electricity

THE YEAR 2000 PREDICTED

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

What would the world be like in that far-distant year of 2000? Hard to believe, but apparently everything will be powered by electricity – which, of course, will be transmitted through air.

One of the more interesting evenings in early 1906 Santa Rosa was the presentation by “the Wizard of Electricity” Reno B. Welbourn, a popular science speaker on the Lyceum and Chautauqua lecture circuits. What he demonstrated were machines that are toys today and principles which now are shown at high school science fairs, but in 1906, this was all gee-whiz stuff.

The review that appeared in the Press Democrat was skimpy, but a fuller description of “In the Year 2000” appeared in the Aug. 6, 1910 Nebraska State Journal. Welbourn blew a whistle into a microphone to power a light bulb; used an early version of the fax machine to transmit a picture of the President; and what was probably the dramatic highlight of the show, used a magnesium flare to simulate the sun, powering a solar cell to drive a motor, likely similar to this model Stirling engine. Not that the future would be a utopia; Welbourn also demonstrated weaponry, including a noiseless gun equipped with a silencer, and showed how explosives could be detonated at a distance using a solar cell.

Little of this tech was cutting edge, even in 1906; some inventions were already a decade old or more, such as the photovoltaic selenium cell and the fax (which he probably called a “scanning phototelegraph“). What made the presentation unique was how he tied each demonstration into wireless technology, either radio or Nikola Tesla’s experimental near field power transmission.

The wireless electricity angle never came to pass because the effect didn’t really work beyond laboratory conditions (good demonstration video here) but that wouldn’t be known until years later, and Welbourn can’t be faulted for believing the kinks would be ironed out someday. And Tesla was eventually proven right, in a way; his predictions of a wireless global communications network sounds very much like the real world that came about in the 21st century.

But Welbourn did overreach in his predictions of how all this would be tied together. According to the Nebraska paper, “airships and trains might be driven with power generated miles away and sent through the air…in the future a traveler in the Andes, far away from home, might cook his supper over an electric stove deriving its heat from Niagara power.” The newspaper also reported, “Electricity was generated from sound and a light was made to glow with the force of sound. A motor was driven by the same force. The sound was made by a whistle and an acoustic engine which was in tune with the whistle made the wheels turn. ‘The time will come soon,’ the speaker declared, ‘when a man will play a fiddle on his back porch while the music saws wood.’ The light generated was shown in a small bulb.”

Welbourn was obviously a good speaker, a good scientist, and a man of wit. His lecture also included a demonstration of a water engine (probably an early version of Tesla’s bladeless turbine), and predicted it would be the power generator of the future. But, he reassured readers of the Santa Rosa Republican, “he did not want to create any uneasiness among the wood dealers in Santa Rosa at the present time.”

WIZARD OF ELECTRICITY
Reno B. Welbourn Will Speak Here on Thursday Night

“In the Year 2000” is to be the topic of the lecture in this city on Thursday evening by Reno B. Welbourn. Mr. Welbourn is familiarly known as the “Wizard of Electricity,” and it is said that this effort will be one that will be very attractive and instructive for old and young. It is one of the attractions of the Lyceum course. The lecture will be delivered in the Athenaeum.

“In the Year 2000” is Mr. Welbourn’s greatest work. It was prepared at the request of hundreds of people from all parts of the country. The invariable questions brought forth by the previous efforts, night after night, were: “Why not give is a bit of prophecy, and show us what scientists are doing for the future[?] Why not let us into the secrets of the laboratory that we may cross the borderland of discovery and see in the experimental stage the wonderful things which future generations will be most likely to make practical?” The American people have always craved prophecy. The magazines are full of it. They recognize that all progress depends upon the ability of the people to look ahead and see what is coming. And so it came about that “In the Year 2000” was produced; but it required five years of unremitting labor to do it.

