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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIFRAKY

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

pump of corresponding capacity and working under similar conditions.

Tests on Gould Pump, July 31, 1890.

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The smaller sizes of this pump are particularly adapted for fire purposes as they can be distributed in different parts of the mill, power being carried to them by wires from the generator. They are always ready to be operated, and because of their small size can be placed in such a position as to be entirely out of the way of the every-day operations of the mill. Also, electric power pumps are intended to supersede steampumps of any size, particularly if the location of the pump is

any great distance from the source of power. With the efficiency the same, the electric pump can be operated much more economically, owing to the small loss in power experienced in transmitting electricity as compared to the loss in transmitting steam an equal distance.

The advantages of the electrical system of power distribution in regular work has been shown to be as follows:

It permits the utilization of water-powers situated at distant or inaccessible points. In the absence of water-power, electric transmission renders a concentration of steam plants. possible. Small, expensive and perhaps troublesome steam plants are done away with, and in their place is a large, wellequipped and economical central station from which the required amount of power, with small loss, is conveyed to the different motors, wherever placed.

The PRESIDENT. Does any one wish to discuss any point of this paper?

A MEMBER. I would like to inquire about the safety of electricity in and about our mill yards, and as a representative of the insurance companies is present, and we are all his humble subjects, I will call on Mr. Atkinson.

Mr. ATKINSON. Mr. President, I will remark that when the electric light was first introduced it became apparent at once that it was one of the new risks that we were obliged to take into account. The first electric light company, zealous and eager, and perhaps justified in their eagerness, set up their plants in the worst manner. Twenty-three fires in the first year, fortunately without great loss, have made clear to them, as well as to the underwriters, the danger of being over-hasty. That plant has been made safe. The first installation of electric power for other purposes was made in a dangerous manner. It was first proposed to introduce a single trolley track, and one plant at least had to be completely altered, and there appeared the same prospect of danger from the single trolley track that had appeared from the naked wire in the electric lighting. It is clear that the transmission of power by electricity is one

of the coming powers which the underwriters will be called upon to adjust themselves. It will become expedient and necessary in your mills and may be made entirely safe, but I caution you all not to go too fast, and be sure that every point has been investigated and that your plants are adjusted in the right manner. Certain rules have been established as the result of experience, and I have no doubt that the Thomson-Houston Company and other companies will adjust their plants to those rules, but I give you one caution: not to permit a single trolley track to come into your mill yards, but if there is a single trolley wire near your mills be careful that none of your wires that have any connection with your mill yards come anywhere near that wire. That is all I can say at present, but I will say that you will find it profitable to use electricity and that it can be used safely, but you must be careful and not proceed in accordance with the eagerness of those who fail to see all the hazards but see all the profits.

Mr. HUSSEY. There is one thing I would like to ask Mr. Atkinson, and that is this: From what particular point in an electric overhead system does he apprehend danger from fire, particularly when the load itself is entirely out of doors, the wires are entirely separate from any buildings, and further, where by the methods of insulation to-day used by all first-class electric companies in case of a short circuit, that is, in the case of a broken wire of a trolley, that the instruments and fuses are so made as to blow out and immediately shut out all possibility of the current running to the machine? I will agree that in mill inside work it is perhaps better to have a thoroughly insulated system, because of the danger which I stated, of the liability of sparking the current between the rails. With a thoroughly insulated system I cannot see how there is any more danger from sparking or fire than from the use of gas or oil, or anything that is used now in a mill.

Mr. ATKINSON. I shall be prepared to answer the question when the matter has been so long investigated that it will be no longer necessary for the electric companies to

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