March i, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



[6i 



wary customers, the electric current is really employed in this piece 

 of apparatus. The device consists of five type-wheels with con- 

 necting gear, disposed on a single axis ; and the minute, the hour, 

 the day, the month, and the year are correctly placed in line under 

 the impression-pad. The minute-wheel is actuated by any clock, 

 through the instrumentality of an electric current, which shifts it 

 round minute by minute, a pawl carrying round the hour-wheel 

 when sixty movements have been made. The apparatus is under 

 trial at the London General Post-Office for dating telegrams. 



The Production of Electric Currents by Mechanical 

 Actions. — The following interesting experiment is due to M. 

 Siljestroem. Two hollow iron cylinders were closed at one end by 

 the same plate of german silver, and were plunged in ice. They were 

 connected with a galvanometer, and, when the air in one of them 

 was compressed to 86 atmospheres, a current was observed which 

 was in the opposite direction to that which would be produced 

 by an elevation of temperature, although there was a momentary 

 current in the same direction as the latter. 



Edison Illuminating Companies. — The development of 

 the electric-light business is well shown in the holding in Kansas 

 City, on Feb. 12-13, °f ^^e semi-annual convention of the Associa- 

 tion of Edison Illuminating Companies, a full report of which ap- 

 pears in the Electrical Revzew. The Edison meetings of this kind 

 have invariably been for " business." The policy of President 

 John I. Beggs has always been to hold the convention closely to 

 its work up to the final adjournment, leaving the question of 

 recreation as a secondary consideration. The convention, while 

 not as large as on former occasions in the number of delegates in 

 attendance, was one of absorbing interest, the papers were more 

 numerous and comprehensive than at previous meetings, and there 

 was nothing lacking in the discussions of the vital features of the 

 business with the exception of the unavoidable absence of Mr. 

 Edison and President Johnson, of the Light Company. It was 

 but natural that a sense of exultation at the prospect of speedy 

 results in the tight for the supremacy (which, if the patent laws of 

 the United States mean any thing, are now near at hand) should be 

 evident in all the utterances of the discussions. The cloud of un- 

 certainty which long litigation always brings seemed to be lifted, 

 and a tone of assurance and expectancy was one of the marked 

 features of the session. A paper was read by J. H. Vail, general 

 superintendent of the Edison Electric Light Company, on electric 

 railways and their relations to Edison central stations, illustrating 

 by statistics the advantages to be derived from their operation by 

 Edison illuminating companies. A detailed statement was made 

 by J. H. McClement, comptroller of the parent company, on the 

 progress of the patent litigation. This was supplemented in the 

 evening by a stereopticon entertainment arranged by W. J. Jenks, 

 director of the Standardizing Bureau, showing in a series of slides the 

 history of Mr. Edison's work. An interesting discussion of the results 

 of the use of the Edison chemical meter brought out a paper of 

 great practical interest by E. A. Kennelly of the Edison laboratory, 

 under whose direct supervision experiments have been conducted 

 the past year. The meter has been cheapened both in first cost 

 and expense of maintenance, and samples of new types are now 

 being made for the Paris Exposition. The possible errors, never 

 large under reasonable management, have practically disappeared. 

 A paper on the " Commercial Mean of the Incandescent Lamp," 

 by Mr. Edison, was read by Mr. Upton of the Edison Lamp 

 Company. This set forth in amplified form the practical results 

 of the operation of the laws regarding lamp efficiency brought 

 out some time ago by John W. Howell. It also detailed some in- 

 teresting facts as to lamp breakage in central stations. The dis- 

 cussions developed the fact that one result of Mr. Edison's experi- 

 mental work has been to secure fifty per cent more light from the 

 same energy expended, while fully maintaining the guaranteed life 

 of lamps, as a matter of actual record. The other papers were on 

 " Medical Applications of Current from Central Stations," by J. 

