TRANSCONA 



5859 



TRANSIT 



plan was tested in the establishment of Brook 

 Farm, near West Roxbury, Mass, (see BROOK 

 FARM). Their ideas found published expression 

 in a journal called The Dial, of which Emerson 

 was the editor, and which was circulated from 

 1840 to 1843. 



TRANSCONA, trans ko'nah, a town in Mani- 

 toba, six miles east of Winnipeg. It is on the 

 main line of the National Transcontinental and 

 Canadian Pacific railways and on a branch of 

 the. Canadian Northern. It takes its name 

 from the Transcontinental Railway, in whose 

 shops there are about 1,200 employees. This 

 is the largest establishment in the town. Trans- 

 cona was founded in 1910, and was incorporated 

 two years later, its population at that time 

 being about 1,600. Population in 1916, about 

 3,357. 



The War of the Nations was responsible for 

 the establishment of a new industry, the manu- 

 facture of shells, in Transcona; about 500 men 

 were thus employed in 1916. The town owns 

 its water system, and receives electric light 

 from Winnipeg. Transcona offers unusual fa- 

 cilities for manufacturers and seems destined to 

 be a great industrial center. 



TRAN'SEPT, a term in architecture applied 

 to a section of the floor space in a cathedral 

 of the cruciform plan. The floor in such an 

 edifice has the general shape of a Latin cross, 

 and the transept is the space corresponding to 

 the arms of the cross (see diagram, page 4093, 

 article NAVE). The arms are sometimes desig- 

 nated as the north transept, south transept, etc. 

 See ARCHITECTURE. 



TRANSFORMER. In carrying electricity 

 from one point to another through wires, it is 

 cheaper and in other ways more desirable to 

 have a heavy voltage than a light one, but for 

 actual work in lighting and in driving ma- 

 chinery only a low voltage is practical. By the 

 use of a device called a transformer it is pos- 

 sible to generate a current of low voltage, in- 

 crease it for transmission and decrease it again 

 for service. The principle of the transformer 

 is simple. Faraday, in 1831, discovered that if 

 a current is sent in alternating directions 

 through a wire it causes a second current in a 

 near-by wire. Thus, if a hollow square, or 

 core, of iron has the wires of one circuit wound 

 around one side and those of another circuit 

 around the other, a transformer is created. If 

 an alternating current is sent through the first 

 circuit it causes shifting lines of magnetic force, 

 which induce in the other circuit a current 

 flowing in the other direction. In general, if 



there are twice as many loops of wire in the 

 first as in the second coil, the voltage of the 

 current will be cut in half and its amperage 

 doubled. In some transformers the core is out- 

 side of the coils. 



A transformer Is one form of induction coil. 

 See the article on that subject, and those on 

 ELECTRICITY ; AMPERE ; VOLT ; MAGNET AND MAG- 

 NETISM. 



TRAN'SIT, the crossing of one heavenly 

 body over the disk of a larger one, as seen 

 from the earth. The term is usually restricted 

 to the passage of inferior planets. 



Transit of Venus. .Of great importance are 

 the transits of Venus, as they afford means of 

 measuring the dimensions of the planetary sys- 

 tem. At the time of transit Venus crosses the 

 disk of the sun directly in line with the earth. 

 The transits are rare, only four taking place in 

 a period of 243 years. The next transit of 

 Venus will occur June 8, 2004; others will fol- 

 low in 2012 and 2117. Although important as 

 means of measurement, astronomers now rely 

 on what are considered more reliable methods 

 than those afforded by the transit. See PARAL- 

 LAX. 



Transit of Mercury. Transits of Mercury oc- 

 cur more frequently than those of Venus, 

 though they are not so important for astro- 

 nomical study, as Mercury is much farther dis- 

 tant from the earth. In the twentieth century 

 transits of Mercury will occur as follows: May 

 7, 1924; November 8, 1927; May 10, 1937; No- 

 vember 12, 1940; November 13, 1953; Novem- 

 ber 6, 1960; May 9, 1970; November 9, 1973; 

 November 12, 1986; November 14, 1997. 



TRANSIT, the instrument most generally 

 used by surveyors and civil engineers for meas- 

 uring angles, determining bearings and doing 

 leveling. The chief parts of the transit are two 

 circular plates, a and b, usually of brass or cop- 

 per and mounted independently upon the same 

 axis so that the upper plate will revolve upon 

 the lower. Supports, c c, are attached to the 

 upper plate to support the telescope d, which 

 moves upon a horizontal axis. The level, e, is 

 attached to the telescope, and a graduated ver- 

 ticle circle / is attached to the axis. Beneath 

 the telescope is a magnetic needle, g, which 

 moves over a dial graduated in degrees, min- 

 utes and seconds. The edge of the lower plate 

 is also graduated, and the upper plate carries a 

 pointer. Verniers are also attached to both the 

 horizontal and vertical scales so that the slight- 

 est movements can be easily read. There are 

 numerous other screws and lines for adjustment 



