194 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 346 



ELECTRICAL NEWS. 



The Telegraphone. — A problem heretofore only partially 

 and unsatisfactorily solved is the registration of telephonic mes- 

 sages so that they can be received at pleasure. Most of the efforts 

 in the direction of its solution have been towards using the induced 

 currents from the Blake transmitter in producing a record on the 

 phonograph at the other end of the line. An amplifying trumpet 

 has been used, ^nd the vibrations of the diaphragm of the receiv- 

 ing instrument have been recorded on the cylinder of the phono- 

 graph. It has thus far been necessary that an operator should be 

 at both ends of the line, and any slight electrical disturbances that 

 would interfere with the delicate induced currents naturally have 

 blurred the phonographic record. An instrument has lately been 

 patented and brought out that will no doubt be of actual use and 

 commercial value. It is called the " telegraphone," and is the in- 

 vention of Mr. Malone Wheless of Washington, D.C. Mr. Wheless 

 does not depend upon the transmitter currents for his impressions : 

 the speaker's voice is registered on the cylinder mechanically, the 

 record being of the nature of dots and dashes on a strip of paper. 

 A stylus connected with a light primary battery moves along these 

 impressions, producing current interruptions of a make-and-break 

 character, almost similar to the Morse code, and reproducing the 

 impressions on the registering cylinder at the other end of the line. 

 In practice, if A desires to send a telephonic message to B, who is 

 not at home, he calls him up in the usual way. Receiving no 

 answer, he turns a switch which throws in the battery power and 

 sets the cylinder at the other end in operation. He then talks into 

 his transmitter. The vibrations are transferred to the cylinder, 

 and the stylus sets up a series of waves, reproducing the impres- 

 sions at the other end, and registering the message. A then re- 

 verses his switch, and the message is repeated back to him. Should 

 any part of the message be inaudible, he simply fills in the blurred 

 words or sentences, and the record at the other end is then satis- 

 factory and complete. Upon B's arrival home, he finds the mes- 

 sage waiting for him, corrections and all ; and if its importance 

 demands it, he can have it repeated to himself as many times as 

 he chooses. The inventor claims that the apparatus can be manu- 

 factured and sold outright at a very low figure, and it is difficult to 

 foretell whether its usefulness or novelty will be the most interest- 

 ing feature. 



Electrical Executions. — This subject will enjoy popular 

 interest as long as the law now supposed to be in force remains 

 upon the statute books of the State of New York. It seems to have 

 been adopted for the reason that those having the matter in hand 

 knew less about death from electricity than from any other cause, and 

 also because the expert advice at hand seems to have been discol- 

 ored with the tainted aniline of business jealousy. The subject, 

 from a scientific standpoint, is of itself sufficiently interesting and 

 baffling ; but when the people realize, as they now must, that the 

 enactment of the law was due largely to the influence of a party 

 whose object was not so much to furnish a quick and painless 

 death as to enrich himself, it causes a cold shiver of horror to pass 

 over the community. Exactly how many volts of electrical press- 

 ure will kill is as uncertain as would be the number and force of 

 the strokes from a club that would produce death. A number of 

 persons, among whom may be mentioned Mr. T. Carpenter Smith, 

 the well-known electrical engineer, have been accidentally subjected 

 to the action of the very type of machine intended to be used by 

 the authorities, and have lived. Other persons have died instantly 

 from a much lighter shock. Only a few days ago expert Henry of 

 this city was instantly killed by i,ooo volts. Since that time a 

 Buffalo lineman lived in agony for forty minutes after suffering the 

 enormous pressure of 2,000 volts. Will electricity kill ? Certainly 

 It will kill, but exactly how applied, and how many volts .'' 



Encroachment of Electricity upon Gas in House- 

 Lighting. — Gas, which is now almost universally employed, has 

 not come into use in a moment. The difficulties attendmg its dis- 

 tribution at great distances from the source of supply have never 

 called for more than mechanical skill and ingenuity. But with 

 electrical distribution the problem to be solved is not how to cover 

 a certain territory with the mains and feeders of an electric- light 

 system, but how to do it with a fair profit on the investment. 



