Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1911-08-17

The up-to-date-farmer's interest cen.
tiers very largely about his home He
is always glad to familiarize himself
with such modern appliances as will
add to the comfort and appearance of
his home.
At present there is no subject that
receives more attention and serious
consideration that the proper light
ing Of the farm home.
The introduction of electricity was
the greatest step in advance in the
development of illumination. Electric
lighting climates the use of matches
and the consequent fire risk, the both
er OF filling and caring for lamps the
smoke and disagreeable doors, and
the vitiation of the air which results
from the use of oil and gas lights
The high cost of apparatus for gen.
Grating electrity, and the large
amount required for lighting home
limited its earlier use to those who
could afford to install and maintain
large and elaborate plant, or to
those who lived near a public electric
lighting station. The improvements
that have been made In incandescent
electric lamps during the past four
years have changed the complexion of
the problem of private electric light
ing, and have opened up to the farmer
new possibilities in the way OF il
Elimination by means of small private
electric plants. The Tungsten in
candescent electric lamp recently in
troduced gives a pure, brilliant white
light. and has made it possible to OBJ
tain the same amount of light former
ly afforded by the carbon filament
with about one-third the electricity.
The Tungsten lamp will wear longer
than the old style lamp and at the
same time it will maintain it's full
brilliancy during greater part of it's
life. 1t is also less sensitive to yaria-
tons in pressures (voltage) of cleo
tricity
An electric lighting plant for farm
use consists primarily in source OF
power of some sort; a dynamo to fur
n1sh the current; switchboard; the
lights; the wiring, and since to start
up the engine and dynamo every time
few lamps are required is too incon-
venient to be considered, some means
of storing the electric energy is neces-
sary SO that the power can be gen
Grated when convenient and used
when required This Is made possible
by the storage battery, which acts on
the principal of water tank. 1t is
reservoir which stores electricity to
be used whenever needed
The first consideration in installing
an electric lighting plant for farm
service is a source Of power for run
ming the dynamo. The many i'm
provements made in the gasoline en-
gines have made them the principal
source of power for the farm electric
plant These have been developed to
point where they. are quite reliable
and require the minimum Of atten-
ton when running and at the same
time they furnish power in small
units at very reasonable cost.
In discussing an electric plant it
will be necessary to make use of few
electrical terms. Electric current has
two properties: First, the voltage, or
pressure, which is the measure of the
tendency on the part of the current
to flow, and, second, the amperage or
the amount of current flowing. The
product of the volts by the amperes
gives the electrical unit of power, the
watt. Thus for 80 volt lamp re-
curing .625 amperes. the consump-
ton of current will be 32x.625. or 20
watts. The output of dynamo is
rated in kilowatts, or UNITS of 1000
watts. Public lighting station sell
the electric current by the kilowatt
hour, which is current at the rate Of
one kilowatt continued for one hour.
A watt of electrical energy Is equal
to one-seven hundred forty-sixth part
Of horse power. Hence a kilowatt
equals one thousand-seven hundred
forty-sixth, or 1874 horse power The
80 volt Tungsten lamp is becoming
very common for farm lighting and
is made in sizes of s, IL, 16 and 20
candle-power. The 16 is the most suit
able in most instances However,
there may be cases where it is de-
sirable to use 20 candle-power lamps,
and in attics, cellars, the candle
power lamp often does very we'll.
A storage battery that will supply
the current for at least an entire day
without running the engine and
dynamo should be provided. 1t has
been estimated that about 35 lamp
hours are required per day In the
average household, during the season
Of Long nights. BY lamp hours it
means the number of lamps multi
piled by the number of hours during
which they burn. For instance, lamp