Railroad Gazette/Volume 38/Number 5/New Publications
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
This work, which is most comprehensive, covering the entire field of commercial and industrial applications of electricity, is prepared primarily for the use of practical men of limited technical education and for engineering students. But although it is not addressed to the technically educated specialist, this class will find it a valuable addition to their libraries, as they will find therein a treatment of the latest developments and applications of electricity, written by specialists, many of them well-known, such as Prof. F. B. Crocker, of Columbia University; Prof. Wm. Esty, of Lehigh University; Prof. D. C. Jackson and Prof. Geo. C. Shaad, of the University of Wisconsin, and Prof. Louis Derr, of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In view of the purpose for which it was prepared, all subjects are dealt with in the simplest, most direct way possible, higher mathematics being omitted entirely. The work is divided into five parts or volumes. Because of the great scope of the work it will be possible here to indicate only briefly the subjects dealt with in each volume and the manner of treatment.
Part I deals with the elements of electricity, the electric current, electrical measurements, electric wiring, the electric telegraph, wireless telegraph, the telautograph, insulators, and electric welding. The first three subjects are covered in a clear, concise manner, grounding the student in the fundamentals. The section on electric wiring includes also the installation of electrical apparatus. Both subjects are covered in good practical shape, and rules for the care and operation of apparatus and for outside wiring and construction work on pole lines, also tables and diagrams, are given. The section on the electric telegraph covers the subject quite fully, enabling the beginner to get a good working knowledge of apparatus and methods, instructing him in the use of the key and giving charts from which the relative time values of the elements which go to make up the signals may be learned. The interesting chapter on wireless telegraphy was prepared by Mr. A. Frederick Collins, author of the well-known work on that subject, and sets forth in plain language the underlying theory and the methods by which this somewhat mysterious means of communication is effected. The chapter on the telautograph is a reprint of Mr. Jas. Dixon’s paper read at the October, 1904, meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. The remainder of the volume is given up to short chapters on insulators for transmission lines and electric welding.
In Part II, dynamos, motors and storage batteries form the subject matter. In the first section the theory of dynamo-electric machinery and the principles underlying its design are explained and the three types of dynamos briefly described. The kind and nature of the various losses occurring in different parts of these machines are given, with calculations of their amount, and also of electromotive force. Following this is a chapter on direct-current dynamos, treating of the three important types more in detail and their principal parts considered separately. Calculations for designing a 50-k.w. bi-polar shunt machine are given, only the electric and magnetic parts being covered. The next chapter illustrates and describes various types of dynamo-electric machinery made in this country, showing methods of driving. Direct-current motors are also included in this section. The wide use of motors in industrial and manufacturing establishments has produced a diversity of designs and numerous representative applications are described and illustrated, including motor-driven tools, cranes, printing presses, etc. Brief space is given to motor-generators and dynamotors, including boosters. A discussion of motor theory and principles follows, in a separate chapter, which closes with a reprint of the paper on Electric Motors in Machine Shop Service read at the International Electrical Congress at St. Louis by Mr. Charles Day. The section on Storage Batteries occupies 63 pages, giving, besides the theoretical treatment and instructions for care and testing, their applications in different classes of electrical work.
Part III. opens with electric lighting. The incandescent lamp, as the most commonly-used type, has the method of manufacture described in detail, and information is included on its efficiency, life and illuminating power. Different arc lamp mechanisms are next described, and there is a section on special types like the Nernst, osmium and mercury vapor lamps. Power distribution, illumination, the lighting of residences, public halls, offices, streets, etc., shades and reflectors, and photometry are all treated in a clear and practical manner, the section concluding with a special chapter on shop lighting. The next section is devoted to electric railways, the first chapter being on car equipment. This is subdivided into motors, controllers, heaters, wiring, resistances, accessories and trucks. The multiple-unit system of control is treated under "controllers," and brake systems under "trucks." Overhead, third-rail and conduit systems of current supply are described in detail, following which track construction, electrolysis and power supply and distribution are taken up in order. Alternating current systems are briefly dealt with, there being short paragraphs on single-phase and three-phase motors and a discussion of alternating current motor advantages. Chapters on "operation" and "testing for faults" conclude the section.
Management of Dynamo Electric Machinery is treated in the next section, the endeavor being to set forth the most important features to be considered in handling and operating electric generators and motors. The subject is divided into three parts: (a) selection, erection, connection and operation; (b) inspection and testing; (c) troubles or "diseases," and remedies. The final section is on power stations, dealing with their design, location, operation and maintenance, with special chapters on "central station engineering," covering the practice in this country for the past quarter of a century; and on "a graphical method of recording data of boiler trials."
Part IV. is a treatise on alternating currents and alternating current machinery. Alternating current theory, harder to comprehend than direct current theory, is stated as simply and directly as possible, and difficult matematical demonstrations avoided. Measuring instruments are described and armature winding for different phase machines are explained by text and diagram. Commercial types of alternators are then taken up in detail, followed by a section on synchronous motors and transformers. The subjects of the remaining sections are: The rotary converter; the induction motor; switchboard and station appliances; power transmission; mercury vapor converter, the latter being the Hewitt apparatus. A study of this volume will yield a good working knowledge of this newer, less well-known and less easily understood branch of electrical science.
Part V., also, deals with but one general subject—telephony. It is divided into nine parts, covering instruments, lines, exchanges, battery systems, operation, telephone systems, maintenance, the automatic telephone and wireless telephony. The amount of space given this subject is indicative of its importance in practically all branches of present day life, and particularly in commercial life. The treatise is of value alike to the beginner and the advanced student, to the thoretical and the practical man, to the man engaged in the most complicated city telephone work and to the builder of rural exchanges and farmers’ lines. The parts on the automatic telephone and wireless telephony treat briefly but interestingly of these newest branches of the art.
The books are designed primarily for text books and therefore contain many practical examples, as well as a set of review questions at the end of each. The final volume contains a general index. Typographically the work is good. Paragraph subjects are printed in black-faced type and the remainder in a large clear type, easily read. The engravings, of which there are over 2,000, are excellent. The total work contains 2,500 pages.