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VOL. XXXV. CLEVELAND, JUNE 2/7, 1907. No. 26: 7 ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION IN DETROIT RIVER TUNNEL. The tunnel under the Detroit river, connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ont., and which is being built by the Michi- gan Central railroad, is to be electri- cally operated. : The tunnel is comprised of two separate iron tubes laid at a depth of 65 ft. below the surface of the water. The section to be operated by elec- tricity is a trifle over four miles long and with 'the yards totals 15 miles of single track. It is thought that electric locomo- tives for tunnel operation will give not only greater celerity in handling traf- . fic but will also perceptibly lighten the ventilation problem. The equipment of locomotives is to include six 100-ton direct-current locomotives of swivel- truck type, with geared motors, each locomotive capable of hauling a 900- ton load up a two per cent grade at ten miles per hour. The locomotives are each to be mounted with four 280- H. P. motors, two of which are to be placed on each. swivel truck. The Sprague-General Electric multiple unit control will be the systém installed, the locomotives running either in pairs or singly. The third-rail system will furnish current, to be taken therefrom by con- tact shoes. Automatic high-speed air brakes will be installed. The General Electric Co. is to furnish the electric equipment for the locomotives and the tunnel in general as well. The current required for operating is to be obtained from the Detroit Edi- son Co. and a. substation at Detroit will receive it at a potential of 4,400 volts, at a frequency of 60 cycles. This substation is to be fitted with two 1,000 kilowatt synchronous motor-generator sets, from which the third rail will be supplied at 650 volts. On shaft exten- sions of each of the motor-generator sets 15-kilowatt 125-volt exciters for the synchronous motors will be fitted. The lighting and pumping installa- tions are to be very complete, thé yards and approaches to be lighted by arc lamps and the tunnel to be fitted with incandescent lamps installed on duplicate circuits. The lighting cir- cuits will receive alternating current at a frequency of 60 cycles, the circuits being so arranged. that broken one-half of the lamps in each tunnel will burn. Running through each tunnel there will be a_ single three-phase distributing circuit with connection to step-down transformers, the secondaries of the transformers to be interconnected with duplicate cir- cuits for one-half of the lamps in each tunnel. 'Induction motor centrifugal pumps arranged.in duplicate will be provided to drain each of five sumps, the pump motors operating directly at 4,000 volts. The controlling circuits with compensators will: be centralized in the substation. The depths of water in each sump will be indicated by both visible and audible devices at the sub- station. A regulation storage . battery for carrying the load fluctuation is to be in- _ stalled in the substation which, should the necessity arise, will be capable of operating the entire system for half an hour. In such an event the lighting and pumping alternating current equip- ment will be energized by 60-cycle, al- ternating current from a 50-kilowatt motor-generator set, the driving motor being supplied with current from the storage battery. Flexible switching ar- rangements will be installed to enable -- this interchange of power supply. to be easily and quickly effected. EXCURSION BOAT INSPECTION SERVICE IN NEW YORK. Every excursion about New York will be inspected at least once a week dur- ing the coming summer and every viola- if either is. tion .of regulations presciibed for the safety of passengers will be prosecuted by a newly-formed organization which is so constituted that in effect it in- cludes every person who goes upon an excursion, This organization is the Peo- ple's Institute Marine League, under which title are enrolled the following or- ganizations: The American Association of Masters, Mates and Pilots; Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association; Ma- rine Engine Builders; American Life- saving Society and the People's Institute Organization. The central committee is the working unit of the institute. All reports will be made to it, and it will prosecute owners of vessels who persist in neglecting to equip their craft with the safety devices required by law, or who attempt to run boats which are not safe or are improper- ly manned, The membership of the League includes about 40,000 men, among whom are a large number belonging to the crews of the vessels that carry ex- cursion crowds, and by this means the | Institute League will be enabled to ob-. tain personal information of the exact condition of every boat employed in the excursion trade about New York, It is. quite generally known that many of the boats carrying excursion crowds are not in first-class seaworthy condition, The volunteer inspectors have been provided with printed blanks which they need only to fill out fo give an exact ac- count of the conditions as they prevail on the various boats, The blanks con- tain various questions relative to the "number and character of safety appli- ances, the character and discipline of crews, etc. The inspectors will test life -preservers and ascertain whether the re- - quired number are provided: and whether they are accessible, Particular attention will be paid to overcrowding of boats and as the league has a ist of the num- ber each boat is allowed to carry, it will be easy to discover violations, Every organization in the city which - is even remotely liable to conduct an ex-