In October, 1880, the stoker of the yacht Livadia, which was lying in
the Thames, near London, was ordered to adjust one of the Jablochkoff
candles. He accidently touched the terminals of the lamp, and instantly
fell down dead. The difference of potential at the lamp terminals was
only fifty volts, but it was admitted at the time that the wires must
have been in contact with the iron plate upon which the stoker stood,
and that alternating currents of higher voltages from the main source
caused the death, because with fifty volts an electrical energy of only
.05 Watts would have been expended on the resistances of the skin and
the vital organs of the victim.
In 1880, a workman touched a wire of a Brush installation at the
Hatfield House, the residence of the Marquis of Salisbury, and fell down
dead. The current was under eight hundred volts.
In July, 1882, on the occasion of a fire in Brighton, England, a fireman
took hold of a fire-escape which was in contact with the wire of a Brush
machine. He received a shock which doubled him up and disabled him for a
long time.
August, 1883, an official of the Hungarian railway in Pesth was killed
on touching a wire of a "Ganz" alternating-current generator.
August, 1884, Emile Martin and Joseph Kenarec were killed in Paris on
attempting to climb over the fence of the garden of the Tuileries.
Pages:
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84