The Story of Electricity

Sufficient quant.i.ties of steel have been made in electric furnaces to permit of the determination of the quality of the product as well as the economy of the process. It has been found in Germany that rail steel made in the induction furnace has a much higher bending and breaking limit than ordinary Bessemer or Thomas rail steel, and in Germany in 1908 rails so made commanded a considerably higher price per ton than those of ordinary rail steel. After trial orders had proved satisfactory, in 1908 5,000 tons of rails were ordered for the Italian and Swiss governments at a German works, where furnaces of eight tons capacity had been installed. In the United States only a few electric steel furnaces are in operation, and these, for the most part, for purposes of demonstration and experiment. But in Europe the industry is well established, and while at present small, is constantly growing and possesses an a.s.sured future.

In addition to the manufacture of steel, the application of the electric furnace for producing what are known as ferro-alloys, or alloys of iron, silicon, chromium, manganese, tungsten and vanadium, is now a large and important industry. Special steels have their uses in different mechanical applications and the advantage of alloying them with the rarer metals has been demonstrated for several important purposes, as for example, the use of chrome steel for armor plate, and steel containing vanadium for parts of motor cars. These industries for the most part contain electric arc furnaces and have, as their object, the manufacture of ferro-alloys, which are introduced into the steel, it having been found advantageous to use the rare metals in this form rather than in their crude state.

There is one electro-metallurgical process that has made possible the production in commercial form and for ordinary use of a metal that once was little more than a chemical curiosity. In 1885 there were produced 3.12 tons of aluminum, and its value was roughly estimated at about $12 a pound. By 1908 America alone produced over 9,000 tons valued at over $500,000,000, while European manufacturers were also large producers. In 1888 the electrolytic manufacture of aluminum was commenced in America and in the following year it was begun in Switzerland. Aluminum is formed by the electrolysis of the aluminum oxide in a fused bath of cryolite and fluorspar. The aluminum may be obtained in the form of bauxite, and is produced in large rectangular iron pots with a thick carbon lining. The pot itself is the cathode, while large graphite rods suspended in the bath serve as the anodes. After the arc is formed and the heat of the bath rises to a sufficient degree the material is decomposed and the metal is separated out so that it can be removed by ladling or with a siphon. The application of heat to obtain this metal previous to the invention of the electric furnace could only be considered a laboratory problem and the expense involved did not permit of commercial application. Now, however, aluminum is universally available and with the expiration of certain patents, the material has sold as low as 25 cents a pound.

Electrolytic methods serve also for the refining of nickel and for the production of lead, and as in other fields of metallurgy, these processes are attracting the attention of chemists and of engineers. While tin as yet has not yielded to electrolytic or electro-thermal methods with any success, the removal of tin from tin sc.r.a.ps and cuttings has been carried on with considerable success. With zinc the electrolytic and electro-thermal processes have not been able yet to compete with the older metallurgical method of distillation, but an important industry is electro- galvanizing, where a solution of zinc sulphate is deposited on iron and gives a protective coating. Experimental methods with the use of electricity in extracting zinc from its ores are being tested at various European plants, but the matter has not yet reached a commercial scale.

One of the earliest notable uses of the electric furnace in a large electro-chemical industry was for the production of carborundum, a carbide of silicon, which is remarkably useful as an abrasive, being available in the manufacture of grinding stones and other like purposes to replace emery and corundum. It is produced by the use of a simple electric furnace of the resistance type, where c.o.ke, sand, and sawdust are heated to a temperature of between 2000 degrees and 3000 degrees C. The chemical reaction involves the production of carbon monoxide, and gives a carbide of silicon, a crystalline solid which has the excellent abrasive properties mentioned. The manufacture was first started by its inventor, E. G. Acheson, about 1891 on a small scale, and in the following year 1,000 pounds of the material were produced at the Niagara Falls works. Within fifteen years its output had increased to well over six million pounds.

The electric furnaces at Niagara Falls have supplied many interesting electro-chemical processes. After making a carbide in the electric furnace it was found possible to decompose it by further increasing the heat to a point where the second element is volatilized and the pure carbon in the form of artificial graphite remains. In more recent work the carbide containing the silicon has been done away with and ordinary anthracite coal used as a charge from which the pure graphite is obtained. This graphite has been found especially useful in electrical work as for electrodes, while a more recent process enables a soft variety of graphite to be obtained which becomes a compet.i.tor of the natural material.

