.3o6 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 352 



on an index, and the impression is made either by pressing down 

 the pointer when in the proper position, or by moving with the 

 left hand some device which presses the type against the paper. 

 • Of this latter variety of the " lever " or single-key class of machines, 

 the Victor type-writer, shown in the illustration, is a good example. 

 The characters, eighty in number, are arranged in three rows on 

 the semi-circular index-plate in front, over which the pointer is 

 moved by the right hand until the desired character is reached. 

 This movement of the pointer is transmitted by gearing to the 

 vertical type-wheel in the centre. The types, which are carried on 

 the ends of radial springs at the periphery of the wheel, are moved 

 around so that when the pointer is over a, for instance, on the in- 

 dex, the type a is at the printing point. The impression is then 

 produced by pressing with the left hand the finger-piece shown at 

 the left of the engraving. The paper is carried between two 

 rollers on a sliding carriage, which travels behind the type-wheel, 

 moving the proper distance automatically after each impression. 



The Victor, though a very cheap machine, prints capitals and 

 small letters, figures and fractions, and punctuation -marks, is 

 simple in construction, small and light, and, for so chsap a machine, 

 prints rapidly and well. This type-writer is one of the interesting 

 exhibits at the American Institute Fair in this city. 



Light in Dark Places. 



There is many a room down in the depths of a city building — 

 for we may measure such buildings in depth from the roof, which 

 is the only part on which sunlight strikes, rather than in height 

 from the sidewalk — where it would be a relief to suffering human- 

 lity if an occasional ray of sunlight could be induced to enter. To 



the number of miles operated, about 44. The company has also 

 closed the following important contracts: Albany City Railway, 

 Albany, N.Y. ; City Electric Street Railway, Nashville, Tenn. ; 

 Kearney Street Railway Company, Kearney, Neb. ; Macon City & 

 Suburban Railway Company, Macon, Ga. ; Metropolitan Street 

 Railway, Toronto, Ont. ; St. Paul City Railway Company, St. 

 Paul, Minn. ; St. Paul & Minneapolis Railway, St. Paul, Minn.; 

 Union Depot Railway, St. Louis, Mo. The number of cars in use 

 on these roads is 116; and the number of miles operated, about 

 114. This gives a grand total of 179 cars, running or contracted 

 for, and 158 miles of track. 



A contract has been recently closed for an electric railway at 

 San Jose, Cal, which is the first Thomson-Houston road in the 

 State. As one electric railway has already failed in this city, the 

 selection of another was not made without careful investigation, 

 which resulted in making the contract with the Thomson-Hous- 

 ton Electric Company. Ornamental double-bracket iron poles will 

 be used, and nothing will be left undone in making the road a 

 model in every respect. 



The Julien Electric Traction Company. 



In view of the recent decision of Judge Lacombe, assigning to 

 the Julien Electric Traction Company a definite and specific process 

 of making its storage-batteries as distinguished from other methods, 

 this company have concluded to temporarily suspend the operation 

 of their cars in this city, pending the manufacture of batteries ac- 

 cording to the method prescribed by the court. The factory at 

 Camden, they state in a circular to their stockholders, will expedite 

 the manufacture of batteries so as to enable them within a few 



-say nothing of the basement offices in some of the down-town 

 buildings of New York, let one consider the condition as to light of 

 the average city flat. There is a room in front with windows on 

 the street, and there is a room in the rear with windows on the 

 yard. There are rooms between these extremes with windows, to 

 be sure, but to what purpose is a mystery. These windows open 



■ on air-shafts not more than three or four feet wide, and shafts so 

 deep, if you are near the ground floor, that no light seems quite 



• energetic enough to have ventured so far : at least, if it does go 

 down, it rests absorbed in the dust-begrimed walls of the shaft, 

 incapable of turning a sharp corner into the room. 



It is now possible to see in this city an experiment that shows it 

 to be perfectly feasible to help a most remarkable amount of these 

 stray rays from the bottom of a black air-shaft into a window at 

 its side. This is done by placing in the window panes of prismatic 



: glass like that we illustrate. The effect is, that a newspaper may 

 be read at the farther side of the room, whereas, with a window of 

 the ordinary glass, reading in any part is impossible. The experi- 

 ment is arranged so that, when a shutter is removed from the win- 

 dow of one kind, the other is closed, and the transformation is 

 striking. 



New Electric Railways. 



During the past few weeks the Thomson-Houston Electric 

 ■Company of Boston has completed the electrical equipment of a 

 number of street-railways, on which the electric cars are now in 

 daily operation. Among them are the following ; Central Railway, 

 Peoria, 111. ; Citizens' Electrical Street Railway, Decatur, 111. ; 

 -Metropolitan Street Railway, Kansas City, Mo. ; Omaha Motor Rail- 

 way, Omaha, Neb. ; Ottumwa Street Railway, Ottumwa, III; Quincy 

 Street Railway, Quincy, Mass.; Richmond Street Railway, Richmond, 

 -Ind. The total number of cars in use on these roads is 63 ; and 



weeks to resume operations. In the circular they say, " It is grati- 

 fying to know that the court has finally determined the respective 

 rights of this company and the complainants as to the methods to 

 be employed by each in making batteries, more especially as the 

 method we shall now employ is not only practical, but, in the 

 opinion of such competent experts as Professor Cross of the Insti- 

 tute of Technology, Professor Bracket! of Princeton College, and 

 Professor Edward Weston of Newark, is superior to the method 

 awarded to the complainant." 



The company further state that they find in L' Iiigenieur Conseil 

 of Oct. 12, just received from abroad, the following information 

 in relation to the granting of prizes at the Universal Exposition at 

 Paris for the different types of accumulators or storage-batteries, 

 which is translated as follows : " The official Ust of prizes distrib- 

 uted to exhibiters has just been published. We give herewith the 

 award of merit which the jury has assigned to the different manu- 

 facturers of accumulators : grand prize, M. Gaston Plants (de- 

 ceased) ; gold medal. The Soci6te I'Electrique of Brussels, vifho 

 manufacture the Julien accumulators ; silver medals. The Electric 

 Power Storage Company of London, which exploits the Faure- 

 Sellon-Volckmar accumulators ; silver medal, to the French So- 

 ciety of Accumulators (Phillipart Brothers), who exploit in France 

 the Faure-Sellon-Volckmar accumulators. Silver medals were also 

 awarded to M. Gadot, who also exploits the Faure-Sellon-Volckmar 

 accumulators in France ; and to M. Emile Regnier, who exploits 

 accumulators of his own system. The other manufacturers of 

 accumulators obtained either bronze medals or honorable mention. 

 When we consider that the grand prize was given to M. Plante 

 purely as an honor to the memory of a savant who in 1859 in- 

 vented the secondary pile, the highest distinction was in reality 

 ■granted to L'Electrique (or Julien) in this important branch of 

 electricity." 



