Arizona republican., 1901-06-15
COST OF A DARK DAY
Electric Light Company's Expense in
 Meeting the Emergency.

Every time the sky becomes cloudy and the air darkens 1t costs Kansas City q very consid rable amount of money Every change in the atmo- sphere from light to gloom Is expsns- i've. Not considering the cost of clean ing the streets after fall of snow, there is always heavy expense for the extra lighting that has to be done while snow is falling. Yesterday be- gan as q gloomy day Early in the morning the people began to turn on their electric tights. These rghts in most oftlc,s burned all day long. there by requiring a great increase in electric
 light power, and costing great deal of money in the aggregate.
 The company which supplies nearly all the electric power to light the city, the Kansas City Electric Light com pany, was worked almost to it's full capacity, as it always is on a g.oomy day. Every big dynamo in the engine house was turning out electricity as fast as it coud and feeding the main wires that supply the city with light Th1 m5n in the engine house wera busy and watchful. as they must be on a gloomy Gay, all day
 "A day like yesterday always tries the skill Of the men in the engine house" said C. II. Tinkrpaugh, cAlef electrician for the Kansas City Electric Light company. '~Tnl oncomlng of q storm, with cons quent darkness of the sky. calls for such a sudden increase of el ctric power that it Is only by the most trying eXertions we can me5t the demand. Every cloudy day, every sul- den storm, is more or less an emer- gency that has to be met"
 But 1t is not 90 much that a very grsat quantity of electric light is need cd on a dark day which makes the time a trying one Co the men in the power house It is because the demand for light comes with such suddenness. If the demand were constant or if 1t va ried gradually it would be simple matter to supply it. All would run smoothly, and there would never be any complaint.
 But this is not as it actually hap pens the demand increases all of | sudden. Sometimes within three min utes it seems as if the whole city had walked up and called all at once for light This is what the power house men call an emergency and this i5 what they havs to prepare for. Tn " must be able to keep the supply or power st ady and even. no matter how heavy the demand is and no matter how suddenly it may come.
 A girnt,lfa 6pa in nf nOwar hundi eds of wires must be met by an equally sudden supply of W power. The trick the chief lectrician has to perform is to see the drain as soon as it begins, and to build up his ma chimes" to supply new power in the shortest possib,o time.
 In clear weather the maximum de- manJ made on the power house Is about 2.i00 ampheres or less. But yes terGay, being cloudy. the demand for light became suddenly very great, and 5000 amphcres wsre requii ed. The de- n.and was heaviest in the morning, be- tween S:3O and ll:30. when the stores were lighting up and the men were get ting down 10 their offices.
 A scene in a power house during one of these emergencies is an exciting one. For a clear knowl dge of just what is done and why 1t is done it is first nec- essary to understand what preparations are made against sudden demands for extra power For the crdlnary work of the company three sets of machines are required The machines are called No POS, 60-kiowatt, run on the three-wire system. They run, constantly, night and day. never stopping. unless for re- pairs. The boilers that supply the power to run them are always going too
 Besides these three sets of machines there are the "eXtias," lying ready for instant use. The boilers for the "eX- tras" are always banked" so that in case they are suddenly needed Gnly a few shovelfuls of coal on the fire is necessary to have them sending out power to run the machines. Then in addition to the machines that are run ming always, and the machines that are awaiting sudden calls for extra power there Is a final source of power which is ca led into service only as a last emergency This is an immense storage battery, which occupies room whose dimensions are 50 by 70 feet, and whose floor is covered with lead. This storage battery Is held in reserve for what is called the maximum load II has a capacity of 1000 amphere hours. and is always ready for service. There are a few minutes every day" said MT. Tinklepaugh. some times only five minutes. sometimes half Ian hour, when the power plant is tested to it's maximum capacity. It is then that we use the storage battery. ll