 W. Parcell, jun., of the Sprague Electric Railway and Motor 

 Company ; " The Steam-Engine,'" by Professor William D. Marks 

 of Philadelphia; " Inspections," by W. J. Jenks. The executive 

 committee reported in favor of holding the next meeting at Niagara 

 Falls. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 It is announced that Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, 

 Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, Brazil, 

 Uruguay, Chili, Japan, and the Sandwich Islands have signified 

 their intention of sending representatives to the International Con- 

 ference which is shortly to be held to consider some means of sig- 

 nalling at sea that will render collisions less liable to occur than 

 under the present system. The proposed conference is the result 

 of a letter addressed to the different maritime powers of the world 

 by the President of the United States, asking their co-operation in 

 this matter. The date and place for holding the meeting yet re- 

 main to be fixed. 



— Russia's boldness in pushing on her railway system across the 

 Turcoman region to Central Asia has received its due reward. Al- 

 ready the line is declared to be paying its working expenses ; and 

 Gen. Annenkoff, the designer, has been encouraged thereby to ask 

 permission of the Emperor to extend the line still farther to Tash- 

 kent. In all probability, the request, according to Engineering , 

 will be acceded to, because Tashkent, besides being the adminis- 

 trative centre of the province of Turkestan, is a town with a popu- 

 lation of 100,000 people, and the extension of the Samarcand sec- 

 tion thither would not only tie an important political and trading 

 centre to the Russian railway system, but also link the Syr Daria 

 River and the Aral communications with those of the Caspian. 

 The Aral fleet, as originally established, used to ply on the Syr 

 Daria River, along the banks of which the Russians marched, and 

 founded a series of forts and colonies, in their advance upon Tash- 

 kent and Samarcand. The great drawback the steamers had al- 

 ways to contend with was the absence of any fuel except a kind of 

 brierwood known as saxaul. If the Samarcand line were extended 

 to Tashkent, it would cross the navigable head of the river on its 

 way, and be able to provide the steamers with liquid fuel from the 

 Caspian, similar to the supply the railway was able to accord to 

 those on the Oxus when it penetrated to that river a year ago. 

 North of Tashkent stretches a series of steppes, adjoining those of 

 Siberia, which are being gradually settled by colonists from Russia. 

 This region, which is well adapted for agricultural and pastoral 

 pursuits, would benefit considerably by the extension of the railway 

 to Tashkent ; so that Gen. Annenkoff has many cogent reasons, 

 besides those of a military character, to adduce in support of his 

 project. It is curious to contrast this activity of the Russians with 

 the lethargy of English authorities in regard to the Indian frontier 

 communications. If the completion of the Quetta line to Canda- 

 har would not pay the whole working expenses of the railway from 

 the Indus, it would at least more than pay that on the extension, 

 while adding immeasurably to the security of the Indian Empire. 

 In Burmah again, where Gen. Sir Frederick Roberts, four years 

 ago, urged upon the government the rapid construction of railways 

 as a means of pacifying the country, no important lines, except the 

 slow-paced Tounghoo-Mandalay line, have been taken in hand, 

 and money is being wasted in punitive expeditions against dacoits 

 and tribesmen, which would have been far more advantageously 

 spent on railway-works. 



— For paving streets. India-rubber threatens to enter into compe- 

 tition with asphalt. This new pavement, according to the Engineer 

 ing and Building Record, is the invention of Herr Busse of Linden, 

 Prussia, who has introduced it in Hanover. He used it first in the 

 summer of 1887 for paving the Goethe Bridge, which has a surface 

 of about 1,000 square metres, or 10,764 square feet. The new 

 pavement, it is stated, proved so satisfactory that 1,500 square 

 metres (16,146 square feet) of ordinary carriage-way in the city 

 were paved with it last summer. The Berlin corporation, being 

 favorably impressed with the new pavement, has had a large area 

 paved with India-rubber as an experiment, and the magistracy of 

 Hamburg is likewise trying the pavement. It is asserted that the 

 new pavement combines the elasticity of India-rubber with the re- 

 sistance of granite. It is said to be perfectly noiseless, and un- 

 affected either by heat or cold. It is not so slippery as asphalt, 

 and is more durable than the latter. As a covering for bridges, it 

 ought to prove excellent, as it reduces vibration ; but a question 

 may be asked as to its cost. The expense must be heavier than 

 that of any known pavement. 



