The Van Buren press., 1896-11-07
ELECTRICITY FOR HEATING.
A simple Illustration 81 the Workings of
The Current.

the Current.
Electric lighting, healing and cook
ing MAY he illustrated IN very simple
way. II You put a poker in hot fire.
The heat motion Of the fire Will start the
iron PARTICLES INTO heat-motion and
make the poker hot At first IL remains
black, although even then il gives oaa
heal; presently, In a very hoa fire, Il be
comes whdfe-hof. and gives off 50 much
light as we'll as heat than you can read
by il in the dark: if il gets still hotter
il viii melt. But II the poker Is a hol-
low tube and has water in IL, the heat
will he conducted through The iron into
The wafer and the water viii boil. Or.
If the hollow iron Is connected with
other pipe and water 4.asaea through.
The heat viii be carried eff by the waiter
flowing through without its boiling
and If the tube is removed from the fire.
instead of being white-hot ID is only
warm Now. when electricity flows
through q sufficiently large wire. the
current seonaneted away without heat
ing When it flows into a wire too small.
the current heats the wire. and unless
The heat is carried of By radiation. the
wire melfs- IL carbon is used instead
Of wire, ii becomes whitehead and We
have the electric light. In one ease the
heating is external. from the fire with
out; in the other ii il internal. from the
current wifhin-and TINS is q chief diff
ference.
NHfn---f7a Sc lsts5
In the world. and when electricity be-
comes cheap enough an of us who can
gel ii viii do our cooking and warming
by it, If an overeharge of electricity IS
passed through a wire the electric force
is converted into heat force, as above
stated, and The wire becomes hot. II
no provision is made for carrying of
the heat. The wire meits, but by EN-
bedding the wire in an enamel of such
3 kind thai il expands Just about As the
wire does. and so does mot crack. the
electricity Us confined TO the wire. but
the heat is carried off through the
enamel If this wire is wound round
and round teakettle, OF ceiled under
meath it. protected by such enamel. the
heat is conveyed through The kettle TO
the water and the water boils. just as
IF the heat came 10 ii from glowing
coals in stove II it is coiled around
an oven. the air within becomes hoi,
and roas1s OF hakes II il is strung
across like q gridinon. the hot strips
will broii: if ii is eoiled within ..fiai-
iron that becomes hot enough to iron
with If il Is woven in with asbestos
fiber II makes an electric blanket OF
bed warmer. II u is arranged in raAiaf-
ing plates. electric foof warmers. or. in /
large sizes, room warmers. heat us up.
A spiral OF such wire properly arranged
can be put in any vessel. and viii heat
water for shaving or other purposes.
II very large volume of current is sent
through two bits of metal pressed to-
ge1her the electric current passes from
one TO the other, making the Joined
metal intensely hot, so that the two
parts weld together more firmly than
blacksmith can weld Two pieces Of
metal by the heat of his fire and his
hammer These are but few Of the ap-
plications of electric heating, which
in the future Will become innumerable.
R. r. Bowker in Harper's Magazine.