The Electrical experimenter

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i8 THE ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTER May, 1917 MONSTER MOTOR GREATEST EVER BUILT. We are told tliat at one time tliis old world of ours was inhabited by gigantic monsters. Well, we still have monsters mechanical ones—that are far more powerful than any of which our ancestors knew. Take, for instance, the mastodonic Westinghouse reversing motor here shown, which was specially designed for driving 35-inch reversing blooming mills in large steel plants. When we realize that it has a capacitj- of IS.OUO horsepower, the largest electric motor ever built, we need no further proof—we know it is monstrous. Some idea of its size may be gained when it is stated that the man standing alongside the motor is six feet tall. TRAVELING ELECTRIC SIGN FOR SHOW-WINDOWS. The traveling electric sign here illustrated is a new moving feature sign for window attraction that can be operated where heretofore the ordinary signs have been used. It displays the same amount of reading that ordinarily requires a 30-ft. length of space into a 3'/2-it. space. The wording can be changed as often as desired. Four 10-watt lamps are used for illuminating the sign, and the motor which operates the moving band uses only about 20 watts. Motor and lamps together use about the same —. amount of current as a 32-c.p. lamp. During ' > the daytime, when the motor only is working, it uses less than onehalf as much and the sign is equally effect- The Egyptians Built the Pyramids— but Se e How Modern Man Builds an Electric Motor Developing the Com bined Power of 15,000 Horses. This Is the Largest Motor Ever Built. ive. Any length of film from 6 ft. to 30 ft. can be used and changed in a few minutes. This sign can be operated on either 100 to 120 volts direct current or 100 to 120 volts (60 cycle or less) alternating current by changing the connections at the terminal board. The sign comes complete, ready for use, ELECTRIC LIGHTS CHEAPER THAN KEROSENE. How mucli clieaper are gas mantles and electric bulbs than candles? The Society for Electrical Development, anxious to encourage a wider use of electricity for lighting, has prepared figures showing that both are much cheaper than candles or kerosene, and The Travelin Cabinet, the tliat electric light, while it is more e.xpensive than light from a gas mantle, is much cheaper than light from an open gas flame. A recent test of si.x candles showed that for one cent only 2.68 candle-power hours were obtained. If electricity for lighting costs nine cents for a kilowatt-hour a 20-watt lamp can be lighted for 50 hours for nine cents. The efficiency of a 20-watl incandescent is a candle-power for 1.17 watts. Thus a 20-watt lamp will provide about 17 candle-power. It will burn 50 hours for nine cents or 850 candle-power hours will cost nine cents. One cent will buy 94.4 candle-power hours, or 35 times as much light as can be obtained from a candle for one cent. Ordinary kerosene lamps with kerosene at IS cents will give 72 candlepower hours for one cent. Figuring electricity at nine cents a kilowatt hour as above, we find 72 candle-power hours for one cent balanced against 94 for electricity, or a margin of 22 candle-power hours in favor of electricity. With an open gas flame and gas costing 85 cents a thousand cubic feet, one cent will buy 51 candle-power hours. For this price electricitj' will provide 94 candle-power hours. Thus balancing gas against electricity, we find the margin to be 43 in favor of electricity. Gas mantles have become ver\- popular and with best mantles one cent will buy 201 candle-power hours. g Electric Sign Provides 30 Ft. of Word Space Moving Belt Presenting An Ever-changing Sign Adapted to Show Windows. and can be operated from any convenient lamp socket. It can be set anywhere, or suspended with cords to hang at the top, middle or back of any show window. MUNICIPAL TROLLEY OF SEAT- TLE LOSES MONEY. The municipal street railways of Seattle, Wash., continue to lose money, as shown by the report of A. L. Valentine, superintendent of public utilities, in his report for October, the net loss being about $2,000 monthly. Since the city light department took over the street railway substatiuns the power cost is being checked against the value of the substations, so that in October the street railways received $1,069 worth of power without cash outlay. SAYS U.S. SHIPS HAVE GREATEST RADIO RANGE. After he had inspected radio apparatus on a number of vessels recently. Secretary Redfield of the Department of Commerce said that .'\merican vessels have a wider range in sending and receiving messages than ships of other countries. He also asserted that, from a comparison which he made of apparatus en an .\merican and a British steamer, the wireless regulations past by Congress give greater power to radio inspectors than do British regulations. NEW VACUUM BULB RECTIFIER FOR BATTERY CHARGING. The latest novelty in small rectifiers for charging storage batteries rated at 2 to 6 amperes charging rate and from 7.5 to 75 volts is here illustrated. It operates on a new principle for this class of apparatus. The discovery that made it possible is the perfection of the small bulb similar to that of an incandescent lamp, in which rectification of the current takes place. This bulb is filled with an inert gas and contains a tungsten filament and a grafite anode. It screws into a lamp socket in the outfit. A black-japanned casing with perforated top furnishes the mounting and incloses all live parts. This casing carries tlie bulb, a fuse to protect against reversal and other overload and the compensator which reduces the alternating current without wasteful resistance and e.xcites the tungsten filament. For charging, the rectifiers need only be connected to a convenient lamp socket and the pair of leads attached to the proper posts on tlie battery. The smallest unit is of 2 amp. ma.ximum capacity. From a 115 volt. 60 cycle alternating current circuit it will charge three lead battery cells at 2 amp., six cells at about 1 amp., and eight cells at 0.75 amp. Between these figures the charging rate is proportionate, ."