarters? We have frequently drawn attencion to the imposition which is being practised by certain individuals and we have once more to protest against the use of the word electricity where it does not apply. The present case is to be found in the advertisement pages of Commercial Ireland, where a Belfast individual advertises his "world renowned electric remedies." Two of these are "electric ointment and wonderful electric powder." Strange to say in the same issue of that journal is a well written description of the electric tramcar trials at Birmingham, and yet an advertisement of the kind in question is allowed to appear, notwithstanding that under its old and also under its present title our contemporary laid some claim to technical knowledge. We should advise the Belfast advertiser to get some real electric ointment by taking hold of a fairly "live" electric wire.

The purveyors of

BUT brazen effrontery must pay. electropathic belts not only gull the people by their displayed advertisements, but they seem to have imbued a portion of the weekly press with a belief in the efficacy of their wares. As an instance, a weekly paper, having an immense circulation among private households, advises a correspondent to try one of the belts, and adds, "do not think that such belts are purveyed by mere quacks, for they are singularly useful." This, as a means of filling the pockets of their manufacturers ought to have been appended, but was not. It would be interesting if one of the dupes were to bring an action against the vendor for selling goods under false pretences.

WITH regard to the warfare of words now waging between Mr. S. A. Varley and others, we have gathered together a few items of information which may, perhaps, modify the opinions of that gentleman. At the Central Institution the four professors, Messrs. Ayrton, Unwin, Armstrong and Henrici, receive salaries of a stated sum per annum (they derive nothing additional from fees), and they are under engagement not to undertake professional practice outside. At Finsbury there are also four professors (the principal, Dr. Silvanus Thompson, and Professors Perry, Meldola and Brophy [Art Department]). With the exception of the principal these are not restricted, otherwise than by the time utilised in their duties, from taking up professional work outside. Naturally in cases where a professor is retained previous to entering upon new engagements, he is allowed to see such matters through.

A MAN in New York who was knocked senseless a few weeks back by an electric wire, and who has since become a confirmed paralytic, has instituted a suit against the United States Illuminating Company to recover $50,000 damages. Should the action be successful, and the company be mulcted in heavy damages, more will have been done to secure the public safety than all the efforts of the authorities have achieved in the past, or seem likely to achieve for years to come.

THE injunctions obtained a short time back by the United States and Brush Illuminating Companies to prevent the City authorities from summarily tearing down their wires, has been continued by the Supreme

575

Court, which has decided that the electric light companies have the right to maintain their wires overhead until the subways are completed, and fixed the responsibility for the failure to complete the subways on the Subway Company, but the duty of keeping the wires properly insulated devolves on the plaintiffs, and that permission to repair old wires and replace them with new and safe wires should be obtained from the Board of Electrical Control, by mandamus if necessary. The Board of Electrical Control has the right to require the companies to discontinue the use of dangerous wires, but has not the power to compel the removal of same; this the Commissioners of Public Works can do after notice to the companies and giving a reasonable interval to enable the companies to put their lines into working order. This decision is viewed in different lights by the opposite parties. Expert Wheeler thinks that the companies will still have trouble to run their circuits, as he knows already of some 5,000 defects in them, and that the lighting operations will be very limited for some time to come. On the other hand, the Brush Company is elated that it can continue its overhead service, and explains the situation, as to putting its wires underground, by relating the story of Pat and his Irish bees : "In recounting the wonders of Ireland, he declared that the honeybees were as big as sheep." A little later on, someone asked him casually how big the hives were in Ireland, and he admitted they were of the usual size. "Then how could the bees get in?" Pats's reply was, "Sure, that's their own look out." The Brush Company would see to that when the hives were ready.

LAST week we called attention to the meeting of the National Electric Light Association's Executive Committee, and the resolutions adopted with regard to high tension currents. Without doubt the opinion that they are, in the States, essential for the successful and economical distribution of electricity, is perfectly correct, for a variety of reasons which need not be stated here, Mr. Edison to the contrary notwithstanding. But are the currents which the "Wizard of Menlo Park" characterises as unnecessary as they are dangerous, equally valuable in England? Here we make no use, even if we had the opportunities, of water power, on anything like a practical scale for economy in long distance transmission; fuel and gas are cheap ; we have no new towns springing up with mushroomlike growth, and all parts of our little island are more or less in touch. With conditions, then, so essentially different to American requirements, it is a question whether the employment of high tension alternating currents is generally desirable, and the Institution of Electrical Engineers might do worse than to promote a lively discussion on this point. Some member should be prevailed upon to send in a paper dealing with the subject from American and English standpoints, and we feel sure that the result of the arguments pro and con would lead to definite views being formed.

WE are glad to publish the letter from Mr. Von Buch. Mr. Bebro made a statement in Court without any corroborative evidence whatever, and this Mr. Von Buch was unable to deny, not being put into the witness box. His explanation of the circumstances which led to his name being dragged into a very discreditable case will doubtless be deemed eminently satisfactory, and we are pleased to be the means of bringing to light the true facts of the case.

[FROM A CORRESPONDENT.]

