The Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the A. I. E. E. was presented at the Annual Business Meeting of the Institute held in New York, Friday afternoon, May 19, 1922.
Under this heading are included news items of the National research council and its activities and summaries of progress made by the research committees of its Division of Enigineering during the current month.
Electrical engineers know a great deal but even they frequently face serious need of relatively inaccessible information. The Engineering Societies Library with its associated information service and the headquarters of the Societies are invaluable sources of aid. Nevertheless there are demands which transcend their limits, for they specialize either in engineering or electrical engineering. It may be worth while then to note and remember that the National Research Council, Washington, D. C. has established a general clearing-house for scientific and technological information.
The library is a cooperative activity of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. It is administered for these Founder Societies by the United Engineering Society, as a public reference library of engineering and the allied sciences. It contains 150,000 volumes and pamphlets and receives currently most of the important periodicals in its field. It is housed in the Engineering Societies Building, 29 West Thirtyninth St., New York. In order to place the resources of the Library at the disposal of those unable to visit it in person, the Library is prepared to furnish lists of references to engineering subjects, copies or translations of articles, and similar assistance. Charges sufficient to cover the cost of this work are made. The Director of the Library will gladly give information concerning charges for the various kinds of service to those interested. In asking for information, letters should be made as definite as possible, so that the investigator may understand clearly what is desired. The library is open from 9 a. m. to 10 p. m. on all week days except holidays throughout the year except during July and August when the hours are 9 a. m. to 6 p. m.
Mr. Michael Marshall MP, Parliamentary Under‐Secretary of State for Industry, has told Parliament that Sir Keith Joseph has recommended that the Privy Council advise that a Royal Charter should be granted to establish The Engineering Council and that Sir Kenneth Corfield has agreed to become its Chairman designate.
The annual convention of the Institute has just convened in Niagara Falls as this issue of the Journal goes to press. With a registered attendance of over 950, the Convention promises to be one of the most successful in the history of the Institute. The program as announced in the June Journal will be carried out in full.
A regular meeting of Engineering Foundation was held September 8 at which several research projects were discussed as follows:
Reasons are given why it is desirable to revise some of our older laws regarding electromagnetic forces and motions which are the basis of all electromotive devices, in order to conform better to more modern developments. Researches with high-current densities in such mobile conductors as liquids and arcs, have brought out some heretofore unnoticed forces, the existence of some of which had been denied. Some of our older laws are claimed to mislead, to be inaccurate, incomplete, to involve unnecessary complications such as the forced definitions of a sliding contact, are based on the wrong fundamentals, specify results contrary to the facts, and are not universal, thereby checking possible progress if accepted as universal. A new and simple general law is proposed, based on one of the fundamental universal laws of physics. It is shown how this might also be made the basis of a much desired universal law of induction. It leads to the existence of a force longitudinal to the conductor, which our older laws deny. Numerous experiments are described illustrating and bearing out the arguments. Suggestions are made showing how the laws and the present usual methods of mathematical treatment of such forces might be revised in order to make them more satisfactory, easier for the student to understand, and for the engineer to use. If the alleged improper restrictions imposed by former laws are removed, developments in new fields may become possible. In conclusion a tentative plan for revision is suggested.
This paper deals with the general problem of providing long distance telephone service on the Pacific Coast. A description of the present toll plant is given and the applications which have been made of recent developments in telephone practise are illustrated. Reference is made to the extensive use which has been made of carrier telephone and telegraph systems, and the many special problems, such as the loading of long toll entrance cables, which these systems introduce, are pointed out. The service to Catalina Island is described to illustrate the changes which are taking place in the communication art. This service was first provided by means of a radio link to which a privacy system was later added. This radio system was later replaced by two submarine cables between the island and the mainland. The mechanical and electrical characteristics of these cables are given, together with a description of the work of laying, which was done principally by the government cable ship, “Dellwood.”
The new specifications for incandecent lamps determine their quality in terms of life to burnout at a specified mean efficiency. Formerly it was measured by the life to 80 per cent. of initial value. The new tests, therefore, conform more nearly to the actual practise in the use of tungsten filament lamps, as many of these lamps are above 80 per cent at time of burnout. The data on carbon lamps in the paper are based on a life exponent originally determined by Mr. Howell, one of the authors of this paper. Curves showing the relation between life, efficiency and candle power was given by him in a paper presented before the Institute on April 10, 1888. Practically the same life-candle power relation has been found to apply to the GEM, tantalum and tungsten filament lamps. Nowadays the exponent used is that applying to the life-efficiency relation and is different for each kind of filament as, they have different candle power-efficiency relations. All data are based on commercial ratings and guarantees. The quality of tungsten filament lamps has greatly improved since their commercial introduction in 1907 as is shown by the fact that the 40-watt vacuum lamp is now over eight times as good as then. There is a difference in the present relative quality of the various sizes of tungsten filament lamps. The 10-walt vacuum lamp, if operated at 10 mean lumens per watt, would live 190 hours and the 1000 watt gas-filled lamp 35,000 hours.
