Electrician

“ The way to his boarding house through the deserted streets piled high with snow was far from agreeable to the young electrician. But he gave the elements around him but scant attention, his whole mind being engaged upon what had been revealed to him.
"I must watch those fellows closely," he reasoned. "Sooner or later they will do or say something which will incriminate themselves." ”

“ We shall see that the subjugation of electricity means for thought and work not an addition merely, but a multiplier. It marries the resources of the mechanic, the engineer, the chemist, the artist, with issue attested by all its own fertility, while it annexes province after province unimagined before its advent. Because the latest upward stride in knowledge and faculty has fallen to the lot of the electrician, he has broadened the scientific horizon vastly more than any earlier explorer ”

“ Still retaining his hold, the truckman endeavored to strike Franklin with his disengaged hand. But the young electrician, who fully understood the sort of a man with whom he had to deal, was on his guard. ”

“ The great number of exhibits demonstrated the achievements in the economic usage of electricity during an amazingly short period. In fact, the electrician has obtained unequaled results in his profession. To him is due—to a great extent—the high stage of perfection in sciences, arts, and industries at the present day. ”

“ Some five or six years ago an acquaintance of mine, whom I knew to be a worthy man—an electrician of the name of Pemberton, who was a great experimenter—came to me with the statement that he was satisfied that he had discovered the practical principles of storing electricity and of operating a motor with a minimum of leakage, by an invention of his own. ”

“ The young electrician's first work on reaching the business portion of the city again was to send two telegrams, one to Walter Robinson, telling him that Mrs. Bliss wished very much to see him at once, and the second to Belden Brice, acquainting that gentleman as briefly as possible with the situation. ”

“ While it possesses wonderful powers, they give it attributes that it does not possess. Not long ago a favorite headline of the medical electrician's advertisement was "Electricity Is Life," and it was a common thing to see street-venders dealing out this "life" in shocking quantities to the innocent multitudes—ten cents' worth in as many seconds. ”

“ The studies to be followed, methods of work, field of operation and the requirements of the successful electrician are pointed out and fully explained. Every young engineer will find this an excellent stepping-stone to more advanced works on electricity which he must master before success can be attained. Many young men become discouraged at the very out-start by attempting to read and study books that are far beyond their comprehension. ”

“ The recovery of the cable of 1865 from the very lowest depths of the Atlantic seems to have taken the world by surprise. It is not, however, too much to say that no class of the community has felt more astonishment than those who are best acquainted with the difficulties of the task—the electricians....
“Night and day for a whole year an electrician has always been on duty watching the tiny ray of light through which signals are given, and twice every day the whole length of wire—1240 miles—has been tested for conductivity and insulation.... ”

“ The vast amount of mechanical contrivances worked by electricity minimised labour to such an extent that it raised the position of a domestic servant to that of a working electrician of the nineteenth century; which period saw the birth of the practical use of electric energy. In fact, a thoroughly good domestic servant who knew her work, that is to say, a woman who understood, and successfully conducted the various machines, keeping them in working order, could readily command her two pounds a week, and run a home, husband, and children on her own account. ”

“ Yet the practical electrician knows as well as the expert that he is dealing with a real force, and may be able to wire the house better than the theoretical electrician himself could do. How many good cooks are there who could chemically analyze the food which they have prepared for their families? ”

“ The young doctor obtains this practical knowledge in hospitals and in practice among the poor. The electrician obtains it by entering some large electrical industry or manufactory, in which a thoroughly practical knowledge of mechanical engineering and electricity can be secured. ”

“ The electrician and the mechanical engineer have provided us with the electric current in useful and infinitely pliable form, transmitting energy of all mechanical prime motors from the source, or point of surrender of energy by nature, to the point of application, a mile, ten miles or a hundred miles away, with little loss and with vast convenience and economy. The engineer is even furnishing power for use in transmitting messages over the telegraph wire. ”

“ The progress in recent years has been so great that every electrician and electrical engineer is confident that electricity will become the means of accomplishing many things that have been heretofore, with our existing knowledge, deemed impossible. ”

“ That will come when you have worked up to it. You will really begin at the bottom. In the car-house your first employment will be sweeping up, washing the windows, keeping things clean. And after you have shown yourself satisfactory at that, then you may become a helper to the car-house electricians."
I didn't see how sweeping and scrubbing a building was any preparation for the trade of electrician ”

“ This, he says in substance, must have been obvious upon reflection to any competent electrician, though there would be need of a certain amount of adjustment and experiment in substituting the correct inductance or capacity, a process, it is argued, that would be well within the ability of any one skillful in the art. ”

“ Electrical Experts.—The use of electricity has so increased in the last few years, and so many new uses have been found for it, that there are to-day nearly fifty different departments of human labor where it is employed, and naturally these have differentiated as many kinds of electricians. A young man in a New York establishment says “I am in receipt of a salary of $4,000 as superintendent of the dynamo building, and recently I had an offer of $7,000 to go with a new company out West.” ”

“ The accuracy with which our cable-repairers are directed by our electricians to the spot where the wire is broken, the exactitude with which the working speed of a cable is predicted, the unfelt and invisible supervision which is exercised over the care and maintenance of our telegraphs—even though they pass through distant countries and different climes—are evidences that electricity, in this particular field, is approaching the last and prophetic stage of its growth. ”

