The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-10-04

away all the sewage of the place. Why
could not wells of this kind, more linn
tied in power, perhaps, but as effective
up to a, certain point, be sunk in many
parts of the United States and electrl-
cal farming be practiced on large
scale?
There are l.OOO. coo windmills in oper-
alton in this country at the present
time. Every one Of these mills can be
adapted to the generation of electric
power for farm purposes. According 10
computation windmillS are kpld at the
rate of 100000 a year. Many of these
+ are exported. to be sure, but the num-
Der of effective mills is constantly in
creasing. Here is another local means
of obtaining current. 1t is already
being obtained in various parts of the
country. Professor Brush, of arc light
ing fame, lights his residence near
Cleveland, Ohio with current obtain
ed primarily from windmill. The plant
has been in operation nine years, and
there has been no breakage or stop
Sage during all that time. The power
could be generated on any farm and
there are already many installations Of
the kind in France The practice is to
operate dynamo, the armature Of
which is turned by the mill. Storage
batteries collect the current and hold
it in reserve during the days when
there is little or no wind. It takes but
little wind to generate a practicable
electric current A six mile an hour
wind will easily drive a mill, and
when a velocity of 16 miles an hour
is projected against a 16 foot mill it
will produce 1-5 horse power constantly
exertel- A few years ago a private
lightning plant was installed in which
steam was used to drive the dynamo.
fhc taaT Ial.a nj To "a
and the lowest estimate on the running
expenses OF each lamp was $4.23 for
year. SeVenty-five lamps were used.
The steam plant was afterwards re-
placed by a windmill plant. The cost
for operating each of the 127 lamps
now used is 81 year. This will serve
to illustrate how cheaply electric power
may be produced in the country, not
to mention the cleanliness and lack of
trouble of the one method as opposed
to the Inconvenience, dirt and CRIME OF
the other. With windmill electric
plant farmers could rent out power to
their neighborS. The transmission
could be easily accomplished. Poles,
trees and fences could carry the wires.
1t has been often suggested that the
currents of rivers might be utilized for
power purposes. This is already being
done near Chicago. 1t is accomplished
ponfoon carrying a number of large
paddle wheels which are 'revolved by
the action of the current. Attached to
1 the paddle-Wheel shaft is an endless
chain which is also attached to and in
/ fact operates a series of water buckets.
/ The buckets are part of an elevator
system and travel up and down a high
! staging. They pick UP the water and
! lift it to the top of the staging from
III,
( a great head of water may be obtained,
depending of course on the velocity of
\ the river. So far the water thus raised
1 has been used in irrigation, but efforts
/ are being made to adopt the raised
water to the operation of a s7ater
wheel in which case electric current
( could be generated and transmitted
any distance. This is another case
wherein the farmer may be benefited
by the adaptable quality of the modern
system.
But having procured his electric cur
rent by one method or another the
farmer VIII want 10 know what TO do
with it. In the. west electricity is oper-
ating a fifteen blade gang plough
which will cut a furrow six feet wide.
The blades revoive and the plough is
pulled across the field by means of a
cable which passed around the drum
of an electric motor on the piow. In
New York state there is a. trolley plow
in opera ton. Wires are stretched along
the edge of the field and carry cur
rent to a cross wire. which, as in the
case of the pillow mentioned above,
passes around the drum OF a motor.
But in this case the motor is attached
to the axle of the pillow wheels and
turns the latter with it's own power.
Current in this case is transmitted
overland for some distance from the
power house.
An electric plow has recently been
tested near Chicago which will run in
any direction and at any speed, ire
spective of its surroundings It con-
sists of q. two wheel platform. a motor
and plow The wheels are iron
frames having sharp ridges at intervals
so as TO Obtain a good purchase on the
ground. There is a resistance box to
regulate the amount of current and a
reel carrying a coil of flexible wire
much the same as is used for mean
descent lighting, only larger The cur
rent was obtained from a nearby troll
ley line at the pressure of 800 volts. AS
the plow travels in any direction the
reel unwinds the flexible cord which
is long enough to reach TO any part
of the field, or rewinds automatically
when the machine approaches the