The Electrical experimenter

22 THE ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTER May, 1917
118 VOLTS CAN KILL.
The Ontario Electrical Inspection Department
of the Hydro Commission are out
hot toot after delinquents who try to work
in jobs without permits and convictions are
being rendered every week, says a writer in
the Electrical Safety Magacine.
Never Touch Electric Light Fittings or Wiring
While Standing In a Bath-Tub or On
Damp Floor, as the Consequences May Prove
Fatal.
One person is to come up before the
board for refusing inspector admission to
premises and others for not returning to
remedy defects on jobs before expiration
of inspectors' notices.
In the City of Toronto, in the month
of October, a joung man. nineteen jears
of age, was in the bath-tub and. so far
as his parents knew, he was enjoying
the harmless and healthful pastime immensely,
judging by the sounds of
splashing and rubbing emanating from
the keyhole.
The happj' sounds were suddenly interrupted
by a deathly shriek, and his
parents upon breaking into the room,
found him doubled up with the coils of
a long portable lamp cord wound round
him and the portable lamp in the bath.
The lamp was an ordinary brass desk
lamp provided with the silk cord.
The cord was worn, showing bare
life, a doctor's bill, an undertaker's bill,
and the parents' grief. Is it not worth
while? Safety First! should be the slogan
of every user of electric service,
whether for half a dozen lamps or for a
large factor}', .^gain—when you stand on
a damp or wet floor or in a bath-tub, don't
touch an electric switch or fi.xture
their entire life a pair of these shoes, the
manufacturer states, will provide the wearer
protection against circuits at pressures
up to 20,000 volts and will not cause the
discomforts of many of the rubber soles.
The shoes are molded by a process similar
to that used in making automobile tires.
The shoes contain no cement and have no
seams, but are vulcanized into a solid piece
under high pressure on aluminum molds.
Xo hand work is employed in thi; process.
This method of manufacture makes it impossible
for the completed shoe to peel or
come apart and prevents injury from oil,
gasoline or grease.
In order that the shoes may, in the interest
of safety, be distinctive, they are all
made exactly alike with brown heels, white
soles, brown vamps and black tops. The
white soles are made of a rubber composition
like that employed in certain types of
coal miners' shoes, which have been found
to give eighteen months of constant wear.
When this white sole wears thru, a layer
of red rubber, which will itself withstand
a pressure of 20,000 volts, is exposed
The appearance of the red rubber is a signal
or reminder to the wearer that, altho
his shoes still will withstand 20,000 volts,
a new half sole should be immediately cemented
or vulcanized in place.
The brown rubber also exte:.ds under the
white sole. It is this piece of material
which is capable of withstanding high potentials.
One of these shoes, when tested
point, were about seven feet above the locomotive,
and current is sent thru theni
at a pressure of 11,000 volts, 25 cycles.
Directly over the engine, which was giving
off a medium black smoke, the air
seemed to flicker at the rate an electric
light would if connected to a 25 cycle circuit.
This was only noticeable when the
quality of the smoke's carbon element was
just right That this flickering was not due
to heat waves I proved by the fact that
objects when looked at thru heat waves
seem to bend or wave from side to side and
move upward, while objects seen thru this
vibrating air did neither, and when the
quantity of carbon decreased as the wind
blew, the flickering effect disappeared.
The cause of this phenomena I attribute
to the attraction and repulsion of the carbon
particles in the smoke and as the current
reversed they were drawn upward and
downward for a very short distance, while
being dissipated into the atmosphere. The
effect was not noticed a lew inches above
the wire. The weather on January tenth
was slightly hazy, with no sun at 3.30 p.m.,
when this effect was noticed. In bright
sunlight it could not have been seen. If
my explanation is in error I shall be pleased
to hear the views of some of your technically
inclined readers.
MAKE YOUR PHOTO PRINTS BY
ELECTRICITY.
The electric photograph printer illustrated
has been brought out for both professional
and amateur use. A feature
insutatec/ so/e ofret)
ruDier '65fed mooo ?y cys^/o/!
,
\
the necessity of maintaining pressure on
the lever during the exposing period.
With a slight grip on the release catch,
ffee/of fm/gfi] the lever can be freed. .A. locking de-
invrres'sf/ng ri/Aier
@
vice is also provided, permitting the
copper spots. What he was doing with Re ...arkable New Shoe for Lineman Which Is white light to be turned on and the pres-
a lamp in the bath no one knows. ^^ pable of Withstanding 20,000 Volts. Note That sure pad elevated to permit accurate ad-
No Nails Are Used.
The bathroom was provided
justment of masks or vignettes. In the
with a
brass bracket well up above the bath with in the laboratories of the Edison Electric light box of the smaller printer are one
a portable socket.
Illuminating Company of Boston, under the ruby and four clear incandescent lamps,
Test revealed that 118 volts, 25 cycle cur- direction of the accident prevention com- and in the larger one there are one ruby
rent was used, one side grounded, the fi.xmittee of the Xational Electric Light Asso- and si.x clear incandescent lamps. The
ture itself clear of ground and well insuciation, showed the following characteris- printers are designed to take 100-watt gaslated
from both the grounded and untics:filled lamps.
grounded sides of the circuits.
"Side of shoe, dry, punctured at 31,500
The investigations show that he was volts, and again at 34,000 volts ; sole of
killed by coming in contact with brazed
cord carrying 118 volts. 25 cycle current.
shoe between electrodes in oil punctured at
55,000 volts; 20.000 volts applied from salt
This proves two things: First, that 118 water to salt water for one minute and
volts can kill, and secondly, that indif- 30,000 volts applied from salt water to salt
ference to bare spots on cord is dangerous.
One quarter of a dollar spent on renewing
this cord would have saved a young
water for forty-five
ture the rubber."
seconds did not punc-
A LINEMAN'S SHOE THAT WITH-
STANDS 20,000 VOLTS.
P\. leading -Xnierican m.ikt-r of lineman's
protective devices, which for several years
has been marketing protective shields to
cover wires and cross-arms where men are
working, has now developed an insulating
shoe for electrical workers. Thruout
ELECTRICITY LIGHTS NEW PIPE.
.\v\ electrically ignited pipe which lights
the tobacco at the bottom of the bowl instead
of at the top. thus avoiding the collection
of moisture in the stem, is the newest
in smokers' inventions.
PECULIAR ELECTRICAL
PHENOMENA.
By Walter J. Howell.
While standing about one hundred feet
away from the tracks of the Xew York,
Xew Haven and Hartford Railway Januan.-
10. 1917, a large steam engine pulling a
hea\-y freight train
to eight miles per
past at the rate of five
hour. The railroad is
electrified by overhead wires, which, at this
Electrically Illuminated Photograph Printer
Equipt with Automatic Switch Actuated By
Printing Frame.
The printer is being made in two sizes
8 in., by 10 in., and 11 in., by 14 in.