^t 10 cents the kilowatt hour for current, the cost is about 1 cent the hour, including tube renewal costs. The weight is about 15 lbs. Medium size rectifiers have a capacity of 6 amp., 7.5 to IS in a 3' 2 Ft. -Particularly volts, and are designed primarily for charging three or six-cell automobile starting or lighting batteries in home garages. This tj'pe is designed for 115 volts, 60-cycle current, but may be used on 105- to 125-volt circuits. The weight is about 15 lbs. The largest tj-pe is designed for use in public garages and service stations, and has a capacity of 6 amp., 7.5 to 75 volts. It will charge from one to ten three-cell storage batteries from a llS-volt, 60-cycle, alternating-current circuit A compensator with fifteen taps is part of the device and a dial switch for instantly adjusting voltage ac- cording to the number of batteries to be charged. Amperage can be regulated between limits of 1 and 6 amp. A single New Contr signec _^JX_i IT Vacuum Bulb Rectifier with De- 3l Handle and Ammeter, for Charging Storage Batt eries. three-cell battery may be charged by itself or any number up to and including thirty cells. The controlling devices, including ammeter, switch and regulating handle, are located on the front of the case as seen.
May, 19 1 THE ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTER 19 CIVIC FORUM MEDAL FOR DR. BELL. Dr. Alexander (Iraham IjcII, inventor of the telephone, Iiefore a gathering which filled Carnegie Hall, received the Civic Korum Medal of Honor for Distinguished Public Service on March twenty-lirst. This medal was presented in 1914 to Major-general George VV. Gocthals and in 1915 to Thomas .'\lva Fdison. After many eloquent speeches in his praise, Dr. liell responded modestly, endeavoring to share the tributes to him with those who have l)eei\ associated with him in developing the telephone. "I may perhaps claim the credit of blazing tlie trail," he said, "but I am embarrassed at all the honor which has been done me, because so much of it should go to the many men who have since improved upon and extended its use— to such men as .Mr. Carty and his associates. Why, I am not even able to understand some of the mechanism which they have introduced into the use of the telephone. Wlicn they telephoned from Arlington and were heard at KitTel Tower in Paris, I could not see how it was done, nor could I understand how an operator in Hawaii was able to pick up the message." Dr. Bell told how, shortly after he got the idea of the telephone in 1874, he had called on Professor Henry at the Smithsonian Institution, who was then recognized as the greatest authority on electricity in America. Professor Henry listened kindly to his plan, and told him that he thought he had the germ of a great invention. "I told him that the trouble was that I did not have enough knowledge of electricity," said Dr. Bell. "He said, 'Get it.' Now the fact is that, had I known much about electricity, I would never have invented the telephone. I would have thrown up the idea as wildly improbable. My study had been that of sound." A NEW INSULATING MATERIAL. "Galalith" is a hone-like substance similar in many respects to celluloid. It is manufactured from casein and formaldehyde. A solution of casein is obtained by treating skimmed milk with caustic alkali, after which the solution is clarified and the casein then precipitated by means of acids and filtered. The water is then extracted under pressure and the product slowly dried over a period extending several weeks. The product obtained is casein plate, which is treated by thoro saturation with formaldehyde and dried again. Galalith is said to be an excellent insulating material somewhat transparent, altho never completely so, and of a yellowish-white horn-like color. It is workable cither in the hot or cold state, the cold galalith being softened by treatment in hot water. It is odorless, and much less inflammable than celluloid. It cannot he made into very thin sheets. Senator Shcppard recently introduced an amendment to the naval appropriation hill calling for $.50,000 to be expended in the erection of a radio station at Galveston. HEINRICH HERTZ. Born Feb. 22, 1857. Died Jan. 1, 1899. Inventor of Wireless. EIXKICH HERTZ was born on I"ebuary 22, 1857, in Hamburg, Germany. le received his early training in the Hengineering schools but at the age of twenty-one he decided upon an academic career Heinrich Rudolph Hertz—Father of the Wireless Telegraph. Upon His Scientific Researches and Practical Demonstration of Maxwell's Electromagnetic Theory, Marconi and Others Have Built Up the Commercial System We Knov» To- Day. and entered the University of Berlin as a pupil of Von Helmholtz and Kirchoff. Of the many gifted students of physics who have come forth from the celebrated TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS. f-J~fHE Department of Coiiuiicrcc of