246 



THE WORLD'S ADVANCE 



CHESTNUT POLES REPLACING 

 YELLOW PINE 



Extensive experiments have proven 

 that yellow pine poles last about four 

 years, while chestnut poles have a life 

 of about ten years. The city of Brook- 

 lyn has recently approved of the plan 

 of replacing the present yellow pine oc- 

 tagonal poles with chestnut poles. The 

 work will soon be under way and the old 

 poles will be sold for kindling. The new 

 poles are to be 25 to 30 feet long and 

 used for the suburban street arc lighting 

 system. 



ELECTRIC POWER RUNS ARABIAN 

 PALACE 



The first installation of electric light- 

 ing equipment in Arabia has just been 

 completed in the palace of the Sultan. 

 N. S. Bay anker, a young electrical en- 

 gineer of India, persuaded the monarch 

 that electric lights and power were not 

 only safer than the old forms, but a great 

 deal more agreeable. Tungsten lamps 

 now cast their cheery glow in all of the 

 rooms of the palace, while a system of 

 motors is in process of installation for 

 the purpose of swinging the huge fans, 

 or punkahs, as they are called. The 

 young engineer has secured permission to 

 erect and operate a small power plant in 

 Arabia as soon as he can secure the 

 apparatus. There will be two 30 K.W. 

 generators, supplying current for six 

 thousand lamps. One set of machines 

 will be run at night, the other during 

 the day, principally for the purpose of 

 driving the punkah motors. Electric 

 fans have not been received very cor- 

 dially by the Arabians, although a few 

 have been introduced. 



Power will be furnished by oil en- 

 gines and direct current will be used. 

 High tension lines will never figure 

 prominently in Arabia, as there are no 

 sources of water power to furnish the 

 energy for hydro-electric plants. All the 

 equipment will be of German manufac- 

 ture. It arrived on the edge of the Ara- 

 bian desert shortly before the outbreak 



of the war, and is being transported in- 

 land by camel caravan trains. 



Another Arabian ruler the Sultan of 

 Lahej recently purchased an electric 

 generating set at Cairo, Egypt, with 

 which he will illuminate his palace at 

 Lahej, an Arabian town eighteen miles 

 northwest of Aden. A complete equip- 

 ment of electric lamps, wires, punkah 

 motors, and ice-freezing machines has 

 also been bought. A young native elec- 

 trical engineer has been engaged for 

 looking after the plant. 



THE PREPARATION OF AN ELEC- 

 TRICAL ACT IN VAUDEVILLE 



{Continued from page 240) 



and when one has assimilated their entire 

 contents, there is still a good deal to 

 learn on the subject. But eveiy iota of 

 knowledge helps, particularly in the the- 

 oretical end, which does not necessarily 

 mean the mathematical end. Probably 

 the less mathematics the practical builder 

 tampers with, the better he will be off, 

 for the actual design of the apparatus has 

 been spared him. What he needs is a 

 good, sound knowledge of the charac- 

 teristics of the high frequency current, 

 and this may be quite readily obtained 

 from a few good books. With knowl- 

 edge and a fair equipment of tools, let 

 him start in with what will probably 

 prove to be the most interesting and fas- 

 cinating work he has ever attempted. 



PLANT CULTURE BY HIGH FRE- 

 QUENCY CURRENT 



(Continued from page 243) 



bed in order that comparisons may be 

 made at frequent intervals. In order 

 to put the experiments on a practical 

 footing, the notes taken during treat- 

 ment and subsequently should include 

 data on the weight, amount of foliage, 

 percentage of edible portion, quality of 

 the latter, time required to bring plants 

 to maturity, etc. These notes will be use- 

 ful not only to the individual investiga- 

 tor, but to the world at large. 