One of the most interesting of the many electro-chemical processes is the heating of lime and c.o.ke in the electric furnace so as to obtain a product in the form of calcium carbide, which, on solution in water, forms acetylene gas, a useful and valuable illuminant. This process dates from 1893 when T. L. Willson in the United States first started its manufacture on a large scale, and the great electrochemist, Henri Moissin, about the same time independently invented a similar process as a result of his notable work with the electric furnace. The process involves merely a transformation at a high temperature, a portion of the carbon in the form of c.o.ke, uniting with pulverized lime to give the calcium carbide or CaC2. Now this material, when water is added to it, decomposes, and acetylene or C2H2 is formed, which is a gas of high illuminating value as the carbon separates and glows brightly after being heated to incandescence in the flame.

The electric furnace at Niagara Falls has been able to produce still another combination in the form of siloxicon by heating carbon and silicon to a temperature slightly below that required to produce carborundum. This product is a highly refractory material and is valuable for the manufacture of crucibles, m.u.f.fles, bricks, etc., for work where extreme temperatures are employed. The electric furnace enables various elements to be isolated, such. as silicon, sodium, and phosphorus, and when obtained in their pure state they find wide application.

The most important electro-chemical work of the future is to devise some means of obtaining nitrogen from the air. It is stated by scientists that the nitrogen of the soil is being exhausted and that at some future time the Earth may not be able to bear crops sufficient for the sustenance of man, unless some artificial means be found to replenish the nitrogen. Unlimited supplies of nitrogen exist in the air, but to fix it with other materials in such form that it will be useful as a fertilizer has been one of the problems to which the electro-chemists have recently devoted much attention. By the use of the electric arc and pa.s.sing air through a furnace, various substances have been tried to take up the nitrogen of the air. Thus when calcium carbide is heated and brought into contact with nitrogen one atom of carbon is given up and two atoms of nitrogen take its place, resulting in the production of cyanamide.

Other important electro-chemical processes are involved in the electrolysis of the various alkaline salts to obtain metallic sodium and such products as chlorates. Thus by the electrolysis of sodium chloride metallic sodium and chlorine is obtained. From the metallic sodium solid caustic soda is then derived by a secondary reaction, while the chlorine is combined with lime to form chloride of lime or bleaching powder. In some processes the electrolysis affords directly an alkaline hypochlorite or a chlorate, the former being of wide commercial use as a bleaching agent in textile works and in the paper industry. The same process employed in the electrolysis of sodium salts is used in the case of magnesium and calcium.

Electrolysis is also made use of in the manufacture of chloroform and iodoform, as the chlorine or iodine which is produced in the electrolytic cell is allowed to act upon the alcohol or acetone under such conditions that chloroform or iodoform is produced.

Electro-chemistry plays an important part in many other industries whose omission from our description must not be considered as indicating any lack of their importance. New processes constantly are being discovered which may range all the way from the production of artificial gems to the wholesale production of the most common chemicals used in the arts. In many branches of chemical industry manufacturing processes have been completely changed, and from the research laboratories, which all large progressive manufacturers now maintain, as well as from workers in universities and scientific schools, new methods and discoveries are constantly forthcoming.

CHAPTER XII.

ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

The electric railway of Dr. Werner von Siemens constructed at Berlin in 1879 was the forerunner of a number of systems which have had the effect of changing materially the problems of transportation in all parts of the world. The electric railway not only was found suitable as a subst.i.tute for the tramway with its horse-drawn car, but far more economical than the cable cars, which were installed to meet the transportation problems of large cities with heavy traffic, or, as in the case of certain cities on the Pacific slope, where heavy grades made transportation a serious problem. Furthermore, the electric railway was found serviceable for rural lines where small steam engines or "dummies"

were operated with limited success, and then only under exceptional conditions. As a result, practically every country of the world where the density of population and the state of civilization has warranted, is traversed by a network of electric railways, securing the most complete intercommunication between the various localities and handling local transportation in a manner impossible for a railway line employing steam locomotives.

