Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1910-06-14

on ,efoTe the committee Of the City
ION Council of Alexandria, Virginia
y, appointed to investigate the pres
ent system of the lighting of the
streets of the city. the condition OF
zee the electric street lamps in the said
ltl' CITY and the operations of the Al
exapdria Electric Light Company
II in the said city. .. =.
-.nt d. l.. S de- -
afnr's medal to Kenneth C. Royal q 'aN,i
Cnaiii.,. n,,'e;o. DreSeDtat ,.s g. j.
NJ. Hill. Esq, and John w. Harri-
T. son. ESQ. members of the said
!. committee: E. c. Dunn, Esq, City
III Engineer: L. S. Kirby, Esq, j. II.
up, Lloyd, Esq. e. F. Price, Esq, and
II II. Noel Garner, Esq, who appear
ed to report the proceedings before
y, the said committee.
Iu Mr.. Spinks: / move that H. Noel
D. Garner be made the secretary of this
.ammittee.
lack. This motion having been duly sec
ndria,ed was unanimously carried.
The che Chairman: We are assem-
o ed here under the authority of the
following ordinance of the City COun-
Gil of Alexandria:
Resolved: That the City Council
shall appoint a special committee OF
five, two from the Board of Alder
men and three from the Common
Council. to report to said boards, at
its earliest cOnvenienceS, what action
the city shall take against the Alex
andria Electric Light Company for
not carrying out their contract with
the city in regard to the arc lights
now furnished, which is not furnish
ed according to contract power; con-
tract calls for 1000 candle power.
The said committee shall have power
to employ expert electricians, cost
not to exceed the sum of S2OO.Of.
The presidents of said boards to APP
point the committee.
(Signed) f. C. SPINKS.
Adopted by the Common Council
of Alexandria May "a. 1910.
Action of Common Council con-
Cured in by the Board of Aldermen
May "a, 1910.
And thereupon l.. S. Kirby, wit
ness called before the said commit
tee. testified as follows:
The Chairman: Mr.. Kirby, |
would like to ask you if you think
that the Alexandria Electric Light
people are living up to their contract
with the city; are they giving the
city what it is paying for?
Mr.. Kirby: No; the contract calls
for a 1000 candle power lamp, and
they are not furnishing that.
The Chairman: Can they furnish
it? a..
Mr.. Kirby: | hardly think so. At
the present time il is not termed any
more candle power. There are no
1000 candle power lamps, as it is
called. II is termed watts and am
peres. That was new law lnstl-
tuted some years ago. At one time
they made lamps the same as the
CITY has here and they were deter
mined according to candle power.
The city used to run lamps that were
measured in candle power, but they
used then the divided arc and the
full arc. but they don't call them by
candle power now. A 1000 candle
power lamp would run say ABOUT nine
and a half amperes.
The Chairman: If ] remember the
contract that the city had with Man
deville. of Philadelphia. they were TO
take down everything that was con-
0Reie0 MllU lllt Olu BAlnb anu
il. You have worked for this COM
pany as superintendent until recent
ly?
Mr.. Kirby: Yes. sir.
The Chairman: Have they done
that?
Mr.. Kirby: No, sir.
The Chairman: About how much
of the old wire is still up?
,rl,x~ I
there is about One-third of the old
arc wire that was owned by the city
that is in use on the present arc
light system. but not on the hlgh
voltage lines. There is not a great
deal on those lines. | judge that
they are using now about one-third
of the old wire that was used by the
city
The Chairman: Is not that wire
in very bad condition?
Mr. Kirby: II is.
The Chairman: The wire wont
give the proper service where the
insulation is off. That interteres
with il to some extent. does it?
Mr. Kirby: That don't interfere
much. The electric light company
would be the loser there. But in
case lnt MlitS were " ian NAN :
would be more dangerous than If
they were insulated. of course.
The Chairman: Is there not lot
of bare ware through these three. so
that where the insulation is of it is
bound TO cause trouble when it rains
MIR. Kirby: Frequently you see
trees burning from it, Less than 6
week ago. in front of Mr.. Clapdore' 5
and in front of Harrington's stable
too. they burned the trees.
The Chairman: That could b'
remedied to some extent II the WiTe'
were properly insulated?
Mr.. Kirby: If they used tree IN
sulators. They swing through th'
trees. They can get them, OF course
The Chairman: Where the lnsu
lation is off the wires and the cur
rent escapes. does the same voltage
reach the lamps as where there Il
insulation?
Mir Kirby: Supposed to, yes; be
cause the amperes register the cur
rent coming back, not the OUTCOME
current In some stations they reg
lister the current going out and com
ing back. too. but it is the RUE Il
most of them to register the curreh
when il comes back. because
course. if YOU register seven comm
in YOU must have seven going out
The Chairman: Do you rememOe
Mr.. Belts. the expert who made a
examination of the plant shol
while after it was installed. and tina
the company then acknowledged tha
the lamps were not 1000 canal
power lamps. but they said they wei
going TO take them down and lnst'
new ones. Did they do that?