The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1920-04-30
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YTY T Is only within the past decade that
@M engineers have ONE to the realiZa-
IN ton that heat generated by electricity
MHxM. has enormous possibilities of indus
~ EMsG AL, trial development. Or course ii has
MEMH NJ always been known that electricity
YHExrsAA S9 passing through a wire created heat
MEfSAI Of varying degrees and intensity, but
THII formerly this was considered more in
CO & the light of an unavoidable nuisance
- than otherwise.
AS the electrical industry developed. however,
and central stations Of ever-increasing size were
built, engineers began TO look for means whereby
stations could sell their electricity to the best
advantage to themselves and the customers they
served. This resulted in the rapid development
of electric heating devices until today 100000 Is.
w. or 10000 horse power is used for industrial
purposes alone. This figure represents some ~
per cent of the electric energy used for all other
industrial uses, for it has recently been estimated
that about 100000 horse power is used by cleo
tric motors in manufacturing.
The principal factor contributing to the increaS-
ed use of electric heating appliances is the way
in which they answer the modern demand for con-
not only in the saving of
natural resources, but the saving of time, mate
rails and the reduction Of the uncertain personal
element to a minimum, as well as the improve
ment Of the product. Despite the fact that the
conversion of fuel into electric heat is only reach
ed after a long and complicated series Of steps,
whose ultimate efficiency is but 20 per cent, it has
met requirements so well that in time it will un-
dOubtedly replace the use of fuel heating to an
enormous extent. At Niagara Falls, for exam
pie, fully 90 per cent Of the energy now generated
is used for industrial heating purposes. In fact,
it's development in recent years has gained such
Roadway that it bids fair to surpass. in energy
pOnSumption 10Th the light and mower branches
of electrical service together.
With the enormous amount Of undeveloped n.y.
draulic power in the country, it is not easy to
predict where the final stopping point will be, be-
cause it is by water power that electrical energy
can be most efficiently developed as regards money
input versus output. The limits to the use Of
electricity, produced AUTOMATICALLY, can be grasped
only when it is realized that there is one hundred
and twelve million potential horse power on the
continent Of North America still undeveloped.
Most industrial heating of former days was OBJ
tanned through three mediums-coal, oil or gas.
Taking coal as an example in reaching the exceed
ingly high temperature necessary in some proc
esses, SO per cent of the II. 7. u, or heat units,
In q pound Of coal are used up in merely raising
the fuel and the excess air Of the furnace to the
required temperature, thus wasting the natural re-
sources upon which we depend so much, and max
ing the average industrial town anything but q
healthful or pleasant place in which to live.
WIN elpctTlCaI neat, temperatures nat are I'M
possible. to fuel-generated heat are reached quick
", economically, and without any consequent de-
Element of the surrounding atmosphere. Along
the same line Of conservation, manufacturers are
beginning to realize that the elimination Of spoiled
and unfit products, whether rendered so by ineffi-
cient and unreliable methods of heating, or by
.,careless employees is just as much conservation
as anything else. Also the elimination Of unneces-
sary labor, and the establishment of cleaner, safer
working conditions, tend toward the attainment
of the rapid rate of production which is the
paramount demand Of the present industrial era.
Thus the variety of processes to which electric
heat is applicable has given rise to many devices
for it's use, ranging all the way from a metal
melting furnace, whose production is $4,000
hounds q day. through the oven field. to small
metal melting pots with a capacity of % pounds
Of metal. In the domestic field $4,000 electric
ranges and an uncOunted number OF small house
hold appliances are in use. All furnaces, ovens,
etc, claim economy and perfection of their fin
ished products.
To take the brass furnace as a typical exam
ME of what can be done by the application OF
electric heat In overcoming the difficulties OF spe-
cialized operation, in the fuel heated brass fur
mace, one of the greatest drawbacks is the loss
of zinc through volatilization and oxidation due to
the high temperature Of the applied heat, as well
as the atmospheric conditions surrounding the
bath.
In the electrically heated brass furnace both
these conditions are absolutely under the con-
troll of the operator. There are several types Of
brass furnaces in use today the arc type, which
has no automatic control but a low first cost; the
induction which just fits a field where produc-
lions can be placed on a 24-hour basis; the car
bon resister, best for temperatures not exceeding
1000 G, and the muffled type, more expensive,
but the only one that can be operated automati-
cally.
This furnace can be operated at higher tenn
perarure than the carbon resister type, and at
the same time can be regulated to operate at low
er temperatures economically, but with the addi-
EtiOnal feature Of automatic control.
The electric furnace. in actual use, has reached
the temperature Of 3.5OC G. Recent experiments
In a research laboratory have. however, developed