ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 105, 23 June 1900, Page 4

ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER.

SOME MARVELS OF MODERN IVENTION. (By " T. Square," in N.Z, Times.) Time was -when one would beDd his ear Close to a whispering voice to hear, Like deaf men, nigh and nigher; But now from town to town he talks, And sticks his nose into a box, And hollows through a wire. In olden times, adown the street A glimmering lantern led our feet When on a midnight stroll; But now we snatch, when night is nigh, A chunk of lightning from the sky And stick it on a pole. The wonders of electricity are many, and varied, and mere recital of a few of-the triumphs attained in the field of electrical research seems to the layman more marvellous by far than any legend of the " Arabian Nights." A discussion on the rapid developments that have taken place in electrical science during the last few years sprang up the other evening among the group seated on our balcony after dinner, and Dan, as usual, was prepared to te'l us all about it. He proceeded to explain that electricity was a substance that was put, in a liquid form, j into a kind of churn, and that a handle was turned for a while, when the liquid solidified, and was then taken out, made into pats, and fired into the wires by means of a battery. He was proceeding to still further demonstrate his miraculous ignorance of the subject, when the Professor, who is usually regarded as the silent man of the push, rose in his wrath, and said:—"Look here, Dan, you don't know even the first principles of the subject you are talking about. You seem to think you know what electricity is, and what it is made of, and that you can put it into a carpetbag and carry it around with you, if you want to. Why, none of us, even, who have made a life-long study of the subject, know what it is, nor exactly what is its composition. We know that by means of properly constructed machines, electricity can be generated in quantities and of intensities that are limited only by the capacity of the dynamos, and the motive power that drives them. We know that by properly insulated wires this electricity can be conveyed to where it is required, and there utilised, through suitable contrivances, in the form of light, or heat, or power, which are all practically the same thing. The distance over which this power may be conveyed, is practically limited only by the cost of conductors, and the loss of energy in the conductors themselves, which appears in the form of heat. We know that where large water power is available, as at Niagara, in America, and Volkhausen, in Switzerland, electricity is generated in large quantities and conveyed long distancesby cables furnish not only light but \ ower sufficient to drive heavy machinery in factories. Just think of the possibilities of the future, when the contrivances for furnishing heat and power shall have become as perfect as our telephones and electric lights. No one will have to turn out in the chill dawn of a wintry morning to make a fire. He or she will simply turn a switch, and the bouse will be warmed to the required temperature as if by magic. There will no longer be heaping of coals upon the kitchen range, or the parlour register, sending about seveneights of the heat up the chimney, with its accompanying mess of smoke, and soot, and ashes. Oh, no ; we will have nothing like that. We will have electric heaters and cookers, that will apply the desired amount of heat, and no more, right at the place where it will do the most good. We will have electric fans in the roof to provide for ventilation, and the cry of a ' chimney on fire ' will no longer be heard in the land. In our factories and workshops, instead of the cumbrous boilers furnaces, engines, shafting, pulleys, and belting, with eternal clatter and incessant repairs, we will have merely a connection from the electric main, and wires to each machine, with the motor on the spindle, Figure up to yourselves the power wasted in running the shafting alone, with its numberless journals, in a good-sized mill or foundry, and you will see where economy will corns in. The blacksmith's fire with its fan or bellows, will only be found in remote country villages, for electric welding has come to stay." By this time we had developed an absortling interest in the Professor's uwonted eloquence, and begged him to continue his dissertation. " No, no, boys," he said, " you know that proverb about casting pearls—lf any of you really ieel a live interest in the progress that has been made in applied electricity, you cannot do better than take a term at the Electric Light and Power Class at the Technical School. That is the only place where you will be likely to get much information a subject which is, as yet, comparatively a cloae borough." Dan and I took the Professor's advice, and soon found that we had, pratically, a new language to acquire. Kilowatts, amperes, and volts; armatures, commutators, and transformers ; excitors, resistance coils, and rheostats, are a few of the technical terms that tangled our tongues and muddled our wits for quite a while. However, out of the tangle of technical terms came, presently, a clearer knowledge of what it all meant. While we were acquiring knowledge of theory and detail, there came, as a matter of course, knowledge of what has actually been accomplished in the great world of electrical engineering. We learnt, among other things, that the largest crane in the world is operated and controlled by electricity ;' that it is capable of lifting and swinging one hundred and fifty tons; and is as easy to handle as a motor car. It-is located at Newport, U.S.A., and is used for placing armoured gun turrets on battleships. We learnt also that most of the docks in G'asgow, Scotland, are being fitted with electric power cranes; that at Aberdeen a large pontoon dock is being equipped, she whole of the machinery of which is driven by electricity, supplied from the .Corporation mains. We also became acquainted with the fact that a large manufacturing concern—the Empress

Foundry, Manchester, England—had adopted electric driving throughout the whole of their extensive works; that the Sunderland Forge and Engineering Company had placed on the market an effective circular-saw bench that can be operated anywhere that an electric current can be taken to it; and that electrically-propelled ferry boats of large size are now working ou the Delaware Eiver, U.S.A., between Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey, the charging of the batteries being done while the boat is at rest, at theend of the trip. The batteries are thus always at full charge, and the ency is very high, Just think of it—no boilers, no furnaces, no coal bunkers, no funnels; just a small stand of levers in the pilot-house, taking up no more room than the ordinary engine-room telegraph. At Port L'Abbe, Finisterre, France, the tides are utilised during fourteen hours each day in generating power. At flood tides the tide water flows through a canal, two and a half miles inland, into a pond in rear of the power-house, and returns to the sea at ebb tide. The total fall is from six and a half to seven and a half feet, and 89 horse-power is generated by means of turbines. The turbines are used for the generation of electricity for lighting purposes. Electric deck planers are already in use in shipbuilding yards in England, and are pushed along over the. deck like a lawn mower; and electromagnets are being employed for shifting such objects* as shells and pipes, the magnets being attached to the end of the lifting chain, and controlled from any convenient point. Magnetic lathe chucks are also being made and used in America, doing away with bolting, strapping, or otherwise fastening down work by the usual methods. On the river "Volga, in Eussia, dredges are working, propelled by electricity:—but why multiply instances? Enough has been said to show that the application of electric power is as yet only in its infancy, and that, in the near future, the whole of the power-producing plants and factories of the world will have to be remodelled to suit the new condition of things that will exist.