ELECTRICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 100, 25 October 1904, Page 6

ELECTRICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS.

PRACTICAL ADVANCES IN OLDER COUNTRIES. INTERVIEW WITH MR. R. T. TURNBULL. Mr. R. T. Turnbull, of Messrs. Turnbull and Jones, electrical engineers, who recently visited Britain and Europe via the Red; Sea, returning via America, has supplied an Evening Post reporter with some impressions, of scientific as well as general interest, gathered during his trip. Mr. Turnbull went to England in January with Mr. C. P. Skerrett, and remained in London till the end of June, with occasional visits into the country, and one to Berlin and Dresden on business. He lived at Wargrave on Thames all July, and saw Henley Regatta ; went to Scotland in August, and left London for New Zealand via San Francisco on 9th July. In Europe, sympathy was mainly with the Japanese, especially after the Yalu fight. He noted several great improvements in London since 1898, notably the npw Government buildings in Whitehall, the King's Way and Aldwick streets from the Strand, also the tube railway from Shepherds Bush to the Mansion House. He visited the -working face of one of the sections of tjie Baker-street and Waterloo tube railway, to be opened in about two years' time. PROGRESS IN MOTOR CARS AND ELECTRICITY. Enormous numbers of motor cars, steam wagons, and motor vans are^ in use in and around London. There are many motor car prosecutions under the speed limit. The tendency is towards solid tires and reasonable speeds for private cars. Mr. Turnbull visited the Wolesley motor car works at Birmingham, and found them working night and day and far behind with orders. He found electrical machinery making rapid strides, especially in motors for driving tools. Electrically-driven lifts are to be found everywhere in large towns, the. latest type having no attendant and requiring only the pressing of a button on tlto landing and the pressing of one inside for the flow required. In New York and Chicago he saw rows of lifts, some going direct to the twelfth floor and upwards only. ELECTRIC TRAMWAY SYSTEMS. The overhead trolly system has not got a monopoly of electrical tramway construction. The underground conduit system is being used in some places in conjunction with the trolly— the former in main thoroughfares, where large traffic renders it desirable that the street should be clear of poles and overhead gear, and the trolly being used in streets less congested. To counter-balance its advantage in the way of freedom from overhead gear, the conduit system costs more in first cc*t and maintenance than the trolly system. Mr. Trfrnbull would not commit himself on this point, but his impression was that the interruptions that nave in the past caused so much delay to the conduit have been lessened by increasing the number of manholes, but the price of this improved working is a further increase in the first cost. In New York the conduit system is working well. In Berlin and Dresden the cars are operated on two systems — in the former place, trolly and conduit; in the latter, trolly and " storage. He examined the South London conduit service (which has given some trouble), and noticed in Edinburgh that the new tram Gervke there is a cable and slot one. Possibly, cheapness and absence of the overhead gear combined to .commend the cable to Edinburgh. Among the places visited were the "A.E.6." cable works, near Berlin, where copper in the ingot is worked up into every required shape, even to wires drawn through diamond dies and only onethousandth of an inch in diameter, and then silk covered. This factory is the largest cable works in the world, and was working night and day. WILL MARCONI SPAN THE ATLANTIC ? Mr. Marconi (described by Mr. Turnbull as "quite a youth in appearance") was a passenger on the Arabic to New York. He hopes before long to signal from America to England, but the initial power required will be very great. Mr. Turnbull was greatly pleased with the comfort of railway travelling in England, and the speed and number of trains. All main lines out of London have four or more sets of rails, enabling express trains to run on time over considerable distances. AH railway tickets now have their price marked upon them, thus avoiding disputes about change, etc. In the United States the tendency with regard to hotels is to have a bathroom attached to the bedrooms. One notice-board announced "500 rooms and 300 bath-rooms" in a building just being completed. In New York, Chicago, and San Francisco this luxury was obtainable for 12s 6d per day, including in the latter two cities a sitting-room. Mr. Turnbull saw most of the classic horse-races, starting with the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree, and noticed the scant provision for the comfort of the public on the racecourses generally.