Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-10-22
BEST PROFIT TO EVERYBODY
WILL GROW OUT OF ITS
USE AT HOME.
REASON IT Cannot Be EXPORTED
koss2s of Electric Power in transmits.
sion Furnish the Best Reason
Fer Using 1t Where
Made.

AS Lnc puDICaL1OnS concerning the
water powers Of the Chippewa Valley
have progressed during the last few
months, the questions have frequently
been asked the writer, What are the
localities in which their product CT
electrical energy can be most favor
ably used, and where or not the great
er demands Of the large cities may not
sometime prove more attractive than
the modest requirements of small in
dustries? These are fair questions,
and it is we'll worth answering.
The assurance which the Chippewa
Valley, or any other territory which is
rich in water power, has that its
powers will not be diverted, except
for the very good reason Of no de-
mand, to any distant section, is based
upon the very selfish fact that the peo-
pie who develop the power can make
more money out of it close to the
scene of its development than they
can at any greater distance.
After all, emily a portion Of the po-
tential water power Of river ever
reaches the shaft which is turned by
the water wheel, because some Of it Is
wasted in turning the wheel. Another
portion Of this power is lost between
the water wheel and the electric gen
orator, because it takes some of the
power to turn the electric genera
tor. Still more of the electric pow
er, once it is generated, is lost by
transmission. It takes a certain
amount Of the power sent over the
wire to overcome the resistance Of
the wires, and still another bit Of the
energy to overcome the singular phe-
nOmena that is peculiar to electric
power alone.
If one drives steam through a pipe,
some Of it's power is lost by the fric-
ton Of the walls OF the pipe, but that
is all If one drives water through a
conductor, some Of it's power is wasted
by the friction between the water and
the inside of the conduit through
to friction alone. Electric energy has
a similar loss, but in addition to it,
there is another. AS alternating cur
rents change their direction as often
as sixty times a second, with each
change of direction what is known as
an induced current is set up in the
adjacent wire and in an opposite d.
rection to that in which the current is
flowing Just why this occurs has
never been discovered by the scien-
lists, but is probably for the same rea-
son that dogs delight to bark and bite,
because it is their nature to- At any
rate, by the time that the electric
current leaves q switchboard at the
station where it is generated, about
thirty-five per cent of the usefulness of
the water power for producing work
has already been expended, and the
farther 1t comes over the wires, the
more of it will be lost, just as sure
as shootin' Therefore, it is to the
interests of producers of electric pow
er to sell the largest possible amount
of it as close to the point of produc-
ton, as possible, so as to get the great
est efficiency out Of the works.
This is entirely apart from the tre-
mendous investment that has to be
made in transmission lines to carry
the power to distant points. An ordi-
nary high-tension transmission line
has to have it's own right-of-way It
cannot safely be put upon public
highway. For the utmost safety, pro-
vision is usually made by the en-
gineers, where lines are quite long, for
double lines of conductors. This in
Wolves room to place the towers sup
porting the conductors, and the con-
ductors themselves, and is a safeguard
resorted to in order to make Interrupt
ton of the service impossible from
windstorms, sleet, and the other &C.
tons of the elements which conspire
against their permanence. The mere
matter of long distance lines for trans
mission purposes runs into from eight
to twelve thousand dollars per mile,
T.