Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-25
The Electric Light-Ets Advantages In
Manufactures.

London Journal Of applied Science: The
application of electricity tor lighting seems
at last to have been accomplished. For some
time the magneto-electrlc machines of
Gramme have been used In the lighting OF
certain factories in Paris and its neighbor
hood, and the number goes on increasing,
and where the ceilings are lofty and direct
light applicable the success is perfect Among
the establishments so lighted those OF
Call q Co., engineers; Lautier, Lamo1ni &
Co., the makers of the Gramme machine,
both of Paris; and Thomas & Powell, of
Rouen, and at the Fiyes-Lile works. The
system CT direct lighting, however, Is net
applicable to weaving and spinning sheds,
the ceiling Of which are too long; the light Is
much too intense, and everything which i'm
pedes it-shafts, driving bands, and machines
creates intense black shadows. The prob
lem was to get a light which, like that OF the
sun, allows objects to be seen by reflection;
and this has been achieved by throwing the
light by means of a hyperbolic reflector on
the whitened ceilings and walls, when the
machinery is sufficiently Illuminated by re-
Election to cause everything to be seen as on
bright sunny day, while the eye is not IA
hgued, nothing is painfully. brilliant, and
nothing obscure. A wool-spinning factory
at Daours, in the department of the Somme,
covers an area of four thousand seven hun
bred and thirty square feet; it is ground
| floor, one hundred and forty feet long, thirty
five feet wide, and the ceiling is twelve feet
from the floor. This ceiling is composed OF
| planks and laths, and is, like the walls, lime
| washed. The electric light is supplied by
two lamps, placed at hight OF SIX feet from
| the floor, and thrown upon the ceiling by
means of conical rehectOrs, which prevent
| the diffusion of any direct light whatever.
| The detected light is reflected and ditfused
| III all walls, and without shadows. The light
Is much superior to that given by ordinary
| &C of Iotn ,oolo md .rat
| in all parts of the work. The foreman, seated
| at his desk, has plenty of light for working
| at his books, and sees all over the building !;
| thus the grand intensity of electric hight is at
once utilized and moderated. The machinery
| Is at one end of the factory, and Is driven by
| a belt from a water wheel. This mode OF
| lighting has been in use for more than a
| year; the cost of the motive power is almost
| nil; each lamp consumes from three to four
inches Of the carbon point per hour, and the
cost of this being one cent per inch, the cost
of the two lamps is twopence per hour. The
| seventy gas Jets by which the factory was
formerly lighted cost one shilling and eight
| pence per hour. We could enumerate sew
| eral other factories where the light has been
used successfully for more than year, but
| will only sum up some of its advantages. Be-
| side its cheapness the effect upon color is an
| important consideration; it is found with the
electric light even the darkest colors are
| worked at night quite as easily as In the day
| time. Another important consideration is
that of fire; an electric lamp replaces from
fifty to seventy jets of gas; they require no
hand lamps or matches to light them-a
most important consideration-and lastly the
lamps are completely inclosed in glass Ian
terms. So important are these facts that in
surance companies have offered to insure fac
tories lighted by electricity at lower rates
than usual. The electric light requires but
little preparation. The necessary machines
and lamps can be set up in few hours; all
that is required Is to keep the grease boxes OF
the machines full, and to clean the latter
daily. The electric light does not affect the
temperature of the factory, and consequently
does not dry the air, neither does 1t consume
any oxygen nor charge the atmosphere with
carbonlc acid and other products of combul
ton. The fact of its not having altered the
appearance of colors has caused it to be used
by dyers. The expense of the electric light
is given as follows: The cost of the machine,