“ Of all books recently published on practical electricity for the youthful electricians, it is doubtful if there is even one among them that is more suited to this field. This work is recommended to every one interested in electricity and the making of electrical appliances. ”

“ In some senses electrical science and its practical applications might be described as the creation of the present century; and the author has been encouraged to adopt this method of giving a popular account of the great and useful work that our electricians have done by the success of a similar work dealing, in like manner, with the men and the inventions that have multiplied and cheapened the production and use of the most useful of metals. ”

“ For example, questions relating to steam engines, boilers, boats, locomotives, railways, etc., are considered and answered by a professional engineer of distinguished ability and extensive practical experience. Inquiries relating to electricity are answered by one of the most able and prominent practical electricians in this country. ”

“ Their great idea is to work everything by electricity, and to them belongs the credit of all the latest discoveries in electrical science. Their beautiful city is a great centre of attraction for scientific men, and many European electricians make a practice of coming over every Saturday to stay till Monday. ”

“ In the infancy of the science no country produced more electricians than Germany; in the discovery and exposition of its subtlest laws, as well as in their application to useful purposes, no country has done more than England; while in the most novel and most extensive use of electrical appliances for industrial purposes the New World may be said to have outstripped the Old. ”

“ The grounding of all metallic wiring systems and the reason for doing so shown and explained. The insulation of the metal parts of lamp fixtures and the reason for the same described and illustrated. 125 pages. Fully illustrated. Flexible cloth. Price 50 cents.
HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL ELECTRICIAN. By PROF. T. O'CONOR SLOANE. Every young man who wishes to become a successful electrician should read this book. It tells in simple language the surest and easiest way to become a successful electrician. ”

“ Till then the electric light often flickered instead of shining steadily, and the cause of its irregularity puzzled the electricians. In 1880 Sir William Siemens gave Professor Wheatstone full credit for having suggested a remedy for this defect in 1867.
Such an array of electrical inventions and discoveries [Pg 210] was surely enough for one man; but electricity was only one of the many subjects that engaged his attention or exercised his ingenuity. ”

“ Electricians now began to be sedulous in their experiments upon the new force by friction, then the only known method of generating electricity. In 1729, Stephen Gray, a pensioner of the Charter-house, contrived a method of making electrical signals through a wire 765 feet long ”

“ An attempt to convey to the average electrical worker a knowledge of the principles, construction, characteristics, management, and operation of electric generators and motors. Particular attention is given to the installation and operation of electrical machinery and the location and correction of troubles. The treatment is plain, without difficult mathematics.
The same author’s “American electricians’ handbook,” McGraw, 1913, $3.00, is one of the most useful reference books for practical electrical workers. ”

“ Gentlemen, there is an influence which is getting strong and stronger day by day, which shows itself more and more in all departments of human activity, and influence most fruitful and beneficial — the influence of the artist. It was a happy day for the mass of humanity when the artist felt the desire of becoming a physician, an electrician, an engineer or mechanician or — whatnot — a mathematician or a financier; for it was he who wrought all these wonders and grandeur we are witnessing. ”

“ The consequences of this demand for electrical knowledge, and of these experimental opportunities for acquiring it, have been already very great, both in stimulating the energies of advanced electricians, and in diffusing among practical men a degree of accurate knowledge which is likely to conduce to the general scientific progress of the whole engineering profession. ”

“ Then again, the electrical continuity—after all, the most important item—was perfect, and the electricians reported that the signals passing between the ships were eminently satisfactory. The door of the testing-room is almost always shut, and the electricians pursue their work undisturbed ”

“ The electricians must care for motors, bells, etc., and there is always opportunity for teaching winding, motor construction, and wiring. Plumbing must be installed and kept in repair. Many parts of the plant call for the 45sheet-metal worker. Foundry and machine workers require in turn a pattern-making shop and draftsmen to furnish plans and specifications. ”

“ Belden Brice elevated his eyebrows. "Your experience with him was a short one."
"It was, and bitter."
"Never mind; keep a stiff upper lip."
"I shall try to do that, Sir. I have just been to the Edison Works for a job."
"Bound to get something connected with electricity, I see." ”

“ Here we have one line of advance from candles and oil lamps to gas, and from gas to electricity; and we can recognize many other threads of advance all converging upon electricity. We produce heat and light by electricity. We transmit intelligence by the telegraph and telephone, and we use electricity as a motive power. In fact, we have fairly entered upon an electrical age, and it is obvious that the electrical engineer will be much in demand in the future. Those of you who devote yourselves to electrical subjects will certainly find a place and room to work. ”

“ Electrical measurement has become a department of physical science by itself, and a technical, extensive and varied one. Already the electrical specialist, no more an original experimenter or investigator than the average physician is, has become professional. He makes plans, submits facts, estimates cost, and states results with almost certainty.
ELECTRICITY AS AN INDUSTRY.--Immense factories are now devoted to the manufacture of electrical goods exclusively. Large establishments in cities are filled with them. ”

“ These conductors may be made of any metal, such as copper or iron wire, or strips of copper or iron, or of cords or twine, or other substances, gilt, silvered, or covered with any metal leaf, properly insulated in the ground, or through or beneath the water, or through the air, and by causing the electric or galvanic current to pass through the circuit, by means of any generator of electricity, to make use of the visible signs of the presence of electricity in any part of the said circuit, to communicate any intelligence from one place to another. ”