The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1912-01-25
ELECTRIC TERMS.
The Units of Measurement and
What They Mean.
AMPERES, VOLTS AND WATTS.
Broadly Speaking, Amperes Indicate
Volume, Volts Measure Pressure and
Watts Show the Resulting Quantity.
The kilowatt Hour.


The kilowatt Hour.
1t has been estimated that the time
and labor wasted by those engaged in
selling electricity in trying to make
their customers understand a kilowatt
would suffice to build a string of pyra-
mids from New York to San Francisco.
writes Allen Hollis. The discouraging
feature of the task is that after all this
effort the customer still remains igno-
rant and cherishes the deiuSiou that
the method of electric measurement is
"A devious device for concpa ling nefari-
GUS practices by the electric light com
Ianies.
The average American is perfectly
satisfied to buy gas by the foot. trans
| pOrtatiOn by the mile and Telephones
| by the month but watts took suspicious
and kilowatts totally derraved. This
difficulty might have been avoided IL
the eminent scientists who first adopt
| ed these accurate and 10 them convpn-
lent terms had been willing fn show
the rest of the world how to compute
electric quantity in feet and il"ies or
barrels and quarts. Lacking his. peo-
pie are left to struggle with their mys-
| teriOus method OF measurements.
The kilO Is an old friend los ancient
enemy. if you will borrowed from the
metric system.
This leads to the definition of a watt
But in order 10 know watts one must
first learn about the two other mem
ber> Of the family. amperes and volts
Broadly speaking. amreres measure
volume volts pressure and watts the
resulting quantity.
In order to get a tangible idea Of
the ampere. electricity may be com
pared with water flowing through
pine In this illustration the nmpere
will represent the vOume OF water.
which Is dptprn,ined by the size Of the
nine hut this Shnlld not i.e confused
with he size IT the electric wire.
whith has nothing 10 DO with the pres
enl problem The nmpere then meas
ures The volume nt current iinWng in
the wire at II given time The ,iuantl
ty Ut energy tnu:.s will aplent' upon
the other factor. which il expressed
in volts
The volt may be considered the meas
ure OF pressure Or Intensity In the
illustration Of wnte' !ipWing through
pine the pressure is commonly express
I'd in pnunhS TO the square inch With
electric energy the SAINT i.i, Is ex.
pressed in volts 1t is evil. 1T hat the
quantity OF water flowing in II pipe Ut
!, given size will increase us The pres
sure Increases In Il similar way the
quantity of electricity increases In ex-
act proportion to the electric pressure
Of voltage. and this quantity is meas
ured by watts
The quantity (watts' of electricity
delivered over a single circuit is the
direct product of the volume tamperes,
multiplied by the pressure (voits,. In
other words. amperes multiplied by
volts equals watts
The Illustration serves to indicate the
theory of electric measurement. 1t is
likely. however. to be misleading un.
less the fact Is kept in mind that wa
ter is material. while electricity mani
tests itself only through its capacity
of affecting visible things 1t heats
he filamrnt in in incandescent lamp
and gives MS light II turns our motors.
it ,nagnetizes telephone and telegraph
Instruments bnt always it conceais its
own personality.
In order to know what a watt ac-
tually is 1t is necessary to ascertain
what it will do. a thousand fkilo'
1 watts are the nipthanical equivalent
Of one and one third horsepower that
,e is. mrrhnnira horsepower equals
ID TAG watts OF energy Lighting circuits
usually carry 10 to 40 volts. An or.
nj dinary sixteen candle power lamp
ri takes :: little less than ha'f an ampere
in volume and consequently consumes
ID about fifty watts nf r'urrent. With the
o tungsten lamp the rating by watts In
m stead of candle power has been intro
" dured and bids fair TO become univer
sally adopted
n Being thus furnished with a stand
IN ard of measurement it IS necessary
Mi only TO multiply the amount employed
n, rOmmoniy called "capacity"' by tht
number of hours of use to get the &c
m tual quantity CONSUMED in watt hours
nj The sixteen candle power lamp. Will
its fifty watts capacity consumes tift.
ha watt hours each hour it is used. Th
customary unit nf consumption is th
~ kilowatt hour. Il UOO watts used on
r.s hour. and the lamp will consume thi
10 quantity In twenty hours The OF
-, tlinary electric meter recording wat
meter, records automatically the mum
no Dor Of kilowatt hours used. being oL
~, GRATED by II necha nism winch runs a
rb n speed whi'.h corresponds tn the ca
,oo pacity empioyed. Rollins Magazine.
tho Bismarck and NO 8.
md Bismarck held that three was IN
~ perfect number. for be had served 'hre
, masters. hp had three names. three GA
NV leaves figure in his family arms. .
~ was concerned IN three wars. be signe
80 three treaties Of peace. in the Fraic
"a pruSsian war he had three horses ki
,tar ed under him. h. brought about Il
10 meeting of three crnperorS ne was
u, sponsiblp for III" triple alliance.
had three children. his family mot
was Strength in trinity and carrie
turists depicted him with three hal
.,,aa on his head.
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