The Washington times., 1922-05-08
E[ECTR|CFUSE
|SREAL SENTRY
To GUARD HOME
DO Not Destroy Its Usefulness
BY Trying Strange
Experiments.

Nov, IL that isn't just like a
woman" exclaimed an exasperated
electrician, who had been summoned
to inspect the wiring in Washing
ton home last week. who ever in
the world told you 1t was good sense
to hire a watchman to guard your
home, and then tie his hands and
feet and take away his gun and
nightstick, so he couldn't shoot. beat
on the pavement, run for nelp, or
even wave his hands," And he in
spected with withering contempt a
copper cent which he had just fished
out from the socket from which he
had unscrewed a fuse-plug.
Faithful Sentry
What, that penny" said the
woman! who desiring to spend a
newly-acquired legacy on whole
flock Of poppy new.fangled dish.
washers and electric tea-wagons and
house-cleaning contraptions so as to
save time form housekeeping, and
get around and show the gorgeous
new clothes similarly acquired. had
summoned the expert to tell her
whether her house wiring would
carry the additional electrical load
that penny? What do you call 1t
o watchman for? And anyway, l
didn't put it there. My husband did.
He reads it out OF a scientific maga-
zine"
Lets see it," demanded the cleo
trician. And when he had been
handed a clipping with several semi
technical pictures of What To DO
When Fuse Burns out ne
shifted. That's not a scientific mag
azine," he said. Its paper Tor
amateur mechanics. And II you II
read the thing through. youH see
that even the paper itself tells you
it's dangerous practice: and yet IL
goes on and tells you how to do II.
Beats me-
But. you see" she argued, I'VE
only had a few new fuses. Ana
every time we put one in, 1t blew
out right away.
Well" he said didn't you know
there was something the matter with
your equipment, somewhere, when
that happened? Listen. lady, ana
he held the fuse out in his hano
dramatically, this little fuse, II
you'll lust give It a chance. will be
the best friend you've got" 1t Is
the Jealous guard, the trustworthy
dependable. sleepless, vigilent sentry
that stands between the power house
that pumps out the electric juice
and your home, making that juice
absolutely the safest form of light,
heat, and energy known.
And then when it tells you
there's something gone wrong some
where in plenty Of time SOS you can
get busy and hunt out the trouble
. am S.t II dxed up before anything
serious happens. What do you do but
why. say, il the Waterman outside
your window bothered you hollering
at night when you wanted TO sleep.
/ s'pose you gag him. wouldn't you!
Be Just as logical as what you've
done here"'
But tell you my husband did 1t.
And he read ii in a. But won I
you explain why he shouldn't have
done II? I have some sense-really
/ have. Just try me-"
why sure" returned the electri-
clan. You see. it's this way: The
fuse is gate. you might say,
through which the juice flows into
your home. There's a gap between
the wire that comes from the power
house and the wire that continues
on into your home; and. to close that
gap, the fuse ii put in between. Now
the fuse IL made Of piece of soft
metal that melts more easily than
the other wires; this is so that. il
your inside wires try to get more
Juice than is safe for them to carry,
the strip OF metal in the fuse will
melt. automatically shutting out the
electricity. Don't you see?"
"Why-why yes, half way" replied
his listener doubtfully. But 7 cont
see what you mean by the inside
wires trying to get more juice than
they should have"
We'll" he went on. ''it can happen
two ways. First. IL somewhere in
sulations wear from wiring dixie OK
tension cords) and the wires come
in contact with each other. That IL
a short circuit: and IL II were not
stopped there might be a fire. But
your fuse acts just lik" magic: II
sees too much juice rushing 10 the
wires, and II SAYS "stand back" And
besides, It calmly melts the only
bridge over which Currerl could
come in. And here, YOU zee. vouI
husbands gone and put m snothe,
bridge: one that will not melt wher
a dangerous amount is passing, and
he's destroyed the safeguard en-
firalVl