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U. S. GOVERNMENT BUILDING AT NIGHT.

View from Bridge of Nations leading over Guild's Lake to Government Peninsula.

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Illustrated articles on topics of timely interest are solicited for publication. Those that are short and accompanied with good photographs will receive special attention. Accepted articles will be paid for at regular space rates.

Keep moving.

Don't get into a rut.

Rely upon your own energies.

Your future is being made now.

Every big fish began life on a small scale.

It isn't always the biggest toe that has the

corn.

Have just enough system in your business to save time, no more.

There is but one obligation, and that is the obligation to obey the highest dictate.

Did you ever notice that we speak of a man "accepting a position" and "getting a job?"

Metallic Filament Incandescent Lamps

THE

HE most interesting development in the field of electric lighting is the recent introduction of metallic filaments in place of the ordinary carbon filament in incandescent lamps. Both tantalum and osmium have been used for this purpose; and these new types of lamps-both of which are of German origin-show an efficiency far superior to the old-style carbon-filament lamp. It is perhaps not generally understood, that, in spite of the many refinements in the manufacture of incandescent lamps, only a very trifling proportion of the power which they consume is converted into light; the most of it is dissipated as heat. The efficiency of an ordinary incandescent lamp is about 3 to 31⁄2 watts per candle-power, so that a 16-candle-power lamp requires about 50 to 55 watts; in other words, one horse-power is necessary to light about fifteen of these lamps.

The tantalum lamp, which is not yet in commercial use in this country, but which has attained a limited use in Germany, is being watched with great interest by central station managers. This

lamp has an efficiency of from 1.66 watts. to 2 watts per candle-power; or, in other words, it requires from one-half to onethird less power than the ordinary carbon

lamp. The introduction of such a lamp would mean that, at the same rate of charge for current as at present, the consumer would save, say, 40 per cent on his lighting bills, or he would get a proportionally greater amount of light for the same money he is now paying.

The osmium lamp, which at first was made for a current of only 37 volts, has recently been improved in its methods of manufacture so that now a very satisfactory lamp for 110-volt circuits has been produced. The efficiency of these lamps is in the neighborhood of 11⁄2 watts per candle-power; and they also have a long life-2,000 hours frequently being reached, and occasionally 5,000 to 6,000 hours, without great deterioration.

Meanwhile, the makers of carbon incandescent lamps have not been idle, and a marked improvement in the carbon filament has recently been announced. The new filament, which has been named "metallized" carbon, differs considerably from the ordinary carbon filament. The essential difference in the treatment of these two filaments is that the new one is raised to an intense heat in air, which greatly increases its density and reduces its specific resistance so as to almost amount to a new physical modification of carbon. The old filament is treated in vacuo, and is heated to less degree than the new one. The new filament is capable of being operated at an efficiency of 21⁄2 watts per candle-power.

The commercial introduction of these metallic-filament lamps will undoubtedly take place in the near future, and with the improvement in the efficiency of the carbon-filament lamp, in a short time the cost of incandescent electric lighting is pretty sure to be considerably reduced. This will prove advantageous not only to the consumer but to the central station also, for it must be remembered that even if the consumers' bills are smaller, the use of a 12-watt lamp will practically double the capacity of the central station, and the number of customers and the use of electric lights will be greatly increased.

Trade Schools

'HE necessity and value of trade

schools in distinction to technical col

leges, was forcibly pointed out in a recent address by Mr. William Barclay Parsons. Mr. Parsons pointed out the need of trade schools in which skilled workmen can be trained to play an important part in the industrial development of to-day; and he also indicated the distinction between the trade school and the technical institution. The latter turns out men equipped for important engineering problems which involve work of the highest responsibility. The technical schools, however, do not aim to turn out skilled mechanics, and they are not expected to do so.

In most manufacturing operations, at the present time, comparatively little. hand labor is involved; and most work of this kind is performed by special automatic machinery. While a certain amount of skilled hand labor is always needed, there is a great demand for labor familiar with the principles and use of all kinds of automatic machinery. It is in this connection that the value of trade schools would be apparent; and the training which they could give would very materially improve the conditions of thousands of young machinists. There is at present a very broad gap between the manual training school and the technical institution, and the trade school would logically fill this gap. There should be a far larger number of trade schools than technical institutions, to balance the proportion of workers who earn their living as mechanics and machinists rather than as engineers.