You have mentioned an interesting installation which is to be erected near Wiener-Neustadt with alternating current transformers for the simultaneous production of power and light. I can now inform you that this installation, which was projected by the Wiener-Neustadt Brewery in order to utilise its superfluous water-power, is already completed, and that it was a few days ago set in successful action.

The generator is a Zipernowsky alternating current machine of the type A,, which at 500 rotations per minute gives a primary current of 25 ampères and 2,000 volts. Of this energy about 12,000 watts are converted by transformers into a current of 100 volts tension, and used for feeding glow lamps, whilst the remaining energy is used for the production of motive power-amongst other things, for setting in motion various machines used in the brewery. To this end, three alternating current motors have been set up, two of which, with a speed of 830 rotations per minute, furnish each 10 horse-power, whilst the third revolves 1,250 times per minute and gives off 5 horse-power. The distance between the generator and the furthest motor is about 3,000 metres.

The impulse to the construction of this installation was given by an eminent technical electrician, Herr Max von Berndt, who is both a shareholder in the Wiener-Neustadt Brewery and owner of the manufactory of glow lamps at Wiener-Neustadt, and who has taken an active part in carrying out the requisite works, as he conducted the fitting up the lamps and set them in action. The installation here described is the first in which alternating current motors are at work. Herr Max von Berndt may therefore claim the honour of having inaugurated the practical application of alternating current motors.

The London Brush Company has again felt itself induced by the continually increasing demand for the electric light at Temesvar to extend the installation of transformers which it put up last year for supplying the electric light to private consumers. For this purpose it has ordered at Buda-Pest a third alternating current machine of the type, Ws, for 80,000 watts.

The Berlin "General Electrical Company" purposes, in conjunction with the Aluminium Industries Company, to erect in Austria a large establishment for producing aluminium and its alloys, and it has secured for this purpose, at Lenal (Salzburg), a water power of several thousand H.P.

Herr Zipernowsky delivered to-day (November 9th), at Buda-Pest, a lecture on his newly invented tramline with a vertical track, which was very numerously attended, especially by the members of the Hungarian Association of Engineers and Architects, and by many representatives of science and industry. Herr Zipernowsky displayed for the first time this system to the public, having, for this purpose, put up a model line at the works of Ganz & Co., with two points and a small car, upon which was placed a minature electromotor, and caused it to work during the lecture. The minature tramcar, driven by the electric current, worked very well, and the automatic points acted with astonishing precision. The audience had the opportunity of becoming convinced that this interesting system actually possesses those advantages which were expected.

Herr Wangemann, who, during his stay in Vienna, had the honour of exhibiting Edison's phonograph to the Emperor Francis Joseph, is about to make a two days' stay in Buda-Pest, where he has been invited by the Board of the Buda-Pest Telephone Company, in order to give their subscribers a pleasant surprise. Everyone received a free ticket to the demonstration of the phonograph. Herr Wangemann-as he had done in Vienna-will give in Buda-Pest public demonstrations, but he has not yet fixed on the exact time.

[NOVEMBER 22, 1889

A NEW SIMPLE AND ECONOMIC GALVANO

CAUTERY.*

By DR. ARMAGNAC.

IN a former sitting, after a communication from one of our colleagnes, the question of the employment of the galvano-cautery in surgery for the operation of tracheotomy arose incidentally, and reference was made to the numerous inconveniences of the various models it use at present; the more or less considerable bulk of the batteries, the irregularity of their working, the more or less complicated management of them, their high price, the size of the handles and conducting wires, their inconvenient form, &c. I then promised to bring before you a model which seems to me exemp from all these inconveniences, and which is shown in the accompanying figure. I have used it for ocular

cases for several years, and I can assure you that its working is as simple as convenient. Its construction is so little complicated that each of you might manufac ture one for yourself, as I myself manufactured the one I am now presenting to you. It only cost me 12 francsa consideration of some importance.

As you see, I had no need to go to much expense in constructing the battery. I simply took an ordinary Grenet battery (bottle type) of two litres, with two zincs, and I connected, by a cross-piece of copper furnished with a ring, the rods supporting the two zines, so as to be able to plunge them simultaneously into the solution of bichromate of soda or potash contained in the bottle. This arrangement enables us to obtain the whole effect of the battery from the minimum to the maximum of power, by simply lowering the zincs more or less. If we wish to heat to red heat a very fine strip of platinum, we have merely to plunge the zincs into the exciting liquid to the depth of one or two centimetres; by completely submerging them we may easily heat to red heat over one centimetre of its extent s wire two-thirds of a millimetre in diameter.

So much for the battery. We will now examine the handle that holds the cauteries. You know that in the various models of galvano-cauteries of commerce, each knife, or slip of platinum, is mounted upon a support which itself fixes upon the handle. Thus as many of these accessories are required as there are cauteries used, and however varied these may be the surgeon may, unexpectedly, require a special arrangement adapted to s particular case; he is then at the mercy of the manu facturer, who is not always within reach or at his disposal.

* Communicated to the Society of Medicine and Surgery st Bordeaux, at the sitting of May 3rd, 1889.