The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-20
ELECTRICITY'S NEW USES.
MINOR NEEDS OF THE HOUSEHOLD
NOW SERVED ny II.

inc ~ AhS W EGopt0-AteOtFtNAh
Hair Curisrs. Heaters, and Cooiers-Its
Development I'm the Industrial worid.
1t is estimated that the various companies
which manufacture electrical apparatus for pur-
poses outside OF electric light, the trolley cars,
the telegraph and the telephone make and sell
$50, 900. 900 worth Of goods every year in this
country alone. Electricity Is 80 readily put to
service whenever It Is available that 1t is becom-
Ing a servant In the affairs OF daily life in
many different ways, and 30 invidiously
that people scarcely notice It's approaches.
Its rivals in the field Of distributing power are
steam, water undor pressure. compressed air.
gas. and belts and shafting. Belts and shafting
and water under pressure can do but one kind
Of work, and neither can supply light or heat,
Steam may be used for heating purposes, but It
cannot be turned into light, and even its heating
qualities Are confined practically to Temporal
lures not much above the boiling point
Of water. Compressed air will do re-
frigerating. but not heating or lighting.
and gas, which gives both light and heat, can
not be used for the production Of power except
BY combustion. Incidentally. 1t may be men,
toned that 1t has been demonstrated recently
that for Illuminating purposes gas can be used
more economically by employing 1t to drive .
Eas engine coupled to a dynamo and getting tho
light from incandescent electric lamps than by
burning the gas directly for lighting purposes.
Even II steam, air. water, and gas each COM
bined the qualities Of producing at will light,
heat, and power. electricity would still have
vast advantages over them all. because the
transformations can be made in its current
more readily and its conveyance is accomplished
BY simpler means. A familiar exemplar of this
II the electrical door bell. You can buy
. complete bell outfit for 80 cents and set
It up yourself. Think OF trying to utilize
gas or water or steam to drive the cooling
fan in n lady's boudoir or her husbands
Office. No doubt 1t could have been done. but
the noise and oil and smell would soon have
doomed any attempt to utilize one Of these
forces. Now Il requires but q flexible wire cord
for connections; the fan can be changed from
room to room by merely u~nscrewing q lamp and
slipping in its place the end OF the cord. and the
turn OF a button.
Does q woman wish to curl her HART There
are curling-iron heaters made which are as easy
to connect and manage as the electric fan, and
far handler and heater than one on q gas Jet.
ehe sits at case in front OF her dressing
glass and the heater stands on her dressing case
wherever It is best at hand. There is no flame.
The wires run TO q convenient electric lamp
socket and the current comes down through
them and turns to- a red heat a coll OF German
silver wire concealed within the heaters case.
The lady slips her curling iron within this coil
and heats Il quickly and evenly and without .
possibility OF smoking II.
woman's use. Does she want q cup OF teal For
three or four dollars she can buy an electric
stove which she can use as handily as she did the
rom : lamp Socket It viii be about six inches
coffee pot, making a stew, a fry. or a Welsh ra6-
bit, or in fact performing any work that might be
sewing room she can have the sewing machine
run By an electric motor and an electrically
heated sadiron to smooth out seams, fatten
bindings. and do the many Ike services renuired
In dressmak!ns,a aud shs may sit with her feet on
vi ~i. fIeS Ser. t Fer I The SICK or room sxen sh sek ea 1t b 10 o sa
electric heating, pad to be used as a substitute
for a hot Matsr bag or bottle. and ever SO much
bestos or other suitable material, and they take
sHh Ssi current sds fr RH the every ready electric t
one Of three points, and so long as the current
or colder. For the kitchen entire electric cook,
ing outfits may be had, but the day for these
eOnsidsrine the great economy with which heat
isutilized In them. all sorts of cooking. except
boiling, can be done with them at as low a cost
While a woman is thus served by electricity a,
home, her husband 10 benefiting by 1t lsewhere
The car that takes him to his office is driven by
4 and he lights his cigar at an electric torch be
f q. he gs goes III to bis his de aad Push buttons 1Ss about bout
phone stands ready at hand for him to transact
business with people afar OF. and electric fans
restaurant where he lunches. which not only
cool the customers but also drive away the flies
hat on be may surprise his wife on his return by
showing it to her revived in all it's pristine glory
where such good and rapid work is made pos
able only because OF electricity. After the op
bleaching compound he put it on a form. where
An electric motor turned 1t about thousands oil
lines a minute and sent the fluid Tying out OF y
heated either by gas or electricity. and finished
drying 1t before an electric fan,
am tho man nRAa hnnnA ~ M Ia 4 n n OnnH
humor, he may buy an electric railway for the
children. for there Is such q toy in the market
ears that run around 1t, driven by a current
which 4 taken from a battery. In France THU
service. 4 circular railway is hung above The
amer anne table, a little back from the edge OF tn
control BY 2 push button at his place. II he
presses the button the car comes and stops IN
iront Of him. Then he can put his own plate or
aserying dish upon the car and have 1t carried
along to the server or any. other person;
such are some Of the minor uses Of electricity
more SS' i%P p 1Hnn' d Pfa' IN " %h i'm the iS%1s smaller sr' ei leo
shop. One of the cleverest and most useful o
NE new electrical tools is the soldering iron
f sr%azc one a md 'f isans 8 'iF He vt Would TaFt w waah hi I
little while and then poke the iror
SSlt ,d int = to The be charcoal fqrnSs' and oithe'
nesh iron from the furnace. In later times II
canning factories and such places naphtha OIL
' tDpAofSh.. a. oA ~
nres, but still the timer has had to worl
Wlth a number OF irons to keep busy. anc
these were often too cool OF else so hot that tn,
pn was burned OIL. With the electric solder
thg Iron the furnace Il done away with en-
grey and the irons are always at Just thu
tsat heat 10 do their work properly. EScep
thet these irons have wire cords running to TIT
enc Of the handles and a Jacket over the copper
head, they appear like the ordinary soldering
IRON. Within The jacket lies concealed a coat o
WIRE and this supplies the needed heat. In al
So nls electrical works all the soldering Ii dom
oy means OF these irons.
Many factories are not only supplied with
hseat variety of special electric tools. but als'
use electric motors for the direct driving o
nssLly al! their machinery. A notable example
VI rms u in a new shirt factory. Beyond thu
nofk OF heating, which Is done by waste straw
ne who!s place Is run and lighted by electricity
ang sewing machines are driven by II, the cola
a. uuH ironing machines are worked and heat
Toy II, and all the fatirons are electrical.
,oue OF the mos; potent ad Yantages claimed TO
= electrical sad iron and tailor's goose Is tina
oheti IS wasted and the iron can never do an,
a.! II Iclt standing. The ~grasping OF the han
ylo " most makes puts Oh the current, and tn
AEun IEH - IHs aud III a,,a 80 a. ."N ~ AnI IA