Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-24
Some Things You Want to Know
Electricity.

people never take time to look at the
ordinary meter and many Of them have
never learned to read one anyway but
when the money is called for constantly
the householder Is found to be more care
full in seeing that holes are not burned In
the daylight or current otherwise wasted.
AS the sellers OF gas and electricity are
interested In having good sized bills, they
do not rush to adopt the economical slot
meters.
In figuring out what a cents worth OF
electricity will do the statistican has found
that Il will drive a twelve-lnch fan for
ninety minutes. heat a six-pound smoothing
iron for fifteen minutes, make four cups OF
coffee in an electrical percolater, cook a
good sized steak. heat a luminous radiator
eight minutes, brig to a boil two quarts OF
water. drive a dentists drill four hours and
run a pianolo one hour.
One Of the big manufacturers Of electrical
machinery is making some turbine-driven
electrical units Of 1AOOokilowatt capacity.
To appreciate what power these great en-
gines will generate one must nave It ex-
pressed in comprehensive terms, What is
technically known as the fifth stage ele-
ment is a big wheel twelve feet eight
inches in diameter which, when going at
full speed, rotates at the rate Of $50 revo-
buttons a minute. II It were running on a
railroad track it would travel 500 miles a
minute, or from New York to San Fran
cisco In nine and a half hours. The rotat-
ing mechanism weighs ninety tons, yet 50
perfectly II Is mounted that It can be
turned with one finger. One of these units
would light $4,000 sixteen-candle power
electric lights, enough to illuminate 900
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an acr light for every $50 feet between
New York and Chicago.
A new thing in electricity is an cleo
tricslly-heated garment, a sort of bath
robe having 1000 feet Of wire woven be-
tween the lining and the outer cloth. 1t
is so constructed that it is perfectly pliable
and the wire adds an additional weight Of
only twenty ounces TO II. A 11O-volt cur
rent, either alternating OF direct. produces
gradual warming. Contact may be estab-
lished with the electric light system Of any
ordinary house.
Not long ago an enterprising theatrical
maj staged What he called IN electrical
ballet. There were dozens OF chorus girls
wearing costumes which could be lighted
with myraids Of tiny electric bulbs. The
dresses were wired and the little bulbs
hidden away. Contact was made by their
escorts holding the wires in their hands
and pressing them against q metal plate
at the back OF the girls waists. The result
Is said to have afforded a beautiful and
unique spectacle, and by a well organized
system Of handling the wires it completely
mystified the audience as to the source Of
the electricity.
While discussing the electric elevator
problem q speaker before the Electrical
Engineering society of Columbia univer-
sity stated that the 5000 passenger eleva-
tors on Manhattan island carry more than
5000, 900 passengers a day. Roughly speak
ing. this is twice as many people as are
carried by all the elevated, underground
and surface cars of the city. II each per-
son rides only fifty feet the aggregate dis
lance Travelled in this way would be nearly
$1,000 miles a day. The Engineering society
Of New York recently kept an account Of
the expense of elevator service in Its build
ing. 1t found that undeyd cenditions exist
ing there, which are said to approximate
the average. It costs about ! cent a round
trip to carry passengers. At this rate the
burrough OF Manhattan alone spends
$S5, 600 q day in free elevator rides.
In an address delivered in Winnipeg a
few days ago Prof. j. ]. Thompson esti-
mated that under q high sun ana clear SKY
the power guaranteed by the sun amounts
to about 1000 horse power per acre. He
figures that when the natural resources Of
America give out its people will have mas
tered the problem Of using solar energy,
and that the worlds business centers may
then be moved to regions like the Desert
of Sahara, where sunshine can be stored
day in and day out throughout the year.
- In - - af.A-NA.NnH - III a,A-faa
transmission lines to less favorable spots
for use in industrial activity.
BY RaEDRRIo ,. HAsKIN.
TomoRrow-Flowsr Festivals.