During these five years Mr. Welbourn enlisted the attention of some of the greatest men of science in the world, and was fortunate enough to secure the personal assistance of Nikola Tesla, Lord Kelvin, Sir William Crookes, Signor Marconi, and many others both in this country and Europe. No better testimonial of Mr. Welbourn’s ability and standing could possibly be written. He prophesies that those things will be which must be. He meets the great problems of life face to face and shows, by the most wonderful experiments ever produced on the lyceum stage, how they are going to be solved.

– Press Democrat, January 2, 1906

“TWO WIZARDS IN ONE TOWN”
Welbourn Connects His Name with that of Burbank in Pleasant Manner

Reno B. Welbourn, the wizard of electricty, arrived in Santa Rosa this morning and is spending the afternoon seeing the city, and arranging his outfit for the entertainment this evening.

In speaking on various matters in his room today, he seemed pleased with the fact that he was in the city of Luther Burbank, and ended with the saying, “Two wizards in one town.” Welbourn is a very interesting person to talk with, and is full of the experiences he has had with meeting most of the great scientists of the world. Speaking of the entertainment he stated that since he started on this tour he has been compelled to eliminate many of the numbers of the program as at first announced, but that he has replaced them with numbers that are far superior to the others.

Considerable was said during the conversation about the statement that he would illustrate the burning of water, and he said that this feature of the program would be presented, and that whether it would be the coming fuel or not was not for him to say, though he firmly believes that it will be realized some day. However, he did not want to create any uneasiness among the wood dealers in Santa Rosa at the present time. He is a firm believer in the future of the electric energy and looks forward to the day when it will be the material used for the lights, cooking and heating purposes of the public.

– Santa Rosa Republican, January 4, 1906

ELECTRICITY IN YEARS TO COME
An Instructive Lecture Delivered by Reno Welbourn Last Night

There was a large and appreciative audience present at the Athenaeum on Thursday evening when Reno B. Welbourn, “The Wizard of Electricity,” delivered his lecture “In the Year 2000.” The lecture was an illustration of the development of electricity. All of the various uses to which wireless electricity has already been put in the commercial world was shown. Wireless telegraph, telephone, fire and burglar alarms, automatic signals and lights, and the transmission of power were a few of the wonders demonstrated for the benefit of the audience.

The lecturer also explained sound, music, and light power which would run a motor, and numerous other marvels of present day knowledge of electricity which he declared would be worked into practical use in the years to come.

– Press Democrat, January 5, 1906

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THE ELECTRICAL CURE

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

In 1905, every front page of the Press Democrat had an engraved illustration at the top center. It was usually a portrait of a famous person, but also sometimes the picture of a remarkable building, boat, or national monument. The offering below was the certainly the oddest.

Caption: “The alarming increase in the United States of nervous diseases has had the effect of causing medical men to devote their best thought to the discovery of a method of curing them. An invention looking to this end is that of Dr. Arsonval [sic] of France. The illustration shows how the patient is placed while a high alternating current is sent at intervals through his body.”

The device shown is the “great solenoid” invented in 1893 by Paris researcher Jacques-Arsene d’Arsonval, a surrounding cage with an electrical coil at low voltage, but high frequency. By the time of this picture, “d’Arsonval current” was claimed to cure – among other ills – hypertension, epilepsy, arthritis, “slow nutrition,” eczema, and TB (but only if the afflicted inhales ozone during treatment.)

(Click image to enlarge)

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I AM A LINEMAN FOR THE COUNTY

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

It’s time to rewire the entire town! And how interesting that “Boss of the Road Overalls,” which ran a rotating series of ads, normally showing bright-faced, happy workers operating machinery, chose to portray the electrical lineman looking like a morose hobo, appearing to contemplate whether or not to use that wire to hang himself from the nearby pole. But hey, demand the brand.

If it wasn’t for the earthquake lurking around the bend, historians might say 1905 was the year of big changes for Santa Rosa. Autos were so common that Santa Rosa imposed its first speed limit; so many homes had telephones that you had to look up the number in the “Hello Book” before asking the operator for a connection; major streets were being paved, sidewalks were going in, and now, the whole town was being rewired so residents could enjoy good electricity.

