cut through and the company continued there for nearly three years.

The increasing operations of the concern then determined Mr. La Roche in incorporating the business into a stock company which subsequently purchased the property they now occupy at American and Diamond streets, which has been described above. Mr. La Roche has for several years given special attention to alternating current machinery. The excellent alternating system of the company is the result of his labors, as likewise some five or six other systems that are now owned and operated by the company. The determined manner in which he takes hold of a problem generally insures its satisfactory solution. Nothing seems to daunt him, from the requirements of the most delicate instrument work to the building of a 10,000 light dynamo, and

CALIBRATING AND INSTRUMENT DEPARTMENT.

GLIMPSE OF THE FIELD MAGNET WINDING DEPARTMENT.

these, with everything between them as extremes, are manufactured under his direction.

VI.

Of late years, Mr. La Roche has surrounded himself with such assistants as the rapidly growing business demanded. Among these is Mr. Frank J. Stevens, the secretary and treasurer of the company who was elected last November to the position he now holds and which he fills to the complete satisfaction of the Officers and Directors. Mr. Stevens is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he took degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering. He was formerly a member of the firm of John S. Stevens & Sons in which he obtained his practical and financial training. His services have proved extremely valuable to the company who feel that they have made a wise selection.

Mr. J. W. W. Cornman, a graduate of the Philadelphia Manual Training School has charge of the Instrument Department. He is well versed in the instrument business, having been formerly in the employ of Messrs. Queen & Co.

Mr. Geo. W. Bacon is a member of the engineering staff. He is a graduate of Cornell University having taken degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering and was formerly with the Wightman Motor Co., of Scranton, Pa.

Mr. Frank R. Ford, also a member of the engineering staff is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and was formerly

BRASS FINISHING DEPARTMENT.

Mr. Geo. S. Loutey is the superintendent of construction and installation. He has been in the employ of the company about eight years, is esteemed by the officers for his faithfulness and loyalty, and is regarded as a permanent fixture,

THE LA ROCHE ELECTRIC WORKS.

with the Short Electric Co., of Cleveland, O., having had charge of the Chicago office of that company. He now has charge of the railway department of the La Roche Electric Works.

Mr. Gurney F. Coleman who has had an extensive experience in the installation of isolated and central station plants is now associated with the company in that capacity and is well fitted for the position. Mr. Coleman is also a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. C. C. Miller, assistant superintendent of the works, was formerly with the Novelty Electric Co. He attends to the details

of the manufacture of the apparatus under the direction of Mr. La Roche. VII.

Besides its own competent home staff the company have secured the services of a number of able coadjutors in their agencies established in every section of the country. Thus, in New York their interests are well cared for by Mr. W. A. Vail. Mr. Vail began in the electrical field in 1879, with the Bell Telephone Company, of Maine. In the Spring of 1881 he took charge of the uptown construction of the Metropolitan Telephone & Telegraph Company, of New York, and filled nearly every intermediate position until 1887, when he was made general superintendant of that

Owen Ford represents their interests in St. Louis, Mo., Rialto Building; the Southern Brass & Iron Co., in Knoxville, Tenn.; the San Francisco Electric Co., in San Francisco, Cal.; and the Campbell Electrical Supply Co., in Boston, Mass.

STEALING CURRENT IN NEW YORK.

Two men were arraigned recently in a New York court for stealing electric power, the case being the first of its kind in the city. Edward Gardner and his brother-in-law had charge of the exhibit of the Roulette Cycle Company of Coventry, Eng., at Madison Square Garden. Frank Martin, the electrician of the

company. In 1880 he resigned to take the position of vice president and general manager of the Boston Heating Company, and remained there until the company wound up their affairs. In February, 1891, Mr. Vail began business as a dealer in electrical supplies which he carried on successfully. On January 15, 1894, he accepted the agency of the La Roche Electrical Works of Philadelphia for New York and New Jersey, with offices in the Electrical Exchange Building, No. 136 Liberty street, New York.

The La Roche Company also have an office in Chicago at No. 239 La Salle street, managed by Messrs. Hood & Osburn,

Mr.

garden, observed that the wheels of a bicyle hanging above Gardner's booth were being turned at a rapid rate by some unseen power. On investigation he found that the electric light wires had been tapped, and were connected with a small electric motor, which kept the wheels in motion.

