The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-07-20
HOW ELECTRICITY IS PRODUCED
The Central Station Power House
Keeps No Electricity in Stock.

NO matter now mucn electricity Is
used for light, heat and power one
seldom gives a thought to how this
wonderful force is created and dis
tributed for our service and conven-
ience. At the pressure of BUTTON
the electric lamp bursts into brilliant
light, the electric range is ready for
cooking or the vacuum cleaner be-
gins it's sanitary work.
Whence comes this mysterious
force?
How is electricity produced?
Contrary to what most Of us may
be lead to believe electricity is not
kept in stock at the electric light sta
ton, or power house, the same as su-
gar, -four or other necessary COM
modities are kept in a grocery store.
Neither is it stored up, like water in
the city reservoir, ready to be used
on demand. When we turn the fau-
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gushes forth has been stored in a
large reservoir and conducted to the
city through large iron pipes and
then through smaller pipes to the
houses where it is to be used.
No such system is employed in
producing and distributing elec-
tricity. Electricity must be made at
the power house the moment it is
used. No matter how many lamps
you have in your home, the lighting
company must have the machinery
ready to light these lamps at any
moment, day or night. AS a rule a
few of the lamps are used at one
time, but the central station must
have the capacity to take care of all
of them. This applies to your neigh
bors as we'll, and lot of electrical
machinery must be kept standing idle
in the power house in order to be
ready for instant peak load.'
Electricity is form of energy. 1t
requires power to produce it. At the
electric. light station the machines
which produce electric current, call
ed generators, are driven by steam,
or gas engines, or by waterwheels.
The electrical generator merely
changes the mechanical energy OF
the steam engine, or the waterwheel,
into electrical energy. Electricity
cannot be seen; it cannot be "hah-
died." yet it is a mistaken notion
that we do not know much about it.
We really know a great deal about
it. We can measure it's pressure, or
voltage, it's flow, or amperage, its
work, or wattage. We can make it
do a thousand tasks, to answer our
every order and whim.
The electrical current produced by
the generators is carried by heavy
cables to switchboard, which is
merely a convenient device to handle
and distribute the current about the
city over slender wires, as needed.
This switchboard carries the meas
uring instruments, the switches
which send the current out over the
various lines, etc. One switch
throws on the street lighting cir
cuff at dusk; and throws it off again
at daylight. Another controls the
power circuit, another the lighting
circuit, and so on,
The question of cost for electricity
is also very puzzling. Most of us
cannot understand why we should
pay more for electric light than for
electric ranges or for electric power.
This is easily explained. We use the
electric lamps only a part of the day,
often for only six or eight hours in
the evening. The rest of the day
the lamps are not burned, but the
lighting company must maintain it's
plant, and keep it's force and ma
chimes ready for twenty-four hours
a day in order to serve all the peo-
pie for the few hours the lamps are
required.
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