The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1912-03-02
What Is a kiIoWatt:
For the Benefit of Our Local
Electricians, Especially
One.
What ia a kilOWatt?

shoes that you do not know. MI
is there any reason for you to be
ashamed of your lack of know
ledge concerning this rather elu-
sive subject. 1t would, perhaps,
be perfectly fair to assn ne that
not one person ont # a hu9dre
has the faintest conception pf g.
kilowatt
Beyond explaining that Il kiio-
watt ia an electrical term and
denotes quantity-measuremrn'
of electrical energy vcu would
hardly venture, upr would tin
averageindividual. The agi'ati y.
now being waged so furi Justly
anent electric light and powrrra!
has put tn, query of "Wh4t is "A
kilowatt' uppermost in the minds
of majority of per-ons not lam
liar with electrical technology.
1t is the purpose of this article
to explain JUST what constitutes a
kilowatt, and il is to b., hoped tina
the reader will, after careful
perusal, know at least as much as
he did before he read it.
For the first lesson we will dis
sect the word kilowatt.
According to the handy electrical
dictionary, published and circu-
lated for the Information of am BIZ
tious electricians, We find that
kilo, the first two syllables, is a
prefix denoting 1000 times.
For instance, a kilo-ampere
means 1000 amperes; a kilo-dyne.
1000 dynes; kilo-erg, 1000 ergs;
a kilo-gauss, 1000 CAUSES; a kilo-
gramme, 1000 grammes, and so on
ad iafinitum.
1t is thus seen that the word kilo
simply means 1000, and When
tackled on "a prefix to watt it in
dicates 1000 watts.
The same electrical dictionary
defines a watt as follows: 9Th d
practical unit Of electrical activity,
rate of work or rate of energy
The power is equivalent to 44.25
foot-pounds of work done in Il
minute, or O.7375 foot-pound OF
work done in a second"
Having analysed the word ki!o-
watt, we advance step and ex-
plain the meaning of kilowatt
hour, which, after all, is the cocoa
nut, for it is by the kilowatt hour
shat we all pay for the lights in
our homes; provided, of course.
We consume enough current to get
US over the 50 minimum land, by
the way, this minimum is a word
not altogether unfamiliar at this
time, for, as applied by the electric
lighting and power companies, it
means that we must pay SO much
whether we use any electricity OF
mott.
Having been led very gently up
to this point, we now read the
dictionary for the definition Of
kilowatt hour. Here it is: "The
result OF work equal to the ex-
penditure of exertlon one kilowatt
in one hour"
$50 simple" did you remark?
Well, you may think so, but there
are plenty of folks who will still
insist that the rate-maker for
the light and power companies
has 1t all his own way. In face,
there may be some so uncharit-
able as to conclude that even
rate-maker is four shing when
ne pratties g)ibly of kilowatt
hours.
For those thick headed indivi-
duals who just don't believe in
dictionaries nohow, it may be
we'll to state that a 32-dandlc-
power, common flament, incan-
descent light, burning steadily
for ten hours, will consume one
kilowatt hour of electrical energy.
The busy little housewife will
probably get a clearer compre-
hension when she is told that the
average electric flatiron uses one
kilowatt hour of electricity for
every two hours continuous SER
vice.
Now, do you know what really
constitutes kilowatt?-Ex.