INTERESTING DISCOVERY IN ELECTRICITY.

Manawatu Herald, 7 April 1904, Page 2

INTERESTING DISCOVERY IN ELECTRICITY.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE UANAWATD HERALD. Sir,—Electricians will no doubt be electrified when they hear that a hitherto unknown peculiarity in this mysterious power has just been discovered by a friend of mm e i a resident of Foxton. Since the telephone exchange was established herd, this enquiring individual has, I am credibly informed, been carefully observing tBC effects of electric calls. One peculiarity in electricity which has struck him most forcibly—a peculiarly displayed at any rate on the telephone exchange (i.e. the Foxton telephone exchange, for my friend is not aware of having observed Ibo same thing to a great extent elsewhere) is the length of time , the current takes to travel from the telephone to the central office. He has found that it is sometimes quicker to walk to another subscriber’s shop than to ring him up on the telephone, and in spite of his scientific enthusiasm he is somewhat apprehensive that this may retard an increase in the number of subscribers, besides making the present ones unwilling to pay their subs. It has hitherto been supposed that the current travels with incalcul* able speed,‘ and that even over a circuit of a thousand miles there is only a very small appreciable interval between the time that the current is started and the time it returns. important discovery made by this m-J telligent Foxton observer will completely overthrow this belief, and Will most probably revolutionise the whole theory of electricity, and it is to be hoped will lead to some very desirable improvements in the telephone system. My friend, however, has not been satisfied with a merely superficial observation. He has taken the trouble to investigate and follow up his discovery with some minuteness. Amongst, other things he has ascertained that the speed (or want of speed) at which the current travels is not regular. Sometimes it takes as much as ten to fifteen minutes to reach the exchange even from a short distance, at other times it seems to reach it almost immediately (which so far supports the accepted theory); at other times again it does not reach the exchange at all, (at any rate if it does it produces no effect). My friend has moreover been to some trouble to ascertain what is the determining factor which regulates the rate at which the current travels, or even determines whether it will travel at all. The weather does not appear to have any effect on this strange phenomenon, as no variation in the rate of transit can be found to correspond with variations in the weather. My friend, however, thinks he has got some clue to the mystery by observing the time of day at which the calls are made. Thus he finds that particularly between the hours of a. 30 and 3 p.m. the currents have' an apparent tendency to fail before reach- , ing the exchange, or if they do reach it they evidently become too weak to attract any attention, and therefore to produce any response. Pending farther investigation this observant individual is of opinion that there must be some disturbing element present at the central office during this particular fieriod, which, if it is possible to judge rom effects, is more or less present during every other hour in the day. I cannot predict what the result of my friends further investigations will be, but I think, Sir, you will agree with me, that the subscribers of the Foxton exchange, in comnjon with any others similarly affected, would owe a deep debl of gratitude to the able inventor who would discover some means of remedying this unfortunate defect in a system already replete with wonderful contrivances and capabilities. I am, &c., One Who Has Noticed It. Foxton, April sth. P.S.—There is one other peculiar circumstance which my friend has mentioned, and which I think would form an interesting subject of investigation, He has found that the current, travels with much greater speed and regularity after it has reached the exchange. Thus, although it may take ten or even twenty minutes to arrive at the central office, yet once it has safely got there and been acknowledged, it is only a very short time before it reaches the desired subscriber, although he may be much farther away. My friend assures me that whatever obstacle there is in the way of a message reaching the exchange there is no apparent obstacle beyond that. This confirms him in his view that the state of the weather cannot be the cause of the irregularity, but that it must be due to some disturbing factor at the central office, which once overcome (as it occasionally is) no further difficulty occurs,— o.w.h.n.i.