MR. W. A. GILES who for the past three years has carried on the business of mechanical engineering and equipment of steam plants, at Pittsburgh, Pa., has removed to New York where he is representing the Goubert Mfg. Co., at 32 Cortlandt street,

THE "STANDARD" MULTIPOLAR GENERATOR.

The very gratifying success which has attended the introduction of the arc light dynamo made by the Standard Electric Co., Chicago, led the company to believe that the principles involved in the construction of that machine might be successfully applied to the manufacture of other forms of generators, and working from this standpoint they devoted about a year to designing and perfecting a complete line of direct current as well as alternating current apparatus, including all the usual accessories, such as instruments, switches, transformers, etc.

We are enabled this week through the courtesy of Mr. C. E. Woods their electrical engineer, to give our readers an illustration and a brief description of their latest type of multipolar, direct current generator.

The machine is of a solid and substantial design, with large base insuring rigidity and freedom from vibration. The field has four consequent poles, the wrought iron cores being bolted between soft cast iron pole pieces. The two horizontal pole pieces have two lugs each and by them the field magnet frame is bolted to the

ments or even replace the entire commutator in a comparatively short time.

A neat and substantial switchboard of slate or marble is supported over the two upper fields and incidentally quite an ingenious use is made of the well known property of a magnet to repel an arc. The two main line fuses are located almost directly over the ends of the upper fields and the result is that in case a fuse is blown from any cause, all dangerous arcing is prevented, owing to the repelling action of the pole piece underneath the switchboard.

The brush holders are of a novel and neat design, short blocks of carbon being clamped firmly between two metal jaws, thereby giving a minimum resistance to the brush proper and securing perfect contact with the commutator. In the 125 H. P. machine, five brushes, each 14 inches wide, are used on each brush holder stud, the current allowed in the commutator being as low as 200 amperes per square inch. The two sets of brushes of the same polarity are connected together by two double connecting bars, no cross connections in the armature itself being used. The base is arranged so that a pawl and ratchet may be applied

base, a zinc distance piece being interposed at each side to prevent magnetic leakage to the bed plate.

The journal seats are bored in line with the armature bore, and the journal supports being turned in a lathe to a correspond. ing arc absolute alignment of the shaft with centre of field bore is assured. The journals are self-oiling, two loose rings being provided for carrying the oil from a reservoir to the shaft. The journals are self adjusting, being of the universal ball bearing type, allowing the armature shaft to have all necessary adjustment at all times. By removing a pedestal at either side of the machine the armature can be easily and quickly taken out for inspection or cleaning.

The armature is of the conventional Gramme ring type, but has several important modifications in its details, securing better insulation and absolute stability of the armature conductors. The soft iron armature rings are supported by a split gun metal spider.

The commutator shows several important improvements in its construction, no insulation except air being used between the segments, where the brushes come in contact with the commutator bars. The mechanical construction of the commutator is such as to enable any intelligent, mechanic to renew any defective seg

STORAGE BATTERIES FOR CENTRAL STATIONS, POWER PLANTS AND LARGE ISOLATED IN

STALLATIONS.

THE Consolidated Electric Storage Battery Company, of Philadelphia have recently issued a pamphlet, No. 8 of its series, from which may be gathered some highly interesting data on storage battery practice, Whatever differences of opinion may exist as to the universal use of storage batteries in electrical industries, their advantages as an auxiliary in isolated and central station lighting and in power stations are universally conceded. These advantages have been very largely embraced in Europe, where we find something over 175 central and sub-stations equipped with storage batteries, and a much larger number of isolated plants; while in this country there are but two central stations equipped with storage batteries and less than one hundred isolated plants. The monthly sales of storage batteries of one factory in in Germany amount to $125,000; an English storage battery company approximates this figure, and Paris with its thirty storage battery central and sub-stations, creates a considerable demand.

The first requisite in determining whether a battery can be advantageously introduced in any given central station, and if so what its size or capacity shall be, is to have diagrams of the load curves. The next important factor is the number and size of the

units employed at the station. From this data may be determined the load factor, and then it is easy to calculate the size of the battery required to give the most economical operating results. Once the size of the battery determined, we can calculate the saving effected by dispensing with a night shift; by diminishing the consumption of coal for a given output; by operating a few large units of one size, instead of a number of small units of various sizes; by operating each unit at its maximum efficiency; and by the additional revenues from increase of total output taken from the battery at the time of maximum load.

