The Dangers of the Electric Light.

Otago Witness, Issue 1582, 18 March 1882, Page 29

The Dangers of the Electric Light.

At Hatfield recently a labourer was struck" dead in the grounds by touching the wires conveying electric^ to the lamps which light up the hall. A similar case occurred about a year ago on board the Livadia, while on its way from Glasgow to the Black Sea. We do not know what the arrangements were on board the Livadia, but the method in which the wires were laid into Hatfield House was such as almost to justify a verdict of manslaughter against those responsible for fixing the apparatus. It is almost incredible that any competent electricians can have sanctioned the arrangement by which Dimmock met his fate. To convey the electricity generated by an engine of 16-horse power along uninsulated wires fixed to a garden wall within anybody's reach is an illustration of recklessness which we sincerely hope is without any other parallel in the United Kingdom. Electric lighting, however, is but in its infancy, and as it is possible that inexperienced persons may venture on experiments with the wires perhaps not less dangerous than those which have had a fatal issue at Hatfield House, it may be well to call attention 1 to some of the many dangers which must be carefully provided against. In the approaching parliamentary session numerous applications are to be made for parliamentary powers to lay down wires for the purpose of electric lighting. We may presume that not one of these will- be granted unless full and adequate provision is made for the protection of the public against dangers which are as yet very imperfectly realised in this country. It is a matter of much more urgency to ascertain what has already been done by those who are using the electric light to guard against the risks of that method of illumination. It ought to be laid down as a sine qua non by all who have anything to do with electric lightning, that no conducting wire shall be laid if possible elsewhere than under the ground, and that no wire shall be laid anywhere without being thoroughly in« sulated. This is a matter to which the attention of our fire insurance companies and of our fire brigades should be turned without a day's delay. The risks of fire are very great whenever a conducting wire is either too small or imperfectly insulated, or in too close contact with telephonic or telegraphic wire. Nor is it only the risks of fire that are multiplied. The danger of extinguishing fires in buildings where the eleotric light is laid on is mensely increased unless there is an arrangement for completely shutting off the electric current outside the building. Otherwise the firemen who enter a burning house may be struck dead as they cross the threshold by coming in contact with a broken or imperfectly insulated wire. At Hatfield, we suppose, in case of a fire the engine could be stopped, and the whole house plunged into darkness ; but if the electricity were laid on — as in most cases it must be— from a distant centre, where the engine cannot be stopped without depriving a whole district of light, what fireman would dare enter into the burning, pile, with the certainty that if he comes in contact with one of the wires feeding any of the 117 Brush lamps he may unloose a thunderbolt which will strike him dead? ;In the United States, where electric lighting is much more general than it is here, the repeated occurrence of fires caused by the electric current getting loose has led various boards of underwriters to take very stringent action in order to protect themselves against the new risks. The rules which they have laid down might with advantage be insisted upon by every local authority in this country before a single electric light is allowed within the limits of its jurisdiction. The first rule prescribed by the New York Board is that the conducting wire shall have at least 50 per cent, more "conductivity" than is required to feed the lights in the circuit:" The margin of 50 peir oent. is too low. It should be twice as muoh, to guard against friction, wear and tear, and weak points in the wire. To pass a strong current through a thin wire heats the latter red-hot. The same result follows if a thick wire is half worn through. The second rule, which cannot be, too strongly insisted^ upon, is that no wire .shall be laid down which is not thoroughly insulated and doubly-coated with some approved material. If this rule had been observed at Hatfield House, it is obvious that Dimmock wouldstill have beenalive. Butitisnotsufficient to cover them with some insulating substance, as gutta-percha. The wire should first be insulated and then enclosed in a lead pipe. A current as deadly as the fabled Vril in " The Coming Raoe" cannot be too securely confined in the metal channel along which it is made to flow. The third rule relates to the necessity of having non-conducting fasteners and of separating the wires of arc lights at least eight inches from any other wires, metals, or conducting substances. The New York Board strongly protests against conducting wires being laid m gas or water pipes. In gas-pipes a flaw in the insulation may cause a leak, which by heating the pipes red-hot may easily produce an explosion. The necessity of separating the "lig^ht" wires from those used for tele« !)hones is obvious. The former are so much arger than the latter that if the current [ should escape from one to the other the telephone wire is heated red'hot along the entire circuit, with Qan.a#cmences which can be imagined. Nor Ja it only telephonic wires which are apt to be '* fired" by coming accidentally in. contact with those conducting the current to the electric lamps. The New j Yoxk fire-alarm circuits have repeatedly been i destroyed by this means, and their magnets burned out. There are other recommendations dealing with other phases of the danger, but we have said enough for the present to justify a very emphatic remonstrance against the present practice of fixing up_ uninsulated wires, without any proper supervision or inspection, wherever anyone chooses to indulge in the luxury of an electric light. If the local authorities cannot or will not see to this, the fire insurance companies should act, and act at once, Otherwise there seems to be no means of preventing any individual from laying a trwb of fire into every bouse in ft telephone

circuit,! or from inflicting sudden death upon any chance passer-by wno happens to lay unguarded hands upon an uncovered wire. No one has a right to let thunderbolts loose among his neighbours in this fashion. It is to be hoped that the accident at Hatfield will direct public attention to the necessity of taking adequate precautions against the recurrence of similar fatalities in the future.— Pall Mall Gazette, December 16th,

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