JUNE
4,
VACUUM
18<)8.]
ILLUMINATION
AT
stantaneous photographic portraits have been made of
TIlE ELECTRICAL
hauling on a wagon
by this light, and it is believed photographers will find 9 tons.
EXHIBITION.
on an ordinary road from 8 to
Yoked by means of whiffietrees to the tracto­
The elephant Man­
Modern electric lighting by means of arc and incan­ vacuum tube lighting of great utility in the absence of meter, they only pulled 1'2 tons.
darin had the ropes leading to the measuring instru­
descent lamps is the outgrowth of discoveries made sunlight.
... 11_
ment passed round his forehead, amI he ran the imli­
over a half century ago; and while the progress in elec-
strength oC Elephant.".
trical matters made since the business began to as-
surne a commercial character is little short of wonder-
I
�,�effim���un_�n�hl�inilie li�t�wh���h��has e�
is known, that the grand electrical awakening was so
long delayed.
been
fore
placed
the
be­
hence the interest
itself is not a new thing; it
itself to the tests
The vacuum tube
wh ich
has long been known that made
In a second attempt the force
The small elephant was next
�_______�
_
__ _��____________
____________
public,
Vacuum tube electrical lighting is almost a paraHel
case.
cator up to 1'85 tons.
Not much information respecting the strength of indicated was 2'5 tons.
attached
sOllie days
it could give considerable ago upon two ele­
light, but it is only very
phants belonging
had courag-e enough to un-
num & Bailey at
tube lighting to a practical
s a y s The Engi­
neer.
Unfortun­
recently that anyone has to
Messrs.
Bar­
dertake to reduce vacuum Olympia,London,
form and render it available for everyday uses.
At the Electrical Exhibi-
tion in this city was shown
ately for the trials,
the large elephant
Mandarin,
w h o
a Gothic chapel of fair size w e i g h s
furnished with pews, a pul-
p i t and full·sized organ.
It
was carpeted and furnished
some­
where about foul'
tons, could not be
induced to
p u t
with stained glass windows the whole of his
and illuminated in a novel strength into the
and attractive manner by a experiments, and
new and successful system succumbed
:Fig.2.-VACUUM
of vacuum
tube
Iightinl!
Ian Moore.
Mr. Moore has
invented by Mr. D. McFar-
TUBE OF
R APID CIRCUIT BREAKER.
been perfecting
this
sys-
tern for some years, as will be seen by an examination
of the files of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.
The exhibit
igno·
miniously to the
s m a II elephant
Btibe.
The meas-
uring instrument
was a tractolIleter
lent
by
,
.
Messrs.
embodies his improvements and gives an excellent idea Th 0 r n yc r o ft, of
of the practical value of this system.
The windows
Chis wick. and reo
are screened so as to exclude external light, t hereby gistering up to 30
giving the observer the exact value of vacuum tube
illumination.
tons.
The tracto­
BREAKER.
The vacuum tubes are about two inches meter was placed
in diameter and of sufficient length to reach from the
on a small trolley and attached at one end by means of put to it, and she in her first attempt exerted a force
They are bent to ropes to half a dozen holdfasts driven into the earth of of 572' tons.
After that she shoved, with her head rest­
conform to the curvature of the Gothic arches and the arena. The first animals tested were a pair of ing on the t-ailboard, a heavy wagon round the whole
pilasters to the apex of the ceiling.
their upper ends abutted against straight tubes extend-
ing along the highest part of the ceil­
ing, all bpillg mounted
cially
designed
powerful draught horses, which are considered capable arena.
This ta sk she did with great ease, although the
wagon contained no fewe r than fifty­
in neat, spe­
fi:'l:tures.
Over
eight men, and was, all told, of an esti­
the
mated weight of
arched front door of the chapel were
then his turn.
arranged vacuum tubes, in the form of
5 tons.
Man had
Some eighty-three of
the show hands were put on to the
letters, which spelled out the legend
ropes attached to the tractometer, and
Moore's Vacuum Tube Chapel.
The
pulled against it as in a tug-of-war.
having the color of daylight. -
The
and precipitated the whole crowd of
and the current used wa" the "kick"
afresh, and again broke, this time at
light within was soft and
diffusive,
With a pull of 2'7 tons the rope broke
tubes were connected up in parallel,
llIen to the ground.
or extra current derived from simple
3'2
coils without magnetic cores, and not
• ••
The secret of success lies in the use
Formation of Chlorophyl.
of a circuit breaker w hich completes
and breaks the circuit 60,000 times
great
rapidity
in
the at­
ance of 5'6 tons was overcome.
tion coil, as is generally supposed.
but
'With a new rope
tempt was again made, when a resist­
from the secondary wires of an induc­
minute;
tons.
It was attached
W
PaJJadine finds that oxygen is
essential for the reproduction of the
a
the
green color in etiolated leaves, and ill
breaks is not the only feature of the
greater quantity than is necessary for
the entire circuit-breaking mechanism
had been etiolated for forty-eight hours
circuit breaker.
Mr. Moore has placed
respiration.
Thus when leaves which
in a vacuum tube, as shown in Fig. 2,
in the dark in a 10 per cent solution of
By this const·ruction sparks are avoid­
imlllered in water in a te&t tube, it
in which a high vacuum is maintained.
saccharose were exposed to the light,
ed and the instan�neous break de­
was found that the green color was
pended upon for efficiency is secured.
restored most rapidly to those leaves
The rapid circuit breaker is operated
which were in the upper part, in con­
by a Gramme ring surrounding the
tact with the air, although the light
tube, as shown in Fig. 3, and forming
was equally distributed over the whole
the field magnet of the motor which
length of the tube.
breaks the circuit, the armature being
attached to the commutator
circuit breaker.
of
The action of solutions of various
th!'
carbohydrates
The breaker is con
chlorophyl was
nected with the Edison three-wire sys
tern, a simple coil being
each of the leads.
with.
inserted in
of
almost
entirely
A portion of these, when exposed t.o
scarcely any development of chloro­
tion of light without heat that has
phyl.
been made.
When immersed in a 10 per cent
solution
From what has been said it will be
of
saccharoi<e, however, an
intense green
seen that this system of lighting is
color was
developed;
raffinose in a 5 per cent solution acted
adapted to the present commercial cir­
in a similar manner.
This
Dextrose and
fructose gave rise to the green color­
system in its present stage of develop­
ation
ment has an efficiency about equal to
somewhat
wore
slowly, and
with galactose, for the first five days,
incandescent lamp lighting, but it is
the
believed experiments now in progress
leaves
showed
no
color;
after
then the color developed very rapidly.
wiII show an efficiency far in advance
Dulcite solution, mannite, asparagin,
of that already secured.
urea, alcohol and ammonium hydro­
By changing the gases in the tubes,
chloride
and by varying the degree of exhaus­
In-
leaves
formation
experimented
light, still immel'sed in water, showed
is the nearest approach to the produc­
varied for decorative purposes.
0
by etiolating them in boiled water.
the tubes, and it is believed that this
tion, the color of the light may be
the
a 1 s
free from carbohydrates were obtained
No perceptible heat is given out by
cuits-a great point in its favor.
Thus
on
prevented the formation of
chlorophyl, while inulin and tyrosin
Fig. I.-MOORE'S VACUUM
TUBE
ILLUMINATION
AS EXHIBITED
CllAl'EL.
© 1898 SCIENllFIC AMERICAN, INC.
II A .ODEL
appear to be neutral in their action.­
Comptes Rendus.