ll'asliington, by its Secretary, the I Hon. IVvK C. Rcdfield. has kindly sent us the follo'ving information of particular interest to all amateurs in the United States at the present time. Secretary Redfield has issued orders that for the present no nrw licenses to radio amateurs will be issued and the reneti'al of outstanding amateur licenses zcilt be granted only by the Department upon special favorable reports by the radio inspectors. (This refers to sending outfits only.) The Department also informs our readers, reminding them of the fact that the operation of transmitting radio instrum.ents without licenses is prohibited under severe penalties, which, under the conditions of the time, Zi'ould be e.racted in the case of those zi'ho shozved no regard for the requirements of the lazv. I'p to the time that we go to press, the Department has not formulated final plans as to ivhat steps zvill be taken in regard to radio amateurs as a ii'hole, and zvhethcr they ZfitI be allozved to continue to operate the same as before. It is our personal impression, however, that no drastic steps are likely to be taken by the Government as long as the amateurs cooperate zmth the Department. . In viczv of this zee most urgently and earnestly request all amateurs at the present time to refrain from using their transmitting stations except for regular zvork. In other zvords, all unnecessary gossip and fooling should be rigidly suspended for the present', particularly the "Q.R.M." mii.iance zMch at best, only serves to irritate our officials, and wakes their work harder. If amateurs do not z'oluntarily stop such annoyance the Government wilt certainly prohibit the use of all priz'ately otiiirrf radio outfits. These are no times to use the ether for a lot of nonsense: zve all 'wish to help our country as much as Kv possibly can until normal conditions are restored again. Alzvays remember, that our Government has granted the radio amateurs more pozvers than anv other country in the zi-orld, and in times of stress, it is up to the amateurs to shour of zi'hat stuff they arc made by cooperating Zi.'ith our officials to the fullest extent of their po-wcrs. THE EDITOR. Berlin laboratory, there are probably none who have become so world-famous as Heinrich Hertz. His qualities as an investigator were speedily recognized by Von Helmholtz, who urged him while still a student, to undertake the solution of the orize prob- lem proposed by the Berlin .Academy of Sciences in 1879. From 1880 to 1883 Dr. Hertz was an assistant in Von Helmholtz's laboratory; he then lectured for two years as instructor at Kiel. I'rom 1885 to 1889, he was professor of physics in the Polytcchnische of Karlsruhe, in the latter year Clausius, a professor of this institution, died, and Hertz was selected as his successor in the University of Bonn, where he spent the few remaining years of his life. Hertz's career as a scientific investigator covered a period of scarcely more than ten years, during which time he publisht thirtysix papers. Of these, a series of thirteen which appeared in Wiedemann's Annalen, were upon the subject with which his name will forever be connected, the laws of the propagation of electro-magnetic induction thru space. Of lliis great work, which afforded a complete experimental verification of the Maxwellian theories concerning electro-magnetism and the relation of electricity to light, there is no need to speak of its great importance to the scientific world. The importance of Hertz's contributions to this great subject received instant recognition. It would indeed be difficult to find any other instance in which researches bearing upon a most subtle and difficult question, and absolutely devoid of basic elements of a utilitarian or even of a popular character, having secured to their author such sudden fame. In addition to the recognition of those wno were able to appreciate his work. Hertz received the acclamations of the entire world of thought. Fortunately, he possest a nature of such complete simple-mindedness that his sudden rise into a position akin to notoriety had no effect upon him. The unassuming bearing which had always characterized him remained with him to the end. In delightful harmony with the genuine and simple nature of the man were his surroundings in the quiet university town of Bonn. His laboratory was situated in the apartments formerly occupied as a dwelling by Clausius in a wing of the old palace. Since electricity has become utilitarian, we find it associated everywhere with moving machinery and with the rush and bustle of modern industrial life, but in Hertz's laboratory, there was nothing to suggest the science of electro-technics. The place seemed to breathe that spirit of academic repose which to the inmates of the present day must have seemed to have vanished altogether from the world. What might such a man, in such an environment, have not been able to achieve, had he lived? The promulgation of the theories of Dr. Heinrich Hertz in connection with Wireless waves, stimulated universal interest all over the world, which led to their use in the propagation of intelligence thru free space. In 1892, Hertz's researches upon the electric waves were gathered together in a volume under the title "Untersuchungen ueber die .\usbreitung der Elektrischen Kraft." .Mmost on the day of his death, another excellent translation of Hertz's researches appeared.
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MURDOCK No. 55 SENSIBLY PRICED SENS
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