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1905 will show a large advance over those of the preceding year.

New York, Boston, Chicago, and Newport, R. I., are the ports at which machines were entered in imports from Europe, which, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1904, amounted in value to $1,294,160, the first-named port leading the list, with 358 machines valued at $1,106,128; while Boston imported 41, valued at $121,252; Chicago, 10, valued at $19,897; and Newport, 6, valued at $19.048.

The first record of the importation of foreign-built automobiles into the United States, was for the fiscal year 1901, when 26 machines, valued at $43,126 were brought into this country. Since that year the imports have steadily increased, until, in 1904, they reached the number of 423, valued at $1,446,303, a sum considerably less than our exportations of the home-made product. During the last fiscal year, France supplied 86 per cent of the importations, the value of the French machines being nearly seven times as great as the combined value of all from other countries.

Exportations of American-made machines and their parts have been recorded only since 1902, in which year the total value of the exportations was $948,528; while for the ten months of the present fiscal year the total has been $1,876,063, indicating a total for the full year of at least $2,200,000. Canada and the United Kingdom take about three-fourths of the automobiles and parts that are exported from the United States, the balance going to various European countries, mainly Switzerland, although France, as well as the United States, imports automobiles, a demand for them having been noted during the past three years. There are 20,000 automobiles in France; and it is interesting to observe that the decrease in the use of horses has been notable. In 1904 there were 869 fewer horses used in Paris alone than in the preceding year; while the decrease from 1901, the boom year of autos, to 1904, was 43-745. The same proportionate falling-off in the number of horses was noted at Lyons; and statistics show that the value of the

20,000 automobiles now in use in France is approximately $40,000,000. The figures for all the United States have not been yet completed, but it is believed that they will eclipse all other countries.

Railroad Industrial

Bureaus

THE great railroad systems are some

times unthinkingly classed as "soulless," but certainly no one can refuse to credit them with admirable foresight. There are few people who realize the amount of energy persistently and systematically spent by our great railroads in the interests of homeseekers and business firms seeking advantageous sites. This is all, of course, with an eye to business; but the selfish motive is transfigured into beneficent accomplishment through a community of interest whose advantages are shared in common.

An Industrial Bureau is maintained by a number of the prominent railroads― notably the Chicago & Northwestern and the Rock Island in the West; the Erie in the East; and the Illinois Central, the Seaboard Air Line, and the Southern Railway in the South. The purpose of these Industrial Bureaus is to furnish reliable information regarding the many desirable locations along their lines for new manufacturing enterprises. The rapidly growing cities and the splendid resources of the sections reached by these roads, combine many of the essentials of industrial success. Fine water-power locations that may be supplemented by electrical power developed therefrom: vast forests of hard and soft wood, for all kinds of woodworking concerns; mines that produce the material for foundry and machine work; coal fields close at hand; and an excellent supply of a good class of labor, are all available and, through these Bureaus, brought to the attention of the public.

Manufacturers and mechanics who are seeking new locations are furnished with full information promptly upon applica tion, the Bureaus thus proving also a time-saving convenience.

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A Printing Telegraph Central Station

Description of a Type-Printing System Installed in Berlin

T

By FRANK C. PERKINS
Consulting Electrical Engineer

HE accompanying illustration, Fig. 1, is an interior view of the Ferndrucker-Centrale in Berlin, Germany; while Fig. 2 shows one of the instruments employed as either a transmitter or receiver. This type-printing telegraph system has been installed in connection with the Berlin telephone service. The printing telegraph instrument shown has four rows of keys, with seven in each row. Two of these keys serve as shift-keys, the others being employed for the letters, figures, and punct-uation marks. The letters are transmitted by moving the letter shift-key; and the figures and punctuation marks, by moving the figure shift-key, which displaces the type wheel automatically on its shaft so s to bring the circular row of figures or punctuation marks above the printing surface of the paper ribbon. Then, by moving a key for a certain figure, the type wheel is rotated, and brings the desired type with that figure in front of the paper. The paper is pressed against the type wheel, printing the figure, and is

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