The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-04-12

nearly all day long. as well az In the I
bedrooms OF many invalids. and sud- /
den lowering of the pressure in the |
pipes would likely be to cause a sue
ton that would blow out the flame. |
nj the same time permitting gas to |
pour into the room and stffe the &C. /
cupant.
Task Of Distributing Pressure
Great care has 20 be observed in /
the delicate task Of manipulating the I
city's pressure. The men who watch /
the indicators are all veteran HANDS, /
and they know exactly what pressure |
every district should have at any /
time NJ the twentv-four hours Their !
duty Is - keep that pressure at the |
normal level. r. It becomes too high /
they must let II work down: If the |
needles on the clock like dia1s before I
them Jump and o<ciliate backwards [
by teuths Of an inch. they must lose !
no time in throwing over their le-
vers and letting the fresh gas keep 1
the supply sufficient for every light /
to burn brightly.
There is always p considerable sup-
ply. of gas IN the storage tanks. /
and It 10 upon this Of course. that I
reliance IS had IN the event Of a fog
or storm. More gas can he made II I
II IS necessary. Sunday IL 81 light dav, I
as a rule. running from eighteen to /
twenty million feet behind week days,
and this Sunday surplus constitutes
the hulk Of what Is available for UNI I
expected drains.
More complex than tho ras com
paNv's problems. even. are the propo- i
sitoHs the electric power company /
tackles whenever there "a untimely ,
right The gas company has rs i
enormous reserve supply OF millions
Of feet all ready IN the huge storage |
talks. but the electric engineers have I
get their energy on the spur Of the
moment II is true that they have /
powerful storage batteries situated In /
the several districts OF the city, but |
these batteries are for use only in /
extreme emergencies They are held |
In reserve in case something should go |
wrong with the power houses. In /
that event. they would he Invaluable /
in keeping M the companv's large !
contracts violation of which would |
mean serious financial loss,
Cloudy Weather and City Lights.
Like the Consolidated Gas the New /
York Edison company keeps steady /
lookout on the weather, II Is IN /
constant communication with the /
weather bureau. and the ewes of its
watchers seek the windows from time /
to time for the occasional clouds that |
bear down upon the city from the |
northwest or the northeast. Many /
a time, bank OF clouds has swept /
over the wall OF the Palisades, and |
within ten minutes it's shadows, hoy |
ering over the city streets have made |
the hills vague in the twilight. The |
arrival of such cloud is a sure sign |
that the peak Of the load" will he
reached. and there will he additional
! demands uDon the power Of the cleo /
! tricity. demands that cannot be de-
MED for a. second.
Although the business district eats
UP more current than any other part
/ Of the city, the rapacity Of the the
alter and residential districts ia not
| 70 he lightly dismissed Broadway's
| Great White Way. considering lts few
| blocks Of length and the relative scar
/ city Of Individual consumers. very
/ likely does away with more power,
/ in proportion, than even the down
/ town skyscraper world,
| Indeed we're 1t not for the eleam
| ing lamps and signs OF the Riaito,
! "the peak of the load would fall
away much more rapidly than II does
~ M evening. The theaters, hotels
and restaurants. which drain the feed
wires in the big conduits. into the
/ wee. small hours Of the morning
make a pretty fair showing until af
| ter 10 o'clock.
A few figures WILL show what all
this means. The total number OF gas
! meters in use in Manhattan and the
Bronx is S65.o00. or electric me-
ters there are 10000. The COM
4 blned sales of gas Of the various COM
panies during 1913 were 29,262, 49,
$40 cubic feet, an increase over 1912
of 0.39 per cent Taxes charged
against earnings Of the Consolidated
Gas company and its affiliated gas
and electric companies during 1913
we're 1896 900 There was expend-
ed during 1913 for additions to ex-
tensions OF the producing and dis
! tributing plants of the various gas
and electric companies s12.s39 600
For repairs and renewals $7.052. 900
was expended.
Uptown and Downtown Dcna nis
There IL a marked difference In
the daily demands of the uptown res
idential and downtown business dis
tricts upon the transportation, tel
ephone and electric light and power
! systems. With the opening of bust
uess-although from IL O'Clock in
the evening until g O'Clock the next
1 day hardly any one, apparently. finds
/ It necessary IN use them--the tele-
phones are kept ringing busily for an
hour or two. From IL to 3, they
are In fairly general use and from
an hour after 3 the necessity for
making evening engagements seems
To give them popularity But by a.
when the brokerage houses and banks
are shutting down, and housekeepers
have arranged all their marketing
and appointments they begin to be
temporarily superfiuous. This would
certainly seem to show that New
Workers are more given to sleep than
many people suppose.
SO far as transportation demands
are concerned. the two districts seem
10 be on equal terms; but when Ii
comes to- the telephone. one can cas-
lily see that the residential district
is the more general patron of the
two. While there is no increase In
telephone use uptown after the lun-
cheon hour its use is continued to
an hour when there are absolutely
no calls in the business district. More
striking still is the difference in the
demands on light and power. In the
residential section the demands do
not climb SO fast toward the peak
of the load" As they do in the region
OF the office buildings and factories