CRUISE OF THE ELECTRON

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2268, 31 October 1889, Page 2

CRUISE OF THE ELECTRON

THE TRIAL TRIP OF Tttffl FIRST JBLEOTRIOAL, YAOaT.

A tidy little boat poked her sharp white iron noae oat part the endjof the Pennsylvania Uailruad pier at Jer'<oj City at 4 SO o'olook a few days ago aai swung around to the southward, tine wu high out of the water and kicked ap very Httle wash as she ran away towardß Liberty Island, keeping well iuahore fur: easy travelling. . . . Oat past the Scotland lightship, with its twin caged at tha mastheads, and then away .to,the, eastward. r»a the llttls yachts it Wttß^a rieky th.kigtyo.da!, buffeting the\AtlaiHlo tow** Inviting Neptuns to come on and pot ap Tile bauds iud do his best, and sue how a oouple of men with pencils and paper and an eleotrlo ourrent ouald triumpu ove: him. For heretofore it had ail bcou * mattet of penolls and p»per. Men had ti'lkod about elootffioal ahlpa us glibly as they talked of eleotrioal balloon* that would tike yon from here to Londoa m * day, -but the aotual demonstration of one Deemed as far off so the other, Here »fc last was • little ehlp dancing along wither noia pointed towards iSnslan 1, and not** thing was driving her but the eleotrlo currant* Bae might break down at any moment,—parhipa. Bat to* «« Electron " (fo» <hafc is the n«t»* of tula I ', fcue Best electrlo»ly«s)*V) didu't mlßbehave oae moment. ™'.Boirioi»us E, V. Bi lard and alox«Dde« Welsh bad charged hec 07 umng au eleotrio light! current\at tha Peunsylvani* pier In Jersey Oity", Tba v . was a matter of a few honrs. Poked away la the oab!n lookers were 200 "Faare aooamuators" — that ii, black hard k mbbeir j us, oaoti somewhat larger than a Bolgiaaf pavement blook T.'»e olectrloltyirom.the» iilumlnatni* circuit was etorad > op la tiioao accumulators as successfully »» brandled peaches are stored ap -In jars, E*oh of these •' Fauro aooomulntof • " wm aoaled tight, They were of the '{' 23 0 " type. Inside of e»oh were 11 positive and 12 nega ive plates, Interleaved. Theia plates went) made ot lead, grldiroa fashion ia the lnterattoos of whloh was a- paste of of peroxide of . lead ia the- positive and oxide of lead m the negative, Toeae were m a bath of aotd. Ia thesa 200aoouam--lacors was scored an amount of oleotrialty which represented 80£ horse-power. They are made only by the Eleotrioal Aooumalator Company, of New York; which owns all patents on the use otthe puce, la th» oel)». JNo other form off stbftage cell hoc ever boen praotloally suaoeairul. Each oapaolty of 158 t ampdfo,- outfit oell bos iptessute l of. two voltp and » oan b 9 charged 16 ilx houra ff rom any inoandesoeot or aro llghUog ky«tem. It neither were available > simple gravity battery w,ould serve. There {"^Oiolately no, danger, with this flystemj 1 for tho maxtmam potential Is only 200V oIW/lnd this Ibj far below the dsuge^' pt>mti Down under the floor, of tha oabln' 'was a> long shaft, at thß middle o,'t whloQ '*«¥» rldga of popper, a^ainc 1 . which '♦feitt»hea n 01 bun.ohea of fiaa b.aos Birlpa' w6rfe ! placed. Tbat was all b, laymin 06013^** of tht machinery that movad' thti"ftHfp. Thll was a ten horse-power motor forntshed by the Eleotro-Dynamlo Oompany of Phil*' de!pbl*. With this , motor and with ih» 200 Qella all charged, tha Bieotrbn would roa eighty miles «t an average of eight miles an hour. Taa boat, by tha way, 1* 36 feet lung, 3£ feet draughts/and waa ballt by J. M Blg'.er the fam^pua boat bail Jer ot Newbarg N. 5[ M whaigoo muob Intereotod In eleotrlo mattero t' a »t he ballt this fient eleotcloal yaoht.Jfl Hee orew on the te* voyage were eli>otrloUns E. V. Halliard, qi the Kbottioal Aooumalatov Company j Alexindes Welsh, the "World" eleotriolan, and Pilot Robert Hood: G. W. Turnar,' bf the " World," was the only pusenger. Tho Eleotiron bahaved nobly all tha way. Tnere was enough ie» ta makQ hep roll a little, bat she skimmed ftiong without a akin, or s> break. BJvea the joarqalu wore not hesited, 11 and everything w«*at,»B smooth as smooth could bs«, Jaet before emmet P.lot Wood pieued » lUtjle button, aud, presto 1 tho tiny thlpV port; and Bttrboard lights shono cat bravely m red and green. They were big inoandeeoßntglobeu behind colored sareens on thesides of tbe pilot-house. At 7.46 o'olook, after n voyage of thcaa hears and fifteea minutes, the Electron was anohored Id the litkle harbor baok q{ the Arvetne Hotel, Roolcaway. The distance she had travelled ntn twenty-eight mlloß, and sho hadn't breu drlvon for speed. To say that her pausengeea and orew wera deligtitod with the success of the first noi'in crqiso ever made by ao electrical yaqhb would bo putting it Vary mildly. Tho Electron otnmed m Jamaica Bay nwhllo Frld»y, and took oat tha first yachting party '.thai* evebi'iklled by eleotriotty, if it can be called sailing. There "V" S£ c a ?? Mrt Xl A « Steams, Mr and Mra W. H. Ammei-man, Mr and Mrs; Fred Lmoaster, Mr Gregory a'6'd Mr <>. W. Turner. Tae craw was the sam/a as on the trial tdp, It was 10 o'oloolr. whea Pilot Hood moveA th« lover of ' c n c ewltob and tho Blaolron'a propoUje began to olmru, Than It waa, l ft vmg hoc oiurse) woai.EOU-we»t by \, a li-«oul;h, that tho llttlo wblto uontj aalntlly tlue»dad the narrow vatba Olnnnel, majjatloally pr^ressed through the open and dtfereiH ihUi dr»wb:ld^e of Iba •

Railroad, and so g >»»«••:« '-tio i>pe<: | se» common. v knrnv io all f. nloß-J navigators ac Jan»Htoa Bay. It was a , fine and stltrlog expiileooe to find tho boat flying so noiselessly, and everybody felt it. Once the ourrent w»s turned on •tits fall itrength and the Electron went bo fast that ihe swamped » dingy that was towlog aft on • long painter. The eleetrloal voyagers went aßhore at Oanarßlo after lnnoheon, and while they wore being photographed after the manner of explorers m foreign lands a convention of bold swimmers and o»r&men and catboat tallori and fiahcrmo", lono and otherwl-je, went out and Impacted the ship. They came back more pozzled than when they went ou»,— Abridged fro-ri the " New York World " of Aui?n.t 26 h. 1889.