Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1890 — ELECRICAL. [ARTICLE]

ELECRICAL.

The influence of electric railroads upon transatlantic telegraphy is a question of not a little importance, and an article which has just been written on the subject by Mr. Charles Cuttriss, the electrician of the Comxnercial Cable Company, is likely to lead to considerable discussion. One end of the sea cable Of the Commercial Cable Company lands at Coney Island, and connection is made by an underground cable through Ocean avenue and Brooklyn with the terminus in Wall street. Some, few months ago occasional kicks on the receiving in. strument were experienced, but as they might be caused by thunderstorms or other atmospheric disturb*, ance, they were not regarded as of special moment It was noticed hows ever, when testing the cable, that the movements of the mirror, which was ■very unsteady, were of such a character as to indicate a near location of the disturbance. It occurred to Mr. Cuttries that the newly established electric railroad, running from Prospect Park, Brooklyn, to Coney Island, might be the source of the trouble. He argued that ocean cables are operated by a recording instrument of such sensitiveness that a current of one one-thousandth of a milliampere will produce a distinct working signal, and that therefore the disturbances recorded might be caused by the starting and running of the cars, notwiths standing the fact that the electric road does not in any part of its route approacn the underground cables of the company nearer than about half a mile. A telephone was thereupon connected between the cable and its return earth, and the movement of the cars was distinctly heard. The telephone was then connected to the cable and to the water pipes, when the sounds so increased in loudness that they could be heard with the telephone a short distance from the ear. Mr. Cuttriss asks the question: “If the disturbance is so severe with the railroad at a distance of half a mile, or 2,640 feet, what would be the effect on the company’s property if at some time an electric road should be projected down Ocean avenue, where the rails would, in all probability, be within four or five feet of the cable for a minimum distance of five and a half miles?” It is pointed out that, although the quostion whether the effects connected with this phenomenon are attributable to conduction through the earth and water, or to induction, the fact remains that with the increase of electric roads in the yicinity of telegraph lines the disturbenceson the latter will be seriously increased, and the only remedy at present seems to be the adoption by the roads of a double trolley system.

An amusing story is told of the early days ,of the telephone by one of the first subscribers of tho Chicago Exchange. One day on answering the call he discovered that the talker at the other end of tho line was one of prominent society ladies of the South Side, who was under the impression that she was talking to her butcher, •‘What do you mean”, she said, “by sending mo Buch a roast of beef as that of "yesterday?’,* “I asked her what was the matter with it,” says the narrator of the story, “and she replied that it wasn’t fit for a dog to eat. 1 sailed into her right there, saying that I had more trouble about her trade than that of any other customers combined, I told her that she not only did not know a good piece of beef when she saw it, but that she did not know how to prepare it, and that she didn’t know how to eat it after it was prepared. Of course She rang me off and I went to my desk and rolled over with laughter. In a few days I had occasion to go into the butcher shop, and I asked casually, ‘Does Mr. trade here now?’ mentioning the name of the husband of the lady who had talked to me over the ’phone. ‘No, sir,’ the butcher replied, ‘He came in here and said that I had insulted his wife over the telephone. I tried to explain,- btit ho wouldn’t have it. So I ordered that the confounded thing be taken out of here. I was afraid of it in the first place, and told the fellow that it wouldn’t work. It is a humbug.’ I suppose I ought to have told the butcher the truth, but I couldn’t summon the nerve. Besides. I enjoyed the tongue-lashing which I gave the lady on the South Side, although I always feel guilty when I meet her. ” '

A notable installation is about to be made between Seattle and Tacoma, a distance of forty-two miles. This will be the longest electric railway in the world. Much has been said and written of late on the probability of electric motors being run on truck lines before long, and the railway in question is but tho inaugural step to some yearly nnd extensive developments. The main promoter of the line, speaking on the subject, says: “Theorists and talkers have for some years been saying that electricty is the great motive power of the future. But the people of the East and the ones who do the most talking stllFstick to the steam railways. We of the West are going to put the electrical way to a pratical tost. The road will be a fair competi tor of the steam railway, and at a 'air distance.

The importance of the part which the eleotrio light is destined to play in the military operations of tho future is foreshadowed in tho report of Sir Evelyn Wood on some recent night manoeuvros of English troops. “The light was dark,” writes the General, “and rain was falling when the General with the officer In oharge arrived at the observation station of the electric light. Xhe position was not favor-

ablO of observation. It was impossible to make out the nature of the bodies which were on the road. The light, however, was .erf great assistance to the pickets, enabling them to see along the flat road quite a mile in front of them.” In the course of recent experiments in England a curious effect was observed, namely, that the formation of* ozone is hindered by the presence of oil of turpentine, and that the electrical conductivity of the air at once disappealed when some of the vapor is introduced. Not only turpentine, but several of the essential oils, when acted It is stated that the German Electric Company of Madrid has in contemplation the installation of a plant for electrics ploughing of a large property in the central part of Spain, upon by atmospheric air, transformed a portion of it into ozone, and again, turpentine will absorbs ozone without decomposing it.