The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1914-06-05
USE OF ELECTRICITY ON THE
FARM.
BY n. n. HOY,
Instructor Of Electrical Engineering,
State College. B~rookings, S. D.
Ru - - EAN

Power machinery on the farm, me.
ehanical power for agriculture even
power driven machines for the home
are not ideas and machinery driven By
steam. wind, and gasoline have been in
use to some extent on the farm for
many years. Indeed, for the thu es!ling
OF grain the horse power has been al
most completely driven out of the
tied by the steam thresher more than
thirty years ago., and within the last
ten years many farms in both the east
and west have their operations car
ried on by power machinery. Not .,nly
is the t!reshing done but the grain is
marketed, the fields are piowed. ,he
water is pumped, the feed is ground,
the washing and churning ara done,
and the family goes to market and to
church by power machines.
Evidently there is nothing new in
The idea Of mechanical power on the
farm but While this is true there are
some problems in connection with the
Use Of gas and electric power on the
farm and in the country home which
are not we'll understood by most farm
efs. This article is written in answer
10 a number of inquiries with reference
10 power plants on the farm for the
operation Of stationary machinery and
the lighting Of buildings by electricity.
While electric lights may be looked
upon by the farmer as a luxury, the
grinding of feed. the pumping OF water,
the cutting of siiage and a score Of
other things about the farm are being
commonly and economically done with
the gas engine and by the windmill,
and means in most cases a saving of
time and money as well as being 4
great convenience.
BY the addition of an electric y
tor, the lighting Of all the buildings
car be done without a yer; great addi.
tional expense. By installing electric
motors, power may be obtained in the
piled from a central point at which i,
located the engine and generator. AS
to the kind or type of generator to be
used, a satisfactory machine can be
obtained from almost any of the cleo
tTical manufacturing companies. How
ever. certain companies make a spe-
cialty OF small generating sets for
small power and lighting systems such
as would be installed on the farm. and
it would be worth while for anyone in
tending to install such a plant to take
the matter up with these companies.
1t usually is desirable in installing one
Of these plants to include a storage
battery set. With this set, light may
be had in the evening and early morn
ing without the necessity of having
the engine running. The battery also
aids in taking UP the fluctuations of the
engine. which in case OF the gas en-
CINE is quite notice able in the light.
The size of machine to install de-
Ponds upon the amount Of power and
light to be supplied by it. If the ma
chine is to be usei for lighting only.
one Of small capacity may be made to
do. While there may be thirty to for
ty lights installed in the house, barns,
and other buildings it rarely happens
that more than half a dozen lamps are
burning at one time and it is not neces.
sary that the generator or storage hat
terry he large enough to operate all OF
the lamps at once II, however, current
Is used for power, the generator should
be larger than the largest motor used
by twenty or twenty-five per cent The