268 ELECTRICAL ENERGY, STORAGE OF. ELECTRIC LIGHTING, PROGRESS OF. 



The electro-motive force when the cell is first 

 charged is 2*15 volts, and this can be main- 

 tained, the circular states, until three fourths 

 of the charge is withdrawn, if the cell be used 

 at the rate of discharge given above. The 

 table on previous page gives the number of 

 cells necessary with different lamps, the total 

 electrical capacity, and their price. 



An examination of the above data will show 

 that these cells are very far from answering 

 the commercial requirements of a large elec- 

 tric distributive system. Economy in the 

 charging plant and in the street conductors is 

 attained j nst in proportion as the time of charg- 

 ing is great compared with that of discharging. 

 The above figures, however, make the former 

 rate two thirds of the latter, and hence, tak- 

 ing into consideration the loss occasioned by 

 the use of the battery, the charging machinery 

 would have to be as large as would be required 

 without it, and no material saving would be 

 experienced in conductors. The battery would 

 therefore appear to be an extra charge upon 

 distribution without any special advantage be- 

 ing gained. According to the above prices 

 6H Edison lamps requiring a current of 89 

 volts electro-motive force, and consuming each 

 65 of an ampere could be maintained 7| hours 

 with a battery consisting of 45 one horse-power 

 cells. This would make the investment per lamp 

 with the cheaper cell about $13. For a plant 

 capable of doing the work of a gas-plant fur- 

 nishing 1,000,000 feet of gas a day, the invest- 

 ment in batteries, at this rate, would be $520,- 

 000, since a maximum of 40,000 burners would 

 have to be maintained at one time. This is 

 about four fifths of the total investment re- 

 quired for a complete direct plant to accom- 

 plish the same work. The investment per 

 lamp with the Swan lamp, which requires an 

 electro-motive force of 47'3 volts and consumes 

 1'4T amperes of current, would be $15.84; the 

 Lane-Fox, $18; and the Maxim, $17.28. 



On the basis of these figures the investment 

 required in batteries is so heavy as to prohibit 

 their use in any extended system of distribu- 

 tion, though they could doubtless be employed 

 in many special cases to advantage. These 

 figures can not, however, be well taken as a 

 basis on which to forecast the economic future 

 of the storage-battery. The above rates of 

 charge and discharge are not necessarily the 

 ones which will have to be adopted, and the 

 prices seem abnormally high. Doubtless these 

 will become considerably lower as the manu- 

 facture is improved and the demand increased, 

 and it may not unreasonably be expected that 

 they may be brought within the limits of eco- 

 nomic requirements. Of course, whether the 

 cost be brought down to the economic require- 



ments of a distributive system or not, there 

 will always remain a considerable field for ac- 

 cumulators, which will continually widen as im- 

 provements are effected, and may in time be as 

 extensive as the industrial domain of electricity. 



ELECTRIC LIGHTING, PROGRESS OF. The 

 progress of electric lighting during the past 

 year has been chiefly in the industrial devel- 

 opment of the various systems, rather than 

 in any striking novelties in the apparatus em- 

 ployed, though a steady improvement has gone 

 forward in this direction. The arc-lamp is con- 

 tinually gaining ground as an out - door illu- 

 minant and as a means of lighting large interior 

 spaces, and the incandescent is as certainly 

 making its way in house-lighting. "With the 

 exception of the first station of the Edison 

 Company in New York city, the incandescent 

 lamp has not yet been furnished to consumers 

 upon a large scale, but all the prominent com- 

 panies are preparing to do so at an early date. 

 The Maxim lamp is being supplied to consum- 

 ers in different parts of New York directly 

 from the various arc-light stations of the United 

 States Electric Lighting Company ; while the 

 Brush Company, heretofore occupied exclu- 

 sively with the arc type of lamp, is about to 

 go largely into incandescent lighting, using for 

 this purpose the Swan incandescent lamp, 

 which it is proposed to run from the Brush 

 storage-batteries. 



In London the Edison lamp is being supplied 

 over a limited district, as also at various points 

 on the Continent, while active preparations are 

 being made for its very general introduction. 

 The Swan, Lane-Fox, and Maxim lamps are 

 also being pushed forward by the various com- 

 panies abroad interested in their success. 

 "While it can not be said that the incandescent 

 lamp has yet demonstrated its ability to com- 

 pete with gas generally in the matter of cost, 

 there is no longer any question about its ability 

 to meet successfully all the other requirements 

 of a genera] in-door illuminant. 



The arc-lamp of the form known as the reg- 

 ulator that is, the lamp in which the carbon 

 electrodes are placed point to point and the 

 distance between them maintained constant by 

 means of mechanism and the incandescent 

 lamp, pure and simple, seem to be the only 

 types which promise to survive. Electric can- 

 dles seem to be making but little headway, 

 while the lamps of imperfect contact or incan- 

 descence in the open air, such as the Reynier 

 and Werderman, which promised so well but a 

 few years ago, appear to have been wholly 

 abandoned. These latter lamps, though giving 

 considerably less light for a given expenditure 

 of power than regulators, were yet superior to 

 them both in simplicity of construction and in 

 the steadiness of the light yielded. Much as 

 regulator lamps have been improved, their 

 light is still far from steady, and it does not 

 appear probable that any considerable advance 

 can be expected in this direction. Aside from 

 the unsteadiness due to irregularity of feeding 



