Electricity in Manchester.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 30, 3 February 1894, Page 3 (Supplement)

Electricity in Manchester.

A Successful Invention.

The Origin of the Scheme.

How the Work Was Done.

In the great city of Manchester electricity has just been installed as the lighting power, and the • Weekly Times' of thab city gives many columns to the subject, *rom which we take the following: Coal gas which has done noble service tor many yeara has been superseded to some extent, no longer- cracks all ceilings by its heat, nor spoils all goods by its profuse distribution of noxioua vapours. In ics place electricity exercises its wonderfully beneficent power in nob a few cases. The change is delightful. Greater brilliancy is now united with a purer, softer, prettier light. The old gas shades with their foul incrustations have gone and make room for crystal globes, charged with a thin oval line of beautiful and brilliant light. ' New lamps for old,' cried the artful magician in the story of 'Aladdin.' 'New goods for old,' the enterprising tradesman may' be tempted to ejaculate as ha sees his wares bathed in the serene glow of the new brightness. The ' City of Dreadful Nighb' would lose its awful title under the charm ; the main thoroughfare of Manchester steps from modified dulneas to a happier and more pleasing .state.

A section of the City Council, literary men of light and loading, have long been studying this importanb question of electricity as a means of lighting.' They fixed their municipal eye firmly on the incandescent lamps aud saw that they were good. Their studies revealed to them thab electricity is the light of the future, and Manchester, they determined, must once more be in its proper place—in the van of progress. Bub they knew too much to embark on the great enterprise on which they had set their hearts with eyes halfclosed, or with imperfecb knowledge. The mistakes of the past have been the guide posts ot the journey, and to-day it is a demonstrable fact that an installation of electric light may be relied upon as implicitly as a gas supply. Providing tha machinery be kept in order all will go well. The electric spark which has put distanb nations on easy and immediate speaking terms has also provided the illuminant by which to read in the night time the communications flashed by the telegraph wires.

Ab this poinb the Manchester Committee have stepped in, and, intrusting the discharge of their task to Dr. Hopkinson, F.R.S., the eminent electrician, of Westminister, havecomo out with flying colours. The plan adopted is Dr. Hopkinson's five wire system—a system which claims to be more economical and more sorvicable thab any other in existence. Ib is more economical because it reduces very largly the initial cost for copper conductors, a most important consideration in providing a large installation ; and it is more servicable, because it renders possible varieties of currenb in the mains. So far the Manchester installabion is the first outside London that has been constructed on Dr. Hopkinson'a plan, bub the success with which ib has been worked will doubtless lead to its adoption in other places. This remark must nob be construed to imply thab there have been no bitches. Such a construction would be wrong. On one or two occasions the light has temporarily failed, and some annoyance haa been caused thereby. But theinconvenience was of only brief duration. The fault was soon found. Ib lay with the machinery, and everybody knows that tackle of this kind has eccentric habibs, which, however, may be speedily cured. 'In this instance the cure has been quick and complete, and the corporationCommitteemaycongratulate themselves on having started their new and extensive venture very happily, and on having overcome the few and insignificant initial troubles without muph difficulty.

The Dickenson-atreet establishment is already a busy place. For the portion of the scheme now in operation six engines of 90-horse power and four of 250-horse power have been built. Six large Lancashire boilers provide the necessary steam power. To each engine a dynamo is attached, and the number of volts that the dynamo will generate is known with absolute precision. The uninitiated may ask what is a volt? The sound of the word is suggestive of a gin palace or a leap overU horizontal bar ; the meaning of the word is the unit of electrical pressure. In other words, in electricity the pressure is expressed in volts. After being generated in the dynamo the electricity is conveyed into the mains. Mancheeter people know those mains and have enjoyed the precioua privilege of grumbline at them. Unhappily it is not the custom to lay a main along a street without pulling up the street. The opposite plan prevails, and when you pull up a Btreet you inconvenience a great many estimable individuals. For the most part the electrical mains are laid below the footpaths, and therefore the pedestrians are sorely grieved. It was amusing to watch some of them when they came to a length in a state of eruption. Their chests swell visibly, they frowned, an angry light shone in their eyes, and they muttered, ' Confound our Corporation"; it's always disturbing the Btreets.' The complaints were a bit unreasonable, bub they harmed no one, and now they have ceased. Within the area of the installation the mains are complete, and id may comforb the choleric gentlemen whose indignation has been roused to know that an electric main once laid gives little further trouble. Ib does not leak, as a gas main will at times. It is nob likely to get out of repair under ordinary circumstances, and its interment, when once accomplished, ia lasting. Of course, new districts, when tapped by the electrical supply, will be called upon to bear temporary inconvenience, but the residents therein will know by that time that a trivial and temporary derangement will be followed by'an incalculable and lasting benefit. Properly speaking, the elecbric main is a conduib composed of concrete and flaeged at the top. In places where the traffic is heavy—ab street crossings for instance— iron pipes take the place of the conduib, and here the cables bearing the current are carefully and solidly probecbed. In the conduits themselves the only probection necessary is air insulation. The connection between the mains and the buildings to be supplied tea matter of easy adjustment. Copper wire cased in gutta percha is used. The customer gives some idea of hte requirements, and the wires are regulated accordingly. Under Dr. Hopkinson'a plan, as already indicated, various degrees of current can be secured. An 8-candle power, a 16-candle power, or a 32-candle power ia at tho option of the purchaser. For ordinary purposes 8-candle power is sufficient. A single incandescent lamp of 8-candle power will give as much light as an ordinary gas burner, and this is the popular standard. For the object of display, where a groab flood of light is required, 16 candle power may be asked for. Greater brilliancy than this is rare. Of course, the more dazzling the hghb the more expensive it bßComes, and this brings us to a noteworthy point in any examination of the relative cost of gas and of electricity. , Aba rule the enterprising people who call in the aid of electricity are in search of greater effect. If they did nob wanb anything better than gas they would never take the trouble to make a change. Bub they are apb to forget this circumstance when their bills come in. Then they have in mind only the cosb, and if the charge for electricity should be higher than the charge they have been accustomed to pay for gas, the increased illumination is forgotten, and pecuniary comparisons, disadvantageous to eleccnolty s

