SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV. No. 2,7: 



\eTj much increase the rate of discharge, and, as nearly as I could 

 tell by this rough experiment, about double the rate. 



"In regard to the general action of the machine, I can sarthat 

 I have never seen any machines of the Holtz or Toepler-Holtz 

 pattern that worked so uniformly well in nil weathers. One of 

 these machines has been standing on the table here in the office 

 for several days, and I have tried it almost every day. and have 

 never had it fail to generate. During some of the time it has been 

 here, the weather has been very damp and rainy, — sometimes so 

 damp that I did not expect the machine to work at all, — but I 

 have never found it fail to build up quickly, and give a spark two 

 inches long. [This was one of the smallest-sized machines.] This 

 shows that you have succeeded in finding some very good glass, 

 and also that the insulation of the various parts is of the very best. 

 The addition of the round disk, witli the insulator in front of it. 

 as one of the electrodes, is also a very interesting one, as it i^er- 

 mits of one of the best experiments that I have ever seen for 

 showing the difference in the discharge when the polarity is re- 

 versed. The difference in the character of the discharge from the 

 knob is very marked when the knob changes from positive to 

 negative. I may say, therefore, that I consider all the special 

 features of the machine as distinct and important improvements." 



Another great improvement that is made in this machine is the 

 form of the electrode vvhich is used. This is made of a metallic 

 disk two inches or more in diameter, and hollow, so as to have 

 very gradually rounded edges, thus preventing any leakage at the 

 edges. Over this disk, separated from it by about an eighth of an 

 inch, and nearer the other electrode, is fastened a thin disk of 

 vulcanized rubber about half an inch less in diameter. This 

 rubber disk plays the part of the rubber sheet; sometimes held be- 

 tween the electrodes, and compels a much higher potential to be 

 established between the two electrodes before a spark can pass. 

 It can be used upon either one or both electrodes, as desired. 



These new machines are being sold by Messrs. Queen & Co. at 

 the same price as the ordinary form heretofore used, and are 

 gotten up in the finest possible manner. It may be mentioned, 

 also, that the plates used in Messrs. Queen & Co.'s machines are 

 manufactured and prepared by Voss himself, the inventor of 

 what is usually known as the Toepler Holtz machine, and are 

 guaranteed to give much finer and more reliable results than any 

 plates made in the American market. There are certain little 

 tricks of the manufacture and application of the insulating shellac 

 which Americans have not yet mastered, pursued by the Germans 

 to perfection, and which add greatly to the efBciency of the ma- 

 chine. 



It may not be generally known that Messrs. Queen & Co. were 

 the first to introduce the Toepler-Holtz machine into this country. 



In 1880 the manager of their physical department, Joseph J. 

 Walton, while on a business trip abroad, accidentally learned of 

 the existence of this michine, examined it, and was so favorably 

 impressed by it that he purchased a number for introduction into 

 this country. This was the first appearance of the now well- 

 known Toepler-Holtz machine in the United States. It was ex- 

 hibited soon afterwards by the before- mentioned gentleman at the 

 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, and attracted much attention. It immediately became 

 popular, and had such a large sale that it was straightway copied 

 by various American makers, and patents secured upon modified 

 forms. 



WYNNE'S ELECTRIC TRAMWAY SYSTEM. 



The system of electric tramways invented by Mr. Frank 

 Wynne of 5 Westminster Chambers, London, aims at connecting 

 a moving tramcar with an electric conductor buried beneath 

 the roadway, without the use of an open slot. To effect this 

 there is laid in the centre of the track a crenellated contact- 

 plate or rail, in short sections, of the form shown in the annexed 

 engraving. It is half an inch wide on the surface, and about 

 four inches and a half deep, the form being such as to follow 

 the junction line of the sets. It will be seen that the contact- 

 plate will be quite different in its effect upon vehicles from 

 the tramway rail ; wheels will cross it without difficulty at 



any angle, since they cannot slide along it for more than 

 a few inches; horses will also find a good foothold upon it. 

 The plate is laid in short sections entirely disconnected from 

 each other, and each piece is coupled by a wire to the electric 

 conductor beneath. In this wire is an automatic switch which 

 makes circuit between the section and the conductor as the car 

 comes over it, and breaks the connection when the car has 

 passed. Only three sections are ever connected to the conductor 

 at a time, and generally there are only two. A strong wire 

 brush on the car rubs along the sections, and conveys the cur- 

 rent from them to the electric motor, whence it flows to the 

 rails and to earth. The automatic switch is exceedingly 

 simple: it consists merely of an electro-magnet, an armature, 

 and two contact-pieces. Supposing the car-brush is in con- 

 tact with No. 1 section, the current will flow from the main 

 conductor across one contact to the armature, through the arma- 

 ture to a second contact, thence through the magnet-coils to 

 the section and the motor. A fine wire connects the armature 



to the magnet of the next section, but, as no current flows 

 through it, the armature of that magnet is not attracted. But 

 immediately the car-brush touches that section, the current 

 flows, the armature is attracted, and the section is connected 

 directly to the main conductor. At the same time, the arma- 

 ture of the section over which the car has just passed drops, 

 and breaks the circuit. Thus, as the car proceeds, it succes- 

 sively takes sections into circuit and drops them out. The 

 details of the system have been very carefully worked out with 

 the view of meeting evei-y contingency that may arise in work- 

 ing, and it is estimated that the system ran be applied to an 

 existing tramway for an expenditure of $11,000 per mile of 

 single line; that is, for about the cost of horses and horse-cars. 

 Engineering says, ' 'This seems one of the most promising schemes 

 for electric tramways which has been yet brought out in this 

 country [England] , and it is well worth a trial. The aston- 

 ishing success of electric trams in America will be repeated here 

 as soon as a system has been developed suited to English tastes 

 and ideas." 



WATER^SPOUTS. ' 



Having sailed from New York the 16th of October in the 

 United States steamship ' ' Pensacola, ' ' we had fii-st a few days 

 of westerly winds and moderate sea, and then fell upon a region 

 of easterly winds, generally south-easterly, and with every in- 

 dication that we were in the easterly portion of a cyclonic region, 

 the storm-centre being tlu-ee hundi'ed to five hundi'ed miles to the 

 westward. From such observations as we were able to make on 

 shipboard, it was concluded that the storm-centre, which on the 

 20th of October was south-westerly, was slowly moving to the 

 north-eastward, and would overtake us and pass beyond. This 

 it apparently did, and disajipeared from our observation on 

 Friday the 2.5th. Meanwhile we experienced warm south-easterly 

 winds, with numerous showers of rain and occasional squalls of 

 wind. 



On the morning of Tuesday the 22d we were favored with a 

 remarkably fine development of water-spouts. About 9 a.m., 

 occasional whirls of spray were seen on the surface of the sea, 

 at points bearing between south-south-west and west-south-west. 

 These whirls, and the subsequent water-spouts in that region, 

 were all on the north-easterly side of a region of cloud and rain, 

 the interior of which constituted a veritable rain-squall. The 

 north-easterly side of this region, as seen from the vessel looking 

 south-westward, was bordered by rolls of low scud upon which 

 the sun shone; but beyond and below this the clouds, being 

 mostly in the shade, had the dark-blue tint that belongs to the 

 rain-cloud and the rain. The water-spouts apparently originated 

 in the scud-clouds, which, as I have just said, formed the north- 

 easterly border of the squall proper. These scud-clouds were 



1 From Bulletin No. 6, by Cleveland Abbe (Nov. 7, 1889), of the United 

 States Scientiflo Expedition to West Africa, 1889 (David P. Todd, director). 