The great advance in electric transportation, aside from its meeting an economic need, has been due to the development of systems of generating and transmitting power economically over long distances. If water power is available, turbines and electric generators can be installed and power produced and transmitted over long distances, as, for example, from Niagara Falls to Buffalo, or even to much greater distances as in the case of power plants on the Pacific coast where mountain streams and lakes are employed for this purpose with considerable efficiency. A high tension alternating current thus can be transmitted over considerable distances and then transformed into direct current which flows along the trolley wires and is utilized in the motors.

This transformation is usually accomplished by means of a rotary converter, that is, an alternating current motor which carries with it the essential elements of a direct current dynamo and receiving the alternating current of high potential turns it out in the form of direct current at a, lower and standard potential.

The alternating current at high potential can be transmitted over long distances with a minimum of loss, while the direct current at lower potential is more suitable for the motor and can be used with greater advantage, yet its potential or pressure decreases rapidly over long lengths of line, so that it is more economical to use sub-stations to convert the alternating current from the power plant. It must not be inferred, however, that all electric railways employ direct current machinery. In Europe alternating current has been used with great success and also in the United States where a number of lines have been equipped with this form of power. But the greater number of installations employ the direct current at about 500-600 volts and this is now the usual practice. Whether it will continue so in the future or not is perhaps an open question.

The electric car, as we have seen, employs a motor which is geared to the axle of the driving trucks, and the current is derived from the trolley wire by the familiar pole and wheel and after flowing through the controller to the motor returns by the rail. The speed of the car is regulated by the amount of current which the motorman allows to pa.s.s through the motor and the circuits through which it flows in order to produce different effects in the magnetic attraction of the magnet and the armature. In the ordinary electric car for urban or suburban uses there has been a constant increase in the power of the motor and size of the cars, as it has been found that even large cars can be handled with the required facility necessary in crowded streets and that they are correspondingly more economical to maintain and operate.

The success of electric traction in large cities had been demonstrated but a few years when it was appreciated that the overhead wires of the trolley were unsightly and dangerous, especially in the case of fire or the breaking of the wires or supports. Accordingly a system was developed where the current was obtained from conductors laid in a conduit on insulated supports through a slot in the centre of the track between the rails. A plow suspended from the bottom of the car was in contact with the conductors which were steel rails mounted on insulated supports, and through them the current pa.s.sed by suitable conductors to the controller and motors. This system found an immediate vogue in American cities, and though more costly to install than the overhead trolley, was far more satisfactory in its results and appearance. In certain cities, Washington, D. C., for example, the conduit is used in the built-up portion of the town and when the suburbs are reached the plow is removed and the motors are connected with the trolley wire by the usual pole and wheel.

Perhaps the most important feature of the electric railway in the United States has been the development and increase of its efficiency. Wherever possible traffic conditions warranted, it was comparatively easy to secure the right of way along country highways with little, if any, expense, and the construction of track and poles for such work was not a particularly heavy outlay.

It was found, as we have seen, that the current could be transmitted over considerable distances so that the opportunity was afforded to supply transportation between two towns at some small distance where the local business at the time of the construction of the road would not warrant the outlay. This led to the systems of interurban lines, small at first, but as their success was demonstrated, gradually extending and uniting so that not only two important towns were connected, but eventually a large territory was supplied with adequate transportation facilities and even mail, express, and light freight could be handled.

Again the success of such enterprises made it feasible for the electric railways to forsake the public highway and to secure a right of way of their own, and gradually to develop express and through service, often in direct compet.i.tion with the local service of the steam railways in the same territory. Here larger cars were required and power stations of the most modern and efficient type in order to secure proper economy of operation. The general character of machinery, both generators and motors, was preserved even for these long distance lines, and their operation became simply an engineering problem to secure the maximum efficiency with a minimum expenditure.

With the success of electric railways in cities and for suburban and interurban service naturally arose the question, why electric power whose availability and economy had been shown in so many circ.u.mstances could not be used for the great trunk lines where steam locomotives have been developed and employed for so many years? The question is not entirely one of engineering unless as part of the engineering problem we consider the various economic elements that enter into the question, and their investigation is the important task of the twentieth century engineer. For he must answer the question not only is a method possible mechanically, but is it profitable from a practical and economic standpoint? And it is here that the question of the electrification of trunk lines now rests. The steam locomotive has been developed to a point perhaps of almost maximum efficiency where the greatest speed and power have been secured that are possible on machines limited by the standard gauge of the track, 4 feet 8 1/2 inches, and the curves which present railway lines and conditions of construction demand. Now, withal, the steam locomotive mechanically considered is inefficient, as it must take with it a large weight of fuel and water which must be transformed into steam under fixed conditions.

