The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-12-28
CHAPTER v.

CHAPTER v.
In chapter four / gave what
could of the theory and practice o.
transporting electricity long dis
tances, trying OF show why 1t is thai
people in the country who happen tt
live right by transmission lint
cannot be furnished with current
without great expense. In order tt
lead small amount of it away from
the cable, they have to install .
transformer to step it down to lower
voltage (speed) take out what IL
needed and then step it up again tc
the high voltage, to conduct 1t on tc
destination without the expense o1
having the very large cable to con-
duct it in the lower voltage, or as
prefer to say, slower speed.
In this work I have the promise OF
some electrical men, that when they
read something in my articles that
is not correct or that + am unable to
make plain, they correct me or
make it palmer to me II they can.
Since I wrote chapter four, they in
form me that they guage the voltage
of current when they step 1t up, by
the windings of the wires in the
transformer. They can step it up
to twenty times the speed of the
first cable or twenty-five times or to
some other voltage according to the
way the wires are wound in the
transformers, and the differences in
the sizes of the wires and cables
may be 12O to one or it may be
something else, hence the rather in
definite comparisons that had been
made to me, and which / used in the
article.
A Surprise to All
AS l have said before, electricity
is funny stuff, and we do not learn
all about it in day. I find that I
dub along in uncertainty about some
simple questio of electricity for
years before get to understand
what it seems that somebody would
have made plain to me on first
inquiry.
A long time ago, w. H. Stuffle-
beam had an electric range installed
in his home of few hundred feet
from my home, and knew about it,
but it did not occur to me that from
the day he began using that range,
the lights in our house would al
most go out at times for a moment
and then would slowly recover their
.brilliancy. The neighbors were all
intereste in knowing how Mrs.
Stufflebeam got along with that new
tangled cooking and baking device,
and how much it cost for current
and whether it ever 'shorted" and
leaked current out into the wood
work and shocked the cook, but 1t
never occurred to me that our light
troubles we're affected by their
range. Finally I talked to the sup
Of the power company
about how our lights would flicker
and nearly go out at times, and he
said he was glad had mentioned it
to him, that he had rather expected
it and knew what they would have
to do to remedy it and would make
the changes as soon as they could.
Soon after that the lights in our
house became steady, and still I
didn't put two and two together and
decide that the new transformer
that had been put in down the alley
was to form reservoir Of current
that would enable Mrs. Stufflebeam
to turn on the switch in her range
without using the neighbor's light
ing current for moment until the
stream of elecrict fluid adjusted it.
self to the change. Somebody had
to tell it to me before got the
whole situation in mind. In going
over the town I have noticed the
transformers on the poles at inter-
val,s and when farmers have talked |
10 me and complained about not be-
ing able to get the power company
% put in service line, where there |
we're several neighbors to use it
from the same line, still they could |
not get action and they could not
get satisfactory explanation as to
why it was refused excepting on
payment of a sum of money that |
seemed like prifiteering
I had every opportunity to reason
t out for myself about these trans
but for many years I did
lot seem to learn anything new af-
ecting that kind of situation. I
night have observed that the trans
ormers are to be found about every
wo blocks in the town, and that
his must be the limit of distance for
delivering current to the users, but
hat never occurred to me. I might
lave applied that to the farmers
ase and concluded that even tho
here were dozen farmers willing
O take current on one line, that IL
heir houses were not within two city
locks of each other, it would neces-
itate transformer for each one of
hem, but that never occurred to me,
nd I never allowed for that addi-