Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1905-07-28
STREET LIGHTING REPORT
VILLAGE 10 PAYING TOO MUCH
FOR WHAT IT 10 GETTING.
Expert Says that All Night Arcs Of
1900 candispowsr Should b Fur.
nishsd at Rate Of $eo-Numbsr Of
Hours Should Be Considered.

1900 candlspowsr Should 30 Fur
nishsd At Rate Of $so-Numbsr o.
Hours Should Be Considered.
To the honorable board of bailiffs O
the village OF Brattleboro.
Gentlemen: After an investigation
at your request the following repor
is made on street lighting in Brattle-
boro: Your arc street lamps are
stated to be of two sorts, rated at g.
900 and 1900 nominal candlepoweI
respectively, but from inspection Of
these lamps when In operation. and
from certain statements that have
been made to me. II seems certain thai
these lamps are not receiving as much
energy as Is usually expended In
lamps Of these ratings.
In any future contracts that may
be made for arc lighting the arc lamps
should be designated by the watts to
be expended In each. and then tests
can be made to show whether the con-
tract is being executed. The ratings
of 1000 and 1000 candlep0wer for arc
lamps are merely nominal and do not
ensure definite quantity of light.
Your incandescent street lamps are
stated to be of 20 nominal candlepOwer
but they appear to be giving much
smaller amount of light than this. An
incandescent lamp loses in candle
power from about the time 1t begins to
burn and at the end Of 400 or 500 hours
has grown so dim that 1t should be re-
placed. The white surface of a tin
,AaA CHI ha
three or four months.
The contracts for street lighting in
Brattleboro, made on March l. 1895.
and on February 1. 1900, both of which
have now expired. did not fix any def
mite number of hours per year for the
lamps to operate. and 1t has not been
possible to determine how many hours
of lighting service you actually receive
in each year. "A certain publication,
issued in 1902. gives the hours per year
for street lamps in BrattlebOrO as L.
220 each. On the best information now
obtainable 1t seems that 1900 hours
per lamp per year is a liberal estimate
for the duration of your street light
ing service.
Assuming that all the lamps rated
at 1000 candlepOwer each burn 1,5OO
hours per year, and also that each
lamp receives the full number of watts
that it ought to have for good results.
the village is now paying Ill cents per
thousand watts consumed in these
lamps. If each incandescent street
lamp of rs nominal candlepOwer is
lighted $500 hours per year and re-
ceived the proper amount of energy
the village is paying 1877 cents per
thousand watts supplied to these
lamps. The cost of operating arc street
lamps is fully as great as that Of OPP
Grating incandescent street lamps. and
there is no good reason for higher
rate per thousand watts consumed in
the latter. The 80 arc lamps Of 1000
nominal candlepower each, and the IS
incandescent lamps of 20 nominal
candlepower each make up the bulk
of your street lighting, and there re-
main only six lamps of 1000 nominal
candlepower that burn all night As
it seems very uncertain how long the
six lamps last named actually operate
each year 1t is not necessary to add
an estimate of the rate that Is now paid
for the energy that they consume.
The six lamps just named operate
with alternating current, and such
lamps do not give as much light by
fully rs per cent as do the arc lamps
that consume an equal amount of
energy in the form of direct current. |
Your arc lamps of 1000 nominal can
dlepower operate with direct current, |
and these it Is desirable to retain to the
extent you want arc lamps. 1t would
Increase the lighting power of these
lirect current lamps if their arc were
and this change would make
he lamps cheaper to operate because
# the saving in trimming. Apart from
your main streets, the incandescent
street lamps will give much better re-
ults than arc lamps of the same ex-
,enSe to operate because the energy
consumed in one Of the 1000 candle-
,ower lamps will operate five Of the
o candlepower lamps and distribute
he light better.
1t is recommended that the six all :.
light arc lamps be discontinued, and !
hat incandescent lamps be used in .
heir places because only a moderate
mount of light is necessary after mid
light. Apart from the main streets I
II arc lamps should be replaced by in
andescent lamps. Both the arc and !.
he incandescent lamps should be OPP
rated every night In the year wheth-
: the moon Is supposed to shine or
OF. All lamps, except a few of the
candescent sort for all night service
lould be operated 1000 hours per
ear. The times of starting lights and
le numbers of hours burned per night
lould vary with the seasons, but
lould be definitely fixed by contract. IL
amps for all night service should OF
lrn 1000 hours per year. For each lot
200 candlepoWer arc lamp operated hi,
300 hours per year with direct cur al
mt and adjusted to consume the tn
oper number of watts a fair rate is m
0 per year. the sum you are now m
wing for operation during a much pa
laller number of hours. This rate III
r arc lamps amounts to 8.3 cents per nj
ousand watt hours. Each Is CANDLE be
wer incandescent lamp if supplied no
tn energy at the proper rate and ali
newed at least four times a year ga
ould be paid for at the rate of SIS st;
r year of 1000 hours operation. This fa1
e amounts to SIS cents per thousand W,
tt hours. For each % candlepower fro
lamp supplied with en- nh
~ at the proper rate and renewed he
least times a year the rate should w
$24 per year of 1000 hours opera tn,
n. This rate amounts to 6.8 cents Civ
thousand watt hours. ga
III night and every night lighting the
y mean anything from $500 to A. tor
hours service per year For all of
hit and every night lighting in scr
lttleboro 1000 hours per year is de- cor
lble, and is probably a much longer res
vice than is now being given with
"all night" lamps there.
the so-called 1000 candlepower
losed alternating arc lamps are
rated 1000 hours per year fair Z
,e for them will be $50 per lamp. Nc,
s price amounts to about 55 cents seri
kilowatt hour. that is per 1000 fist
I hours. Reason for this rate is Tar
nd i'm the fact that the cost of moi
ming the enclosed arcs is very Jan
!, and also in the fact that the al thol
,tins arc does not give as much sent
nv n n rye percentage as the d. ing
c,,rre,,t asc per unit of energy mess