Among the methods making rapid strides is that of the distribu- 

 tion of electricity by means of the alternating current. The very 

 type of machine which the authorities consider so dangerous to life 

 will no doubt be that which will eventually solve the problem of 

 universal electric house-lighting. The current in the outside 

 mains is of a high pressure, — 1,000 volts or more, as the case may 

 be. This current is transformed by means of the converter to a 

 lower potential, and carried into houses at the safe and low press- 

 ure of only 50 or 100 volts. More and more private residences 

 are being wired for and lighted by electricity every day, and this is 

 the case more especially in small and growing towns than it is in 

 large cities. Little towns like Marshall, Tex., Vicksburg, Miss., 

 and the small towns of the Far West, are falling into line, and 

 availing themselves of every fresh improvement that will increase 

 the returns from investment and enhance the worth and reliability 

 of the light itself. In the New England States this condition of 

 things to-day obtains to such an extent that nearly every week 

 finds some gas company absorbing the local electric-light company 

 out of pure self-defence, and continuing the work. 



American Electrical Enterprise in London. — The in- 

 creased and increasing investment of English capital in American 

 institutions has caused much comment. American capital is not 

 doing precisely the same thing in England, but the establishment 

 of a Westinghouse Electric Manufacturing Company in London is 

 a fact that must excite comment and admiration as well. The 

 Westinghouse Electric Company of London has been organized 

 with a capital of $3,000,000. The factory is to be located on York 

 Road, adjoining the Westinghouse Air Brake Works. Other elec- 

 tric companies are extending themselves abroad, but this is one of 

 the most striking and recent examples of such extension. 



Electric T,4NNING. — It is now claimed that an electrical 

 process for tanning hides has been devised which reduces the time 

 of the operation from six months or a year to twenty-four hours, 

 turning out leather of equal quality. The cost is said to be reduced 

 more than one-half. It is usually the case with quick processes 

 that the material so turned out is in many respects inferior to that 

 manufactured in the usual way by skilled workmen who have taken 

 advantage of the experience of others, and perfected their process 

 after years of work and study. The new system alluded to does 

 not partake in any way of the nature of an " electric sugar " con- 

 cern, as each step has been made public and carefully described. 

 When it is proved that the leather thus turned out is equal in all 

 respects to that now manufactured, the process will possess more 

 interest than its shadowy entity now elicits. 



Electric Signalling f^om Ships. — If there is any thing in 

 our naval service that is inefficient and undeveloped, it is the sys- 

 tem known as " wigwag " signalling. A flag with a short staff is 

 waved to the right and left a given number of times for each letter 

 of the alphabet according to the code, and the speed attained is re- 

 markable for its slowness. Lack of speed can also be attributed 

 to insufficient practice of those using the code, although the exer- 

 cises enforced on board most vessels have given rise to a number 

 of bright, quick signalmen among the apprentice boys who do the 

 service proud in this respect. But with the most expert signalmen 

 the speed attained is so unsatisfactory that a quicker method will 

 no doubt before long come into use. Where vessels are fitted up 

 with electric lights, a system of signals is soinetimes employed, ex- 

 tending the use of the " wigwag " code to two incandescent lamps 

 suspended somewhere in the rigging for night work. In such 

 cases a double key is used, the illumination of one lamp being read 

 " one," and of both lamps at the same instant, " two ; " the letters 

 of the alphabet being represented by combinations of " one and 

 two." Although these flashes can be made much faster than the 

 motions of the flag in daylight, still it is so easy to exceed the possi- 

 ble speed of the reader on the other vessel or on shore, that little 

 increase of efficiency is attained. It takes but two or three months 

 to become tolerably proficient in the use of the ordinary key and 

 sounder, reading from fifteen to twenty words per minute at least. 

 The same device that now flashes out the clumsy naval code 

 could be employed in connection with the Morse alphabet with a 

 great saving of time. Practice in taking from a telegraph instru- 

 ment makes the ear or eye practically drink in the words spelled 



