Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-02-28
&c. M. p. Keeps Tabs
On Folks D0ings
Learns Habits Change

=
The central station can tell many
tales of what people are doing in
homes, stores, factories and offices
served by it's light and power lines.
1t knows whether YOU sleep late
Sunday morning or get up and go TO
church. On Monday it must stir it
self to somewhat greater effort, ana
it knows thereby that it is washday
and electric washing machines are
in action. On Tuesday, similarly,
| the family ironing comes to the big
| engines attention. Look back at its
| charts and YOU can tell, by the use of
| current for light. which days were
sunny ana which days We're cloudy.
Keeps Tabs on Third OF Names Pop
u'ation
Over in the general onlces of the
Central Maine Power Co, at Angus
| ia are kept the daily load charts
which tell what more than third OF
| the population of Maine may be do
| ing. From near Portland to Green
vile. Maine, on the north. and from
Norway to Orland, Maine, on the
west, the transmission lines of the
company every hour of every day
are bearing little tales of what is
going on in farmhouses here, or a
moving picture theatre there.
Local Sub-station operators know
= what to expect. After a fashion they
, learn that at certain time each
| morning Pittsfield farmers get up
| during the winter to milk their cows.
| In the good old summer time they
! know when dark thunder cloud in
| Belfast or Auburn causes lights TO
| be snapped on In homes and stores
| during the middle of the day.
Even Recent Eclipse Registered
I E'Van fhA recent eclinSa nf the
| registered itself on the sensitive
| charts kept by the sub-station oper-
! ators. But not as one would expect;
! instead of showing increased use OF
| power the main chart of the Com
! rany shows an appreciate subnor-
NAL decline around 900 O'Clock of
the morning of January "a. This is
| attributed to the fact that many
/ factories closed down a half hour to
| give their employees an opportunity
| to witness the eclipse
| Radio Makes Folks Stay up Later
| The charts show that radio kept
| people up later nights in 1924 than 1t
| did in 1928. That has made the
| curve me at night decline less rap
| idly and to a higher level than it
ever did before.
Each new customer, residential or
|, industrial, increases the work of the
Central Station. The consumption of
power on Dec. 5th. an average day,
! was 553.SS0 XIV. h. in 1924, and only
| $40 XIV. II. in 1928. Not many
years back in the records kept at the
general Offices the week day con-
sumption of electric power and light
| was nearly as low as the Sunday
! consumption is now.
The central station charts OF the
company, which tell SO many tales
of what its customers are doing are
constantly watched and studied by
officials. Only by a comparison of
charts from day to day do operators
| and dispatchers learn what hours
and under what conditions to expect
their automatic equipment to re-
ceive a call for more power, and to
| transmit this call to Deer Rips sta
| ton at Lewiston, the Weston station
at SkoWheSan, or some other power
station on the interconnectcd sys-
| tem-which instantly responds. That
Is the purpose the charts really serve.
Charts Show Habits are Changing
But the language of the charts tells
| an infinitely more interesting story
to the layman. 1t tells of little daily
electrical tasks he does through
out the day, what hour ne rises, turns
on his percolator and toaster at
breakfast. and when he starts his
machine at the factory or the adding
machine at the office. 1t tells when
his wife washes or irons, cooks his
dinner. uses the sewing machine,
turns on the lights and how late the
family sits up nights to listen to the
! radio.
The charts show the habits CT
people are changing. Electrical con-
Veniences and comforts which were
once considered in the class of lux
uries are fast becoming. in country
as well as town, accepted practical
every day utensils for houSework,
office work, farm work and factory
work. And Maine men and women
are not behind their cousins in other
states in approaching the benefits
these servants yield at a small cost.