Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-08-08
ELECTRICITY IN THE HOME.
Numerous Cheap Appliances Make Il
Available for People OF Mod
crate Means.

Il is now possible for the owner OF
3 house or a boa to introduce into it
a great many of the latest applications
of electrical machinery, without going
bankrupt in the process, even if he is
not a rich man to start with. The fea-
tnre of practical electric work in the
past few years has been not SO much
the increase in the number of uses to
which electricity has been put as the
extraordinary cheapening that has
brought the newly developed appli-
ances within the reach of a much larg-
er portion of the public, says the New
York Evening Post.
For example, miniature electric
lamps, which were hardly more than
curiosities five years ago, can now be
obtained already wired for decorative
uses at prices not beyond the reach of
scarcely anyone who undertakes din
iag-room or ballroom decoration. In
fertwined with smilax or with flowers,
these tiny starlike points of light, in
appropriate colors, can be employed
effectively SO close to the spectator
that the use of the large incandescent
globes would be out of h question.
The price of a year or two ago, which
is still asked by some electrical con-
tractors not anxious to go into this
particular line of work, was one dollar
per lamp for an evening for the small
est sizes. On the other. hand, a down
town contractor will now furnish so
lamps connected in series to three of
the largest size storage cells, which
will keep them burning a whole even
ing, for ten dollars, including the work
Of putting them in.
Another use for the miniature
lamps, which are now made by half a
dozen firms, is in the so-called "torch
lamps or "travelers' lamps" varia-
tons on the ~otd-fashioned dark lam
tern, which light. at the touch. OF. a but
ton or spring. A patent has just been
granted for an improvement in the
shape of a lamp and battery made fat,
to fit the pocket, like a folding cam
era. This will burn for ten hours with
a single charge, which costs 25 cents.
and the lamp itself will be ornament
al in finish and available for gift pur
poses. It is not yet on the market.
Ornamental candles with miniature
lights at their tips and dry batteries
in the candlesticks below are coming
into some popularity. Another novel
ty is the clock with a tiny lamp before
its face, to be lighted by a pressure OF
the finger of anyone who wants to
know the time of night. Electric flash
lamps for Photographic use r also
new. There are several new patterns
of electric fans run by batteries, for
use in rooms not supplied with electric
current, and many of them are sold.
They work satisfactorily, but dealers
say that the cost of their maintenance
makes them really expensive luxuries.
If power of any kind, as from a
waterfall or windmill, is available, the
owner of a house beyond the reach of
electric light wires can now install a
plant of his own very cheaply. When
water power is not to be had, a gaso-
line engine is considered about the
most practicable way of running a
dynamo for use in an ordinary coun-
try house. With current in the house,
there is scarcely any limit to the uses
to which electricity "a be put. Flat
irons, curling irons, pumping engines.
coffee mills, ice cream freezars and
sewing machines are, a few of the COM
monest applications. A motor for a
sewing machine now costs only SIS to
$50, and is not very expensive to main
tain. Many are being put in private
houses. Electric cooking appliances,
including chatting dishes and tea ket-
ties, are most convenient and clearly,
but use up a great deal of current and
r correspondingly expensive to keep
in use.
Telephones are replacing speaking
tubes in most of the uptown houses
now being built. A two-station tele-
phone can be bought and installed for
less than ten dollars. The cheaper in
struments are guaranteed only for
distances less than a mile. Between
houses and stables or o~utbuildings
in the country they are also coming to
be very common. "It is interesting to
notice." said a specialist in this branch
of electrical work to-day, "how many
of our customers have worked out
plans and ideas of their own for cleo
trio fittings of one kind or another.
long beforethey knew they could eve
afford to have them carried out
Many of the big firms of electrical
set prohibitive prices on
small jobs. because they don't think it
while. Many householders are
discouraged by the answer to their
first request for an estimate on the
work they have in mind. But if a man
where to go, he need not worry
much over the expense of the work he
NAV want done on his house or his