The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1892-08-24

the efficacy of our lamps, we have
something to say. He was not from
Philadelphia as you say, but from Ann
Arbor, and claimed To be Asst Profess
sor of Mech Eng, u. of M. Public
rumor says he was a student there.
However that might be, like nearly all
professors, he was more of the theorist
than practician. When visiting our
power house where we had three dy-
namos standing, he did not seem to
know one system from another. One
of the instruments he used for tests
the photometer Eight measurer)-was
a homemade, creased paper, "tallOw
dip" arrangement, very clumsy con-
Germ; and the only redeeming quality
af the high priced tests he made with it
was that after embOdying them in his
lengthy reports, he states therein that
he does not place much reliance upon
them. This admission does away of
course with the legal force of his tests,
and would cause them to he thrown
out of any court OF record. We dis
miss them as unworthy OF further dis
cussion.
AS To the other tests made by an am
eter current measurer), an instrument
used to measure the volume of electric.
u
ator, we desire To say that the first tests
were made, according to his report,
upon the night of March 30th last-a
very wet rainy night-between 10 and
IL o'clock, when only the 16 street
lamps were on. Previously there had
been severe snow and sleet storms,
bending down and otherwise disarrang-
ing the limbs of trees through which
the circuit wires pass. These wires,
whipping against the limbs, had in
many places become abraded of their
insulating coating and these dripping
wet limbs had become most excellent
conductors, taking the electricity from
the wires to the ground, thereby de-
priviDg the lamps of their normal sup
ply. The ameter tests only showed the
amount of current remaining in the
wires, and not that which had passed
into the ground. AT this test, imper-
feet as it was, his ameter reading
showed only IA loss OF lighting efficiency
of % per cent. below the normal cur
rent necessary to give 1000 C. p. light.
The second test was made on the
night of March 3lst-a clear, starlight
night, with treetops dried off. No bet
ter night perhaps in the whole year
could have been selected Except in
times of severe drought for fair and
honest tests. Upon this night, his re-
port says, there were 23 lamps turned
on" Six tests were made that night
at intervals of about ten minutes each,
and the average of his ampere reading
showed loss of only 81 per cent. of
current from actual, not nominal, 1000
C. p. capacity. In all of the tests made
no allowance was made for line wire re-
sistance, which all practical electricians
would have done, and which he would
have done had he been practical cleo
trician. This resistance or leakage, ac
cording to some of the best electrical
experts whom we consulted in Chicago,
is fully 10 per cent. in our circuit. This
admitted, his second nights tests would
have given us 81 excess above actual
1000 C. p. and n lighting service of 2O70
C. p.; with 10 c. p. per lamp more than
our contract calls for. Adding the re-
sistance to the first (rainy) nights show
ing and the net loss would be Ii per
cent. Averaging the ameter readings
of the two nights, which we deem un-
fair owing to the physical conditions of
the first night, and allowing nothing
for resistance, after the manner of the
professor, we find only loss of 1871 per
cent, and not 20 per cent, as members
of the board claim. Should we aver
age the two nights test allowing for re-
sistance, we find that the account
would stand: first night, wet, loss -
per cent, second night, dry, excess 81
per cent.-average net loss for both
nights, 81 per cent, which is as near the
standard ratings of all kinds of machin-
cry as practical workings will admit.
How is this for 900 per cent loss under
the most favorable circumstances" as
members of the village board informed
you?
Somebody has not taken warning by
the fate of Annanias. If these men, as
portion of the village board, are rep
resenting the people," as a portion of
the people we desire to be counted out.
We do not believe that they do repre-
sent the people in this, as in most other
matters they do not, and at the next
election the people will see that they
are securely and permanently turned
down"
The above statements are not ours,
but taken from the report of their own
high-priced expert, whom our taX-pay
ers will soon enough have to put up for.
Another expert has been here also-a
gentleman sent by the Edison General
Electric company - one of their own
men-uOt a college student, but prac-
teal electrician, and he made the state
ment in presence of several gentlemen,
among whom, if we mistake not, was
the present village attorney, that the
lamps as then burning, with 20 turned
on, were giving off a candle power of
220O etficiency-200 C. p. per lamp more
than the contract required.
A word in regard to our dynamo ca
pacity. Being advised by board mem
bers, you say that we "were trying to
supply 26 lamps from 20-light dyna-
mo-" This statement is Incorrect, and
we again refer these gentlemen to the
tragic fate of Annanias. The Western
Electric dynamo, first in use here, was
25-lighter, but the Sperry- Edison, as
we shall furnish the proof at the proper
time, is a 30.lighter. With the full load
of 30 lamps it gives the same candle
power per lamp as when carrying but
one. Their own high-priced expert in
his report makes the amount of cleo
tricity generated by the dynamo 19t
per cent more when % lamps are on