THE EDISON EXPERIMENTS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume II, Issue 136, 3 August 1881, Page 4

THE EDISON EXPERIMENTS.

The village of Menio Park has been lighted by 500 Edison incandescent lamps distributed over an acre one mile long by half a mile wide surrounding his liboratory and works. These lamps are of 16-candle power and included in a circuit of nearly eight miles of wire. The feed current is generated by nine dynamo-electric machines, driven by the same steam engine. The lights are screwed on and off as readily as gas ; the extinction of one is said not to affect the others ; and when a lamp fails in any ■way it can be replaced by another in a few moments. Three sizes of lamp are made by Mr. Edison, one of five, one eight, and one of 16-candle power. The current to supply a 16-candle lamp for an hour is stated to require the consumption of two-thirds of a pound of coal. But a greater economy is expected from the employment of the large dynamo-electric machine which is now being constructed. This giganic generator- is designed to take the place of 16 smaller Edison machines with a view to a saving power. The Field magnates, of which there are three are 6£ feet long; and the armuture, 28in long by 21 in diameter, and is said to weigh 1£ ton. The machine and motor, a Porter-Allen engine of 100 horse-power, are both mounted on the same cast-iron bed, like the great Brush machine recently constructed for the Admirality.