If for example, we have one train a day working over a certain line, there would be no question of the economy of a steam locomotive, but with a number, we are simply maintaining isolated units for the production of power which could be developed to far greater advantage in a central plant. Just as the factory is more economical than a number of workers engaged at their homes, and the large establishment of the trust still more economical in production than a number of factories, so the central power station producing electricity which can be transmitted along a line and used as required is obviously more advantageous than separate units producing power on the spot with various losses inherent in small machines.

But even if the central station is theoretically superior and more economical it does not imply that it is either good policy or economy to electrify at once all the trunk lines of a country such as the United States and to send to the sc.r.a.p heap thousands of good locomotives at the sacrifice of millions of dollars and the outlay of millions more for electrical equipment. In other words, unless the financial returns will warrant it, there is no good and positive reason for the electrification of our great trans- continental lines and even shorter railroads. That is the situation to-day, but to-morrow is another question, and the far- seeing railroad man must be ready with his answer and with his preparations. To-day terminal services in large cities can better be performed by electricity, and not only is there economy in their operation, but the absence of dirt, smoke and noise is in accord with public sentiment if not positively demanded by statute or ordinance. Suburban service can be worked much more economically and effectively by trains of motor cars, and time table and schedule are not limited by the number of available locomotives on a line so equipped. On mountain grades, where auxiliary power or engines of extreme capacity are required, electricity generated by water power from melting snow or mountain lakes or streams in the vicinity may be availed of. Under such conditions powerful motors can be used on mountain divisions, not only with economy, but with increased comfort to pa.s.sengers, especially where there are long tunnels. All this and more the railway man of to-day realizes, and electrification to this extent has been accomplished or is in course of construction. For each one of the services mentioned typical installations can be given as examples, and to accomplish the various ends, there is not only one system but several systems of electrical working, which have been devised by electrical engineers to meet the difficulties.

To summarize then, electric working of a trunk line results in increased economy over steam locomotives by concentration of the power and especially by the use of water power where possible.

Thus economy is secured to the greatest extent by a complete electrical service and not by a mixed service of electric and steam locomotives. Electrification gives an increase in capacity both in the haulage by a locomotive, an electric locomotive being capable of more work than a steam locomotive, and in schedule and rate of speed, as motor car trains and electric terminal facilities make possible augmented traffic, and an increased use of dead parts of the system such as track and roadbed. There is a great gain in time of acceleration and for stopping, and for the Boston terminal it was estimated that with electricity 50 per cent, more traffic could be handled, as the headway could be reduced from three to two minutes. The modern tendency of electrification deals either with special conditions or where the traffic is comparatively dense. From such a beginning it is inevitable that electric working should be extended and that is the tendency in all modern installations, as for example, at the New York terminal of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad where the electric zone, first installed within little more than station limits, is gradually being extended. As examples of density of traffic suitable for electrification, yet at the same time possessing problems of their own, are the great terminals such as the Grand Central Station of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad in New York City, the new Pennsylvania Station in the same city, and that of the Illinois Central Station in the city of Chicago. Not only is there density here but the varied character of the service rendered, such as express, local, suburban, and freight, involves the prompt and efficient handling of trains and cars. Now, with suburban trains made up of motor cars, a certain number of locomotives otherwise employed are released; for these cars can be operated or shifted by their own power. Such terminal stations are often combined with tunnel sections, as in the case of the great Pennsylvania terminal, where the tunnel begins at Bergen, New Jersey, and extends under the Hudson River, beneath Manhattan Island and under the East River to Long Island City. It is here that electric working is essential for the comfort of pa.s.sengers as well as for efficient operation. But there are tunnel sections not connected with such vast terminals, as in the case of the St. Clair tunnel under the Detroit River.

While the field and future direction of electrification is fairly well outlined and its future is a.s.sured, yet this future will be one of steady progress rather than one of sudden upheaval for the economic reasons before stated. To-day there are no final standards either of systems or of motors and the field is open for the final evolution of the most efficient methods. Notwithstanding the extraordinary progress that has been made many further developments are not only possible now but will be demanded with the progress of the art.

