November i, 1907.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



37 



every case due to the fact that previous to inspection service the 

 goods were not being manufactured up to the standard under 

 which they were sold." 



The Wire Inspection Bureau, referred to in the preceding para- 

 graphs, is affihated with the Underwriters' Laboratories, and has 

 headquarters in the new Engineering building, No. 29 West 

 Thirty-ninth street, New York, with branches in other cities. 



ALUMINUM FOE ELECTEIC CONDUCTOES. 



The continued high price of copper, while the cost of produc- 

 ing aluminum is constantly being lessened, has tended to call in- 

 creased attention of late to the merits of aluminum as a metal 

 for electric conductors. While an aluminum wire must have, 

 compared with copper, a section increased by .63 per cent, and a 

 diameter increased by .28 per cent., there is a saving in weight of 

 SO per cent, in favor of aluminum. An aluminum line from 

 Niagara Falls to Buffalo, transmitting 15,000 hp. at 22,000 volts, 

 has been in service for three years, having been put up to replace 

 a copper line. In the original line the spans were 75 feet, but 

 with aluminum the spans have been extended to II2J4 feet, thus 

 saving 33 per cent, in poles. The use of aluminum for electric 

 cables is extending in Britain as well as in America, one indica- 

 tion of which is the recent issue by Johnson & Phillips, Limited, 

 of a catalogue of such cables made by them. 



A NEW INStJLATING PITCH. 



A NEW insulating material is a by product of Coalite, a fuel 

 prepared from coal under the patents of Thomas Parker, the 

 issue of which in Great Britain is numbered 14,365 (1906). All 

 rights under this invention have been transferred by Parker to 

 an English company. Coalite, Limited, who in turn have sold 

 the English rights to British Coalite Co., Limited, floated re- 

 cently in London with £2,000,000 [=:$9.733,ooo] capital. At pres- 

 ent gas manufacturers put in good class of coal into brick retorts 

 and at a high temperature distil from it gas and by products, and 

 have coke as a residual. By Mr. Parker's method, it is stated, 

 almost any grade of bituminous coal can be treated ; it is placed 

 in iron stills, at a comparatively low temperature, and after the 

 distillation a hard, dense, smokeless fuel remains, which has been 

 named coalite. This new fuel is adapted for domestic and in- 

 dustrial purposes, and in addition to being cleanly and smokeless, 

 it is superior to other coal in that a greater percentage of its 

 calorific energy is converted into useful heat. It is said that the 

 gas produced is less in quantity but richer, and that the tar prod- 

 ucts are nearly double in quantity and far more valuable than the 

 by products from ordinary gas making. 



The pitch produced is referred to as being of a particularly 

 high grade, and possessing excellent qualities for electrical work 

 where high insulation is required. By regulation of the degree 

 of distillation the pitch can be manufactured either in a soft con- 

 dition ready for use in the insulation troughs, or as a hard brittle 

 brick fit for transportation and easily softened by the addition of 

 some of the creosote oil, which is another by product of Parker's 

 system. Parker's applications for patents in the United States and 

 Germany, it is stated, have been allowed. The directors of 

 British Coalite Co., Limited, are connected with the steel and 

 colliery interests, with the exception of Sir William Henry 

 Preece, k. c. b., f. r. s., a notable electrical engineer, who has 

 signed a report commending the insulating qualities of the new 

 product above described. 



FUTURE OF THE WIRELESS. 



Sir Hiram Maxim, the great inventor, says that the unscientific 

 public is expecting too much from the experiments Marconi is 

 making to establish a wireless telegraph service across the Atlantic. 

 Sir Hiram says that Marconi has done splendid work in establishing 

 wireless communication between vessels at sea, if for no other 

 reason than that if a ship is missing nowadays it can be traced 

 quickly. But there is absolutely no reason for the owners of 

 stocks in cable companies to become excited. Wireless telegraphy 

 is more than a plaything, of course, but never will be a serious 



competitor with ocean cables — at least in our lifetime. Whoever 

 pays to send a cablegram vvant= to keep it private to himself and 

 to his correspondent, but privacy cannot be secured for messages 

 sent by wireless. This would be particularly felt in time of war, 

 so that, on the whole, Sir Hiram finds very great drawbacks to 

 the wireless system as a practical institution of wide application. 



SFAEKS. 



Benolite is the name given to a new insulating varnish, said to 

 have high dielectric strength and great flexibility. It is said to 

 contain no linseed oil and not to depend upon China wood oil 

 for its characteristics. The black Benolite varnish, applied to 

 insulating tape or cotton covered wire can be dried, it is said, 

 in six to eight hours, at 212° F., giving a hard, glossy surface. 

 It is marketed by the Benolite Co., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 



Steel rails and spools are now made for handling and slipping 

 insulated and other wires and cables, instead of the more cum- 

 bersome and less durable wooden reels and spools hitherto in 

 universal use for such purposes. The Frank Mossberg Co. 

 (Attleboro, Massachusetts) have brought out a patented line of 

 pressed steel wire reels. 



MADISON GARDEN ELECTRICAL SHOW. 



"T^HE first annual ElectriAl Show, at Madison Square Garden, 

 ■'• New York, from September 30 to October g, was designed 

 to embody "all the modern inventions and appliances in the 

 world" that might have any bearing upon electricity. While not 

 everything eligible for the show was to be seen there, there was 

 a great variety of exhibits, and some of them very extensive, com- 

 plete, and interesting to the engineer and the lay public as well. 

 The show was organized by Electrical Show, Incorporated, a 

 permanent organization under the presidency of Mr. George F. 

 Parker, who is well known in the insulated wire trade. Their 

 offices are at No. 116 Nassau street. New York. 



The General Electric Co., with eight exhibition "spaces," 

 showed a wide range of electrically operated apparatus and de- 

 vices, from rock drills to ice cream freezers ; in fact the tone 

 of the show was reflected in a newspaper headline — "Electricity 

 Solves Servant Problem," referring to the number of situations, 

 not only in the world's larger work, but in the household as 

 well, where electricity is now made to lighten or supplant hand 

 work. The New York Edison Co., the National Electric Lamp 

 Association, and the various Westinghouse companies were 

 among the larger exhibitors 



All these applications of electricity, of course, involve the use 

 of insulating material, and particularly rubber. One visitor to 

 the show remarked that the subject of insulation was kept to 

 the front constantly, with a view to reassuring people to whom 

 domestic electrical appliances are new that they are not neces- 

 sarily dangerous. The India Rubber and Gutta Percha Insulat- 

 ing Co. (New York) had an extensive display of "Hibirshaw" 

 wires, cables, and cores, and other insulation products. 

 The Milking Machines. 



A display which attracted much attention was that of the 

 Burrell-Lawrence-Kennedy cow milker in operation, four cows 

 from a Long Island dairy forming part of the exhibit. These 

 milkers, described lately in The India Rubber World, are covered 

 by no fewer than 17 American patents, controlled by the National 

 Dairy Supply Co., No. 32 Park place. New York. The machines 

 call for rubber for the milking tubes and attachments and also, if 

 operated by electricity, for insulation. 



CHICAGO ELECTRICAL SHOW. 



The third annual electrical show under the auspices of the 

 Electrical Trades Exposition Co. will be held at the Coliseum, 

 in Chicago, January 13-25, 1908. It will be under the manage- 

 ment of Homer Hiesz, to whose efforts the success of the two 

 previous exhibitions has been largely credited. His office is at 

 1006 Monadnock building, Chicago. 