As the item of labor in small stations is frequently as high as twenty-five per cent. of the operating expenses the saving effected by dispensing with a night shift is not inconsiderable. By operating exclusively large units there is also a material saving effected both in labor and the much heavier efficiencies of large over small units. Again, as the coal bill is one of the largest items of expense, amounting in some cases to fifty per cent. and over of the total operating expenses, any saving effected in this item is of paramount importance, and is reflected at once in the decrease in operating expenses.

The question of mechanical efficiency with varying loads has not been as carefully studied with each type of engine as its importance deserves, but Prof. W. Cawthorne Unwin, F. R. S., has shown that the decrease of mechanical efficiency for light loads has a serious effect on the economy of working with a variable load and that with a load varying from one hundred to twenty-five per cent., the efficiency decreases from eighty-five to forty per cent.

While it is impossible to say in a general way what the exact saving would be from the introduction of a battery of sufficient size to permit of the operation of all the units at maximum load (since the load is not the same in any two stations), the result

prove that in central stations equipped with storage batteries the operating expenses are diminished as much as thirty per cent.

In addition to the saving effected in operating expenses the use of a battery may be made to yield additional revenues in proportion to the amount of current supplied to the circuit over and above what could be supplied by the direct system, at the time of maximum load, except by increasing the size of the power plant. Central station lighting is one of the most important fields of usefulness of the storage battery and one which has hardly yet been touched upon in this country. The same arguments apply with increased force to its application in a power house for electric traction. Here the variation in the load is between such wide limits and of such a sudden character as to render it impossible to operate the power plant on anything like an economical basis.

In all such cases by the introduction of a sufficiently large battery the load curve, instead of resembling a stroke of lightning as it does at present, could be perfectly equalized, as shown in the accompanying diagram, enabling the power plant to operate at full load and maximum efficiency.

CORROSION OF WATER PIPES, GAS PIPES AND TELEPHONE CABLES.-REPORT OF THE BROOKLYN ELECTRICAL SUBWAY COMMISSIONERS. The Board of Commissioners of Electrical Subways of Brooklyn, N. Y., has this week presented to the Hon. Charles A. Schieren, mayor of Brooklyn, a special report on the subject of corrosion of pipes by the return current of the street railway systems. To show the extent of damage done to gas and water pipes, etc., by the inability of the various lines to control the return current of electricity with the present system in vogue, the commissioners accompanied their report by nine different photographs of specimens of pipe and telephone cables removed by them from various localities in Brooklyn. It had been claimed by various electricians that pitch would act as an insulator in covering telephone cables. Specimen No. 1 of this report shows conclusively that pitch proved no protection. Specimen No. 8 illustrates a piece of iron pipe which was very badly corroded and perforated within thirty days after laying. The following is an abstract of the special report:

"The experience of Brooklyn is not notably different from that of Boston, Cambridge, Mass., Milwaukee, Columbus, O., Indianapolis and Hamilton, Ontario. In each of these cities similar corrosions have been detected and in none is there any doubt as to the cause. It is known to be due to the imperfections of the means provided by the trolley companies for the conveyance of the electrical current back to the generator. It was at first supposed that the rails would be sufficient, but the current declines to take that route exclusively.

"The remedy of the evil will have been applied when the trolley companies shall have provided an adequate route for the electric current now discharged into the rails. It was at first reasonably supposed that the rails would afford a sufficient path. Upon the failure of this plan, a copper connection, to carry the current by the joint, was tried. In most cases this expedient failed of complete success, except when the copper bond had unusual dimensions."

The commissioners then devote about two and one-half pages of their report to an account of some experiments relating to proper connections between the rails, taken from THE ELECTRICAL ENGINEER, and with which the readers of this journal are already familiar. Continuing, the commissioners say:

"It should be said in reference to this second method (merely the connection by metal circuits of the water mains, gas pipes and telephone cables, to which some electricity will always pass, with the generators at the points where there is the least resistance to return currents), that in making connections with the underground systems of pipes and cables, the points of such connections would require frequent examination. A copper connection with an iron pipe underground would not long remain a reliable conductor, unless special care and watchfulness are given to it.