Rewiring the entire town might seem odd, considering that it had been rewired only four years before, according to the definitive 19th c history by Gaye LeBaron et. al. (although it’s unclear from the book whether that may have been limited to streetlights). But upgrades were certainly needed; electrical demand in Santa Rosa was booming. A Press Democrat promotional supplement observed that the power company now provided “300 horse power to various factories,” known because electric motors still were so rare that the company could keep track of them all, as they did in 1904. The newspaper supplement also noted that there were then 12,000 incandescent lights used around town. (How did they know? Even if the Lighting Company sold all these bulbs, were they sure all of them were still working? Was there a burned-out bulb return policy?)

The surprise here is how expensive electricity was in 1905: ten cents per Kwh, just a penny less than it costs today. Adjusted for inflation, that means electricity was over 25 times more expensive for the 1905 Santa Rosan — it would be the equivalent of PG&E now charging us over a buck to use a single 100W regular light bulb for an evening. No wonder that bulb wattage at the time was typically in the dim 30-watt range.

The supplement article also notes that the Lighting Company recently expanded its coal gas plant. As in San Francisco, those gas pipes would fracture during the Great Quake and fuel the fires that did the greatest 1906 damage.

WILL RE-STRING ELECTRIC WIRES
Lighting Company to Spend Five Thousand in Next Four Months in Local Improvements

Announcement was made today by Manager Danville Decker of the lighting company that within thirty days work will be commenced re-stringing all the wires of the company in Santa Rosa. This will cost over $5000 and will take at least three months’ time. To handle the job will require the services of about six special men. In discussing the matter Mr. Decker said that the copper in the wire grows less able with use and exposure to the weather to carry the necessary voltage. With new wires in service it is expected that the lights will burn with a better crilliancy [sp] and that the power supplied to the various motors will be increased.

– Santa Rosa Republican, November 2, 1905
FURNISHES LIGHT HEAT AND ENERGY
IMMENSE CONCERN THAT SUPPLIES MANY TOWNS INCLUDING SANTA ROSA
Harnessed Energy of Mountain Streams Turns Many a Wheel and Transforms Night Into Day

No scientist has yet been able to give an accurate definition of electricity. However, we have a large and useful knowledge of what it does, and each year we learn more of what it can do…

…Interruptions are of rare occurrence; and when they do happen are speedily remedied by the auxiliary systems fed by stations in nearly all the towns on the line. In the station at Santa Rosa are steam engines and dynamos of nearly five hundred horse power. There is another emergency station at Sebastopol, and another at Petaluma. These are connected so that current from any or all of them can be turned into the main line to remedy an interruption or a breakdown at any point. When the long-distance lines were first installed the engines were frequently called into action, but the task of discovering and eliminating the imperfections was energetically prosecuted, and today the service is well-night [sic] perfect, and the engines have stood cold for a long time.

Here in Santa Rosa the company has more than 12,000 incandescent lights and 1000 arcs, and furnishes about 300 horse power to various factories. The Santa Rosa and Petaluma electric railway draws its motive power from the same source. The high-potential wires into this city carry a current of 60,000 volts, which is reduced by “step-down” transformers to 2,000 volts for the arc lights, to lighter voltage for motors and still lighter for the incandescent lamps. Current is sold at 10 cents per kilowatt per hour, with flat rates on a sliding scale for large consumers. The Santa Rosa Lighting Company has also a splendid gas plant with a daily capacity of 200,000 cubic feet, which supplies gas not only to Santa Rosa but to the city of Petaluma, sixteen miles distant, to which place the gas is piped into great storage tanks under heavy pressure, affording also gas facilities to residents all along the line, a convenience unusual to dwellers outside of cities. There are thousands of gas stoves in the two towns.

– Press Democrat November 30, 1905 promotional supplement

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