are readily forthcoming. There are numerous examples of men who have been brought to this state of mind in other towns, but in Manchester they are, of course, too logical to be reduced to such a depth. There they see that comparisons of cost should be regulated by comparisons of value. Of this the public may be quite certain, that whatever may be the case with small supplies there can be no doubt thab electric lighting on an extensive scale is much cheaper than lighting by gas on an extensive Bcale. Tradesmen and others who like a great flare about their premises may be expected to realise this facb after a very short experience.

The feature of the scheme which requires to be mentioned next in order is the method of distributing the electricity after it has reached the interior of the building supplied. As an extra precaution the wires, for there must be two in order that a circuit) may be established, are cased in wood. Great care is taken to keep the wires apart. If they came in contact there would be danger. Insulated, as they are, there is none. The nervous and the timid may be assured of this—a supply of electricity is no more dangerous than a supply of gas. With electricity, the condnctors being properly insulated, there is no fear of awful consequences arising from leakages, and in case of fire or other serious disaster, the snapping of a wire will at once destroy the current. The smashing of a gaspipe might, of course, be attended with very different results.

Once the lighb has been brought within a building its manipulation is simplicity itself. Matches are nob required, and a frequent cause of conflagration ia thereby removed. All that is necessary is to turn a tap (called a switch), which is generally fixed near the door, so that a person entering a dark room may put his hand upon it and at once step into light. In this way much barking of shins against stray pieces of furniture is avoided, and the habit of using hasty and objectionable expletives is nob encouraged. The lighb itself, as everybody knows, is enclosed in a crystal globe and has its habitation on a thin line of carbon. This carbon, which is of the finesb texture, may live in flame for 1,000 boura or more, or it may have a much shorter career. On this point no guarantee can be given. The carbon is always carefully tested before being put into use, bub ib is nob always to be relied upon for long service. It can, however, be easily replaced, and ib is an interesting fact that within the last few days the price of the lamps has decreased by more than 50 per cent., owing to the expiration of patent rights. Even the old fashioned folks who detest changes, and look with a suspicious eye upon all new inventions, must admib thab from the point of view of health, electricity enjoys greab advantages over gas. It emits littlo or no beat, and no. noxious vapours. Therefore, in places where artificial illumination is required all day, ib is a boon and a blessing. Keeping the rooms cooler and the air purer, it cannot fail to benefib the lunge, as all who have founa their way into ill-ventilated offices whore gas ia burning all day will readily admib. Then ib may be claimed for electricity thab it gives a steadier and softer lighb than gas, and is on thab account loss trying to the eyes. One disadvantage, though of minor importance, ib certainly has. It must be turned on ab full or turned off altogether. It permits of no half measures.

In considering the question of cost we are soon in the region of comparison. Our commercial instincts naturally lead us to inquire whether the now illuminanb is as cheap as the old, and these in search of information on thiß point will learn that the corporation has two sots of charges- On one scale the charge is Od a unit; on the other a fixed charge is made for the plant and in addition 2d a unit. The consumer may make bis choice, and in doing so will bo determined by the nature of the supply that he requires. Once provided with a supply, he will probably tind chat if he should use it to a very limited extent electricity will bo dearer than gas. On the other hand, he will find that if ho should make use of electricity during 960 hours in the course of a year, on the fixed charge and 2d a unit scale, the expense will be aboub the same as if he burned gas at a cosb of 2s 6d per I,oooft during a similar period. Burnt for 960 hours during a year on the scale mentioned electricity will cost 5d a unit, and ab thid rate it ia about the same price as gas. Burnt for a longer period, electricity becomes cheaper than gas. In uso for 2.000 hours, it would work out at about 3£d a unit, all the charges included thus showing a saving of over 30 per cent, in comparison with the cosb of gas. This is a very considerable economy, and one which all consumers of large quantities of artificial light will be anxious to effect. The people of Manchesterhaveshown thoir appreciation of the benefits of the new supply in an unmistakable manner. Already the resources of the Dickinson-street works, and the plant at present in use, oro being tested to almost the full extent. People in all kinds of business, and the officials in charge of mnny of the public buildings, includingl the Town Hall, the King-streeb Library, and the Freetrade Hall, have had the wires fixed, and have no intention of returing to the old order of things.