"A better way to insure the conduction of the current is doubtless to make the car rail continuous by welding. This method will be employed on the new trolley line soon to be built in the southern part of the city.

"The most complete solution of the problem is afforded by the double trolley by which the return current is provided for by an overhead wire similar to the one for outgoing current. But it is to be hoped that it will not be necessary to resort to this method." Some notes of experiments obtained through the kindness of Mr. I. H. Farnham, Electrician of the New England Telephone Co., and relating to the early experience in Boston, are here given. When the action of the current was first noticed, the experiment of grounding the cable to lead plates buried in manholes, was tried on quite an extensive scale, but was soon abandoned as being impracticable. The quantity of electricity to be dealt with was so enormous that the buried plates offered no appreciable protection to the cables. If such a system were feasible, the expense for the constant renewal of plates would be very large.

The severity of the action to a certain limited extent, was reduced by so arranging the direction of the current used for the street railways, as to make it pass out over the trolley wires, and back through the ground. In this way the direction of the current would be quite generally from the earth to the cables, thus diminishing in certain places, the corrosive action. This method would not be a complete protection from the corrosive action, as there would be places where the current would still flow from the cables. Even though the current is uniformly to the earth from the cables, there is the possibility of an action caused by alkaline substances formed about a cable, due to decomposition by the current from the street cars of the soluble salts contained in the surrounding earth. There alkaline substances are capable, under certain conditions of dissolving the lead, when the currents are shut off or much reduced, as would be the case at night.

As there has been some misunderstanding in regard to the potential measurements made in connection with the numerous corrosion investigations, it should, perhaps, be impressed upon those who are about to carry on similar investigations, that the potential measurements between the cables or pipes and the material surrounding them, should, in the majority of cases, only be looked upon as incating the direction in which the current tends to flow.

To say that the pipes and cables are even practically safe from corrosion when the measurements are below a specified figure, would be extremely misleading. The measurements are, in a certain sense, like the measurements which might be made in an electrolytic cell, between one of the electrodes and various portions of the electrolyte, so that it is possible to conceive of almost zero potentials in the immediate vicinity of the most violent electrolytic corrosive actions.

The fact should be closely borne in mind that whenever we have a current passing from an easily oxidizable metal to the liquid, such as would be encountered in the earth, corrosion is bound to occur.

A large number of electrolytic experiments have been carried out, showing the extremely low potentials (measurements between the electrodes) at which corrosion is found to take place. In many cases iron and lead were destroped, under the conditions encountered in the underground systems, at potentials considerably under .5 volt.

"The conclusions fairly drawn from these notes and from our own experience is that considerable injury is being done to underground pipes and cables, and that it will continue along the lines of the trolley roads (except where the elevated railway extends above them) until better methods of returning the current to the generator are put in practice. The electricians of the several trolley roads are fully aware of the situation and have speedily applied means of prevention in localities where the corrosion had been detected. But it is doubtful if the method of final cure of the difficulty has yet passed the experimental stage." The report is signed by Prof. Geo. W. Plympton and Fred R. Lee, commissioners.

PERSONAL.

MR. JOHN J. MOORE, formerly general manager of the East River Electric Light Co., in New York and identified with numerous undertakings of the General Electric Co. in the past, has been appointed general manager of the Narragansett Electric Light Co., of Providence, R. I. Mr. Marsden J. Perry, the vicepresident of the company remains in control as heretofore.

SOCIETY AND CLUB NOTES.

AMERICAN institute of Electrical engineers.

At the Meeting of the Institute, held Wednesday, Feb. 21, the two following papers were read: "How Shall We Operate an Electric Railway, 100 Miles from the Power Station," by H. Ward Leonard; and "Concerning a Change of Policy in the Administration of the Patent Office," by Philip Mauro.

The Report of the Committee on Revision of Election Rule was presented, but action on the adoption of the rule was deferred so as to permit the question to be decided by the Annual Meeting.

The following gentlemen were transferred from associate to full membership:-Byron C. Wolverton, Elmira, N. Y.; C. Reginald Van Trump, Wilmington, Del.; Wm. D. Sargent, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Clarence E. Gifford, Buffalo, N. Y.; Jesse R. Lovejoy, Boston, Mass.