A neutral grounding reactor (Petersen Coil) has been in operation on the system of the Alabama Power Company since October 12, 1921. This is the first of these devices in this country, although there are perhaps several hundred of them in operation in Europe. The present paper discusses the tests made shortly after installation of this reactor. A companion paper by Messrs. J. M. Oliver and W. W. Eberhardt, discusses the operation of the reactor for a period of about a year. It is believed that this device has a somewhat limited use in this country on account of the prevalence and popularity of the solidly grounded neutral. Nevertheless, there are certain installations favorable to the use of the reactor and it is partly the purpose of the present paper to outline the field of this device as well as to show how its rating may be determined for a particular system.
No means has yet been discovered whereby the abnormal rise of current occurring during short circuits is avoided. Protection against its destructive effects remains, therefore, a subject of major importance. Among the problems requiring short-circuit current determinations, the following are the chief ones: (1) Selection of oil circuit breakers of the required interrupting capacity. (2) Determination of the size of current-limiting reactors. (3) Determination of relay settings in relay systems depending on selective action from over-current and directional relays. (4) Calculation of mechanical stresses in the structural elements of apparatus subject to short-circuit electromagnetic forces. Each of these problems requires the knowledge of the magnitude of short-circuit currents; relay problems frequently require, in addition, the relative phases of currents and voltages at different points of the system during short circuits; in item (4) above the wave-form of the short-circuit current sometimes has to be considered. The available information on the latter subjects, i. e. on phase relations and on wave form during short circuits is relatively meager, probably because it has been required in special cases only. Nevertheless, the demands for these data are increasing??on account of both the tendency towards increased sensitiveness of protective devices and the rapid increase in the magnitude of the short-circuit currents to be handled??and it will be worth while, therefore, if this added information is obtained. This paper is confined to the problems of the determination of the magnitude of short-circuit currents.
Carrier-current communication over transmission lines has been developed to a point where its practicability and value are thoroughly established. This paper discusses several recent developments in apparatus and methods of operation. Carrier-frequency energy flow along the line is discussed briefly to give a mental picture of the electromagnetic and electrostatic conditions existing. Standard 50 and 250-watt apparatus are shown in the illustrations and described briefly.
The usual methods of testing alternating-current high-voltage paper-insulated cables are based upon the ability of the insulating material to withstand excessive potentials in order to determine its condition. Accordingly, these methods are not suitable for routine tests imposed for the purpose of determining the degree of deterioration existing in any particular cable. In an effort to develop a routine test, which will serve to detect an impending fault, use has been made of the kenotron as the source of high-potential direct-current. By means of it a large volume of data has been secured concerning the input-current, for a cable, as a function of time after complete electrification at a constant high potential. These data when plotted, as curves, show by their shape the condition of the cable insulation. Curves showing a sharp decrease in the magnitude of input-current during the first minute and a gradual but persistent rate of decay for the succeeding six or seven minutes indicate that the insulation is in an acceptable condition from the operating point of view. Curves showing little, if any, decrease or a persistent tendency to increase during the time interval of the test indicate that the insulation has deteriorated to such a point that the cable may be expected to fail at an early date if retained in service.
The first transmission of the human voice across the Atlantic was accomplished by means of radio in 1915. Since that time substantial progress has been made in the art of radio telephony and in January of this year another important step was taken in the accomplishment of transoceanic voice communication. At a prearranged time telephonic messages were received in London from New York clearly and with uniform intensity over a period of about two hours. These recent talking tests were part of a series of experiments on transatlantic telephony which are now under way, the results of which to date are reported in the paper. A new method of transmission radiating only a single side-band is being employed for the first time. As compared with the ordinary method of transmission, this system possesses the following important advantages. The effectiveness of transmission is greatly increased because all of the energy radiated is effective in conveying the message; whereas in the ordinary method, most of the energy is not thus effective. The stability of transmission is improved. The frequency band required for transmission is reduced, thus conserving wave length space in the ether and also simplifying the transmitting antenna problem. An important element of the high-power transmitter is the water-cooled tubes, by means of which the power of the transmitted currents is amplified to the order of 100 kilowatts or more. The direct-current power for these tubes is supplied from a 60-cycle, a-c. source through water-cooled rectifier tubes.
RELATED ACTIVITIES Journal Á. I. Å. Å. about the countries in which the fields occur.The laws relating to petroleum are also set forth.Sketch maps show the location of the fields and the refining qualities of typical crude oils from all producing fields are tabulated.Tables of measures, etc. are also given/' The book will be useful work of handy reference for persons interested in petroleum.
