The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-12-25
tNhat is q kll0Watt?

People who use electricity are very
often puzzled by some of the terms
which are used in this industry, and the
words "kilowatt" and "kilowatt hour"
have been a source of great deal OF
confusion. The meanings of the terms
are quite simple. Kilowatt is a meas
ure of power and represents approx
mately one and 0ne-third horse power.
A kilowatt is divided into two thousand
watts, and therefore one horsepower is
equal TO approximately $50 watts, or,
to be exact, is equal to TAG watts.
four horse power motor is, therefore, a
three kilOwatt motor. A thousand Kill
owatt generator will generate 1888
horse power. Motors are generally
rated in horsepower, but there is no
reason why they could not be rated in
kilowatts. A watt. which is the unit
of power, was named in honor of
James Watt, who made a number of
important electrical Investigations.
the word "kilo" is derived from Greek
and means a thousand. Therefore, a
kilOwatt is equal to one thousand
watts. A kilowatt hour means that
the power of one kilowatt has worked
for one hour. Three klowatt hours
are equal to four horsepower hours.
Twenty so watt lamps burning one
hour will consume one kilowatt hour of
energy, and ten l00-watt lamps burn
ing the same length of time will con-
sumo one thousand watt hours or one
kilOwatt hour. The kilowatt hour is
the common standard used for billing
purposes and the measurement of cleo
trio energy used throughout the world.
One of the most widely misunder-
TODD terms of electricity is the"volt. :"
| The volt represents the current pres
sure and has nothing to do with quaint
lty or the amount of current. 1t is
really the head under which the elec-
tricity is operating and is analogous to
the pressure of water in pipes spoken
OF ss so many pounds per square inch.
he quantity or amount of electricity
IL measured by the ampere which, in
hydraulics, would be analogous to gal
Ions or quarts or cubic feet. An cleo
trio current which has pressure of
one volt and quantity of one ampere
Will have one watt power. Power is
derived by multiplying the volts by the
power, 1000 or one kiowatt. An cleo
tic light made for one hundred volt cir
cut and using One.half an ampere of
current is knCwn as a so watt lamp
II it uses one ampere Of current il
would be a 100 watt lamp. A Iamr
built for 200 volts and taking one am.
pere would be 200 watt lamp. II this
should burn five hours it would con.
sumo 1000 klowatts or one klowatt
hour.
When heavy currents flow through
small wires, the wires have a tendency
to become hot. This is taken advan.
tagc of in the manufacture of fuses or
fuse plugs. If there is an accidental
short circuit in the house. a great deal
of current will flow becuse there is
vcrys little resistance in its SWAY. A
great quality of current flowing
through the house wiring would have a
tendency to heat these wires and set
something on fire or else melt the con
per. Usually small switch boards arc
put in with fuses made of some
metal that will mott very quickly and
this breaks the circuit. When a short
circuit occurs. the fuse heats first and
melts, thus stopping the flow of the
current. This operation is generally
instantaneous
The above definitions end examples
may prove of interest to some of our
readers and should I've of assistance Il
them in intelligent study of electricity