The following were elected to associate membership :— Clifford D. Babcock, New York City; William S. Barstow, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Albert L. Clough, Manchester, N. H.; James W. Crosby, New York City; George Forbes, London, England; Arthur Frantzen, Chicago, Ill.; Edward M. Gerry, Newark,

N. J.; Charles Gesseaume, Newark, N. J.; Harold Harrison, Montclair, N. J.; E. Randolph Hix, New York City; James A. Lighthite, San Francisco, Cal.; H. H. Morehouse, Quezaltenango, Guatemala, C. A.; Chas. Edwin Potts, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Albert E. Richardson, London, Eng.; Chas. F. Rittenhouse, New York City; S. D. Snook, Brooklyn, N. Y.; E. W. Trafford, Richmond, Va.; Augustus Treadwell, Jr., Brooklyn, N. Y.; George E. Wendle, Bethlehem, Pa.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

PAYING STATIONS.

In your issue of the Feb. 14, you refer to the paper read by the writer at the recent meeting of the Northwestern Electrical Association, and claim that my assertion that it is the direct current stations which are paying the dividends is founded merely upon "belief" and not on fact, and further, state that dogmatism has no place in science or business.

If you had read the first part of my paper (which you failed to publish), you would have seen that I clearly stated the advantages of the alternating system for certain work, confining my advocacy of the direct current system to average towns of 30,000 inhabitants or less.

To show how far my arguments were founded on fact, I beg to submit the following statement as to the condition of the electric lighting industry in the State of Wisconsin, where the paper was read:

In Wisconsin there is not a single alternating current central which is paying a satisfactory dividend on the money invested, with possibly two exceptions. In the same State nearly every direct current station is paying handsomely, some as high as 17 per cent. per annum.

A distinguished electrical engineer and member of the jury at the World's Fair, stated at a former meeting of the Northwestern Association that he had tested alternating stations in which 60 per cent. of the current is lost to the company; a similar experience is not uncommon to other members of the profession. This is not an argument per se against the alternating system, but goes far to prove that the average country electrician cannot get the best results out of his apparatus.

The stock, and almost only, argument against the direct current system has been the high cost of copper; at present prices for that metal, this argument has lost its force. A five-wire system is now cheaper in 90 per cent. of the estimates made than the alternating.

For an example of pure "dogmatism" in electrical matters, I would refer you to the February number of the Engineering Magazine, an article in which states that the direct current system is totally out of the question for small towns! This author sees me and goes one better with a vengeance.

CHICAGO, Feb. 20, 1894.

W. N. STEWART.

STORAGE BATTERY LITIGATION.

I notice in your last issue a communication from Mr. W. W. Gibbs, President of the Electric Storage Battery Co., in which, after serving up the old story of Profs. Chandler and Barker as to the chloride accumulator not being an infringement of the Brush patents, he goes out of his way, in tradesmanlike style, to decry the wares of his rival. He tries to make us believe that this attack is evoked because my Company has seen fit to exercise its legal right to sue him for infringement of our patents. This is the only offence of which we are guilty. We disclaim Mr. Gibbs' charge of the circulation of any objectionable matter in relation to this battery, except that in one or two instances we have sent to purchasers the usual notice of infringement, which, in a measure, we are bound to do, under the rulings of the courts, if we expect to invoke the aid of the law in securing damages hereafter.

I think Mr. Editor, that the over-confidence which Mr. Gibbs assumes is calculated to give all the less weight to his statements. You will perceive that this is the more so when I tell you that the Société Company owning the chloride battery in France, the " Anomyme pour le Travail Electrique des Métaux," was sued last year by the company owning the French Faure patent, and that Baron Rothschild, who is largely interested in the Chloride Battery Co., purchased peace at the expense, as I am informed, of several hundered thousand dollars. The French Faure patent is the equivalent of the American patent No. 252,002, and has only one year from next October to run. It was decided by our courts here that the Faure patent and the Brush patent were for the same invention. The same decision was rendered by the Patent Office, in the interference between Brush and Faure. The Faure patent was also sustained by the highest courts in Germany, in a decision much more far-reaching than any of the American decisions sustaining the Brush or Faure patents here.