The great problem of the electric railway is the transmission of energy, and while power may be economically generated at the central station, yet, as Mr. Frank J. Sprague, one of the pioneers and foremost workers in the electrical engineering of railways has so aptly said, it is still at that central station and it will suffer a certain diminution in being carried to the point of utilization as well as in being transformed into power to move locomotives, so that these two considerations lie at the bottom of the electric railway and on them depend the choice of the system and the design and construction of the motor. The two fundamental systems for electric railways, as in other power problems, are the direct current and the alternating current. In the former we have the familiar trolley wire, fed perhaps by auxiliary conductors carried on the supporting poles or the underground trolley in the conduit, or the third rail laid at the side of the track. All of these have become standard practice and are operated at the usual voltage of from 500 to 600 volts. The current on lines of any considerable length is alternating current, supplied from large central generating stations and transformed to direct as occasion may demand at suitable sub-stations. Recently there has been a tendency to employ high voltage direct current systems where the advantages of the use of direct current motors are combined with the economies of high voltage transmission, chief of which are the avoiding of power losses in transmission and the economy in the first cost of copper. These high voltage direct current lines were first used in Europe, and during the year 1907 experimental lines on the Vienna railway were tested. IN Germany and Switzerland tests were made of direct current system of 2,000 and 3,000 volts and in 1908 there was completed the first section of a 1,200-volt direct current line between Indianapolis and Louisville, which marked the first use of high tension direct current in the United States, and this was followed by other successful installations.

With alternating current there can be used the various forms of single phase or polyphase current familiar in power work, but the latter is now preferred, and in Europe and in the United States in the latter part of 1908 the number of single phase lines was estimated at 27 and 28 respectively, with a total mileage of 782 and 967 miles. A trolley wire or suspended conductor is used. To employ a single phase current, motors of either the repulsion type or of the series type are used and are of heavier weight than the direct current motors, as they must combine the functions of a transformer and a motor. It is for this reason that we often see two electric locomotives at the head of a single train on lines where the single phase system is employed, while on neighboring lines using direct current, one locomotive of hardly larger size suffices. With the polyphase current a motor with a rotating field is used, and they have considerable efficiency as regards weight when compared with the single phase and with the direct current motor. The polyphase motor, however, is open to the objection that it does not lend itself to regulations as well as the direct current form, and with ingenious devices involving the arrangement of the magnetic field and the combination of motors, various running speeds can be had. The usual voltage for these motors is 3,000 volts, but in the polyphase plant designed for the Cascade Tunnel 6,000 volts are to be used. They possess many advantages, especially their ability to run at overload, and consequently a locomotive with polyphase motor will run up grade without serious loss of speed. The single phase system has been carried on on Swiss and Italian railroads, notably on the Simplon Tunnel and the Baltelina lines with great success, and the distribution problems are reduced to a minimum. In the United States a notable installation has been on the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, where the section between Stamford and New York has been worked by electricity exclusively since July 1, 1908. Here the single phase motors use direct current while running over the tracks of the New York Central from Woodlawn to the Grand Central Terminal. On both the New York, New Haven & Hartford and the New York Central locomotives the armature is formed directly on the axle of the driving wheels, so consequently much interest attaches to the new design adopted for the Pennsylvania tunnels, where the armatures of the direct current motors are connected with the driving wheels by connecting rods somewhat after the fashion of the steam locomotive, and following in this respect some successful European practice.

APPENDIX.

UNITS OF MEASUREMENT.

(From Munro and Jamieson's Pocket-book of Electrical Rules and Tables).

I. FUNDAMENTAL UNITS.--The electrical units are derived from the following mechanical units:--

The Centimetre as a unit of length; The Gramme as a unit of ma.s.s; The Second as a unit of time.

The Centimetre is equal to 0.3937 inch in length, and nominally represents one thousand-millionth part, or 1/1,000,000,000 of a quadrant of the earth.

The Gramme is equal to 15.432 grains, and represents the ma.s.s of a cubic centimetre of water at 4 degrees C. Ma.s.s is the quant.i.ty of matter in a body.

The Second is the time of one swing of a pendulum making 86,164.09 swings in a sidereal day, or 1/86,400 part of a mean solar day.

II. DERIVED MECHANICAL UNITS.-

Area.-The unit of area is the square centimetre.

Volume.--The unit of volume is the CUBIC CENTIMETRE.