Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-03-20
ELECTRICITY.
Its Important Part i'm House
hold Economy.
SOMEWHAT EXPENSIVE LUXURY
A New York Bachelors Contrivance for
Warming His Room, Cooking, and
Heating Water for the Bath.
SOMEWHAT EXPENSIVE LUXURY

A young bachelor electrician who
occupies apartments on the far south
side has surrounded himself with all
the electrical luxuries, which ingenuity
can suggest.
In the morning he is awakened by
an alarm bell connected by wires with
his clock in such a way that when
the small hand indicates a certain hour
the circuit is completed, and the bell
begins to burr and continues merrily
until button at the head of the bed is
pushed If it is cold morning the
young man touches another button and
the valve in a gas stove which stands
in the center of the room is opened and
set ablaze. After the room is thorough
ly warmed up, if he desires to take
bath he touches button that closes
the vent in the bottom of the tub and
another which turns on the hot water.
By this time he is ready to get up
and, while he is bathing, a neat little
electrical stove of his own invention
is boiling some water for cup of
coffee.
He feels prouder of the stove than
any of his other treasured devices.
It is constructed of two tin pals, one
much samller than the other and fitting
down inside of it. Between the two
he has arranged carefully wound coil
of resistance wires, and over the whole
stove cover fits tightly down. The
coffee pot rests inside of the inner
pail, and it is readily heated from the
wires. Between the resistance-coil
and the outside tin pail a layer of
asbestos is tamped in to prevent the
heat from radiating outward The
stove is insulated by means of four
glass knobs, which are fitted to the
bottom like the legs of a table.
The young man also has an electric
call-bell ON his door and electric burg
lar alarms on his windows, and he is
now engaged in constructing device
for opening and shutting ventilator
by means of a push button at the head
of the bed.
If it were not for the matter of ex-
pense there is no doubt that system
of cooking by electricity would soon
come into universal use. 1t has
already been introduced into the homes
of a number of wealthy eastern fami-
lies, and it simplifies all the operations
of cooking in a really marvellous man.
ner. There is no doubt that the inven-
tors will, before many years, discover a
way whereby electricity can be pro-
vided at cost that will not exceed
that of ordinary fuel. The only ques-
ton is whether labor can be saved to a
community if all the coal necessary for
its heat supply be burned at central
station, and the heating power distri-
buted instead of continuing the usual
custom of burning the coal in each
house separately. The local process of
combustion is wasteful as we'll as
dirty, and the greater part of the heat
escapes by the chimneys. On the other
hand, a steam engine is necessary at
the central station to convert the coal
into electricity, and the best modern
engines are only capable of using 12
per cent. of the heat developed from
the combustion, so that when the
machinery and wiring are taken into
account it has always been regarded
as impossible in the past to distribute
heat on a large scale to advantage.
But the item Of expense has not en-
tirely deferred the use of electricity for
heating purposes. An ordinary electri-
cal cooking stove looks very much like
common table with dishes placed
upon it, apparently without any re-
gard to arrangement. The only pecu-
liar thing noticeable is the green wire
which runs from the dishes to the
wall. All utensils likely to grow hot
are incased in slate, marble or other
non conductors Of heat. Such covering
Is not required for teakettles or cof-
feepots, whose temperature never rises
above ala degrees,
The electricity is controlled by a
number of little screws much like those
ON incandescent lamps In some of
them the windows of the oven are made
of glass and the interior is illumi-
mated with miniature electric light
so that the condition of the baking
within can be seen without opening the
door, An arrangement has also been
devised by means of which the heat in
the various parts of the oven can be
readily increased or diminished, thus
providing effeotually against pies with
raw bottom crusts and unevenly baked
roasts, Soups are cooked with ladle-
like utensil, the spoon part of which is
heated to high temperature by elec-
tricity. When the soup is stirred with
this appliance it rapidly reaches the
boiling point. Mince pies can be
cooked in ten minutes and whole
dinner does not require more than an
hour and half, In addition to these
advantages the electricity can be so
controlled ON hot summer days that the
kitchen is as cool as any other part OF