ELECTRIC CURRENT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143786, 9 May 1912, Page 5

ELECTRIC CURRENT.

(By IV. O. Horsnaill, A.M.1.E.E.) We are all enamoured of the convenience and cleanliness of cioctnc light, and nearly every householder within reach of a public supply who can afford it now uses electricity in place of parufin or gas. Unfortunately, in the country districts no electric supplies are available; hence the advantages of electric lighting can only be ooiaimxl by making the electricity separately for each house. This lias long since been done by the owners of large country mansions, but uulil recently no convenient apparatus lias bee., uvuu.uiio for the smaller householder. The (iilficulty hitherto bus been, firstly, the amount of looking after that a private electric lighting plant demands; secondly the largo and costly battery needed in which to store the electricity ready for use. The private electric lighting plant consists of an oil-engine, winch drives a dynamo, tho current from the latter being used to fill up a large storage battery. In summer-umo one battery-ful may last a week, but during the dark evenings it will bo necessary to "charge’’ the battery perhaps every two days. This process involves the starting up of the engine and dynamo and running them lor at least six hours, during which time a certain amount of attention is needed. The most troublesome feature, however, is the care required by the battery, which may almost be said to want “nursing” if good results are to be obtained; and even with tho best attention deterioration is rapid, and costly renewals will bo needed in a few years. Then, again, you cannot got the same amount of electricity out of a battery that you put in, some -10 per cent, being lost in this way. This lots entails a larger engine and dynamo than would be required if the lighting were done direct instead of through a battery, Which moans a bigger outlay to begin with and a higher annual cost for oil or petrol lor the engine. With the "Lister” automatic electric lighting plant those drawbacks are entirely got over, and current can bo made with scarcely any attention, whilst tho lamps are lit direct from the dynamo, so that the big loss in the batterv is avoided. There is a battery, certainly, but it is a very small affair, consisting of a few cells similar to those used in motor cars for ignition. The engine mid the dynamo start themselves as soon as any lamps are turned on, and the battery is only used to run a few 1 lights for a minute or two whilst the engine is getting up speed. When fairly running, the dynamo takes over the lighting and fills up the- battery ready for another start. Those operations are reversed when light is no longer needed, and tho engine stops itself after all lamps are turned off at night. The only attention required consists in filling up the petrol tanks and oiling the bearings—ten minutes a dav at tho outside—whilst current is available for lighting at any time during the day or night. The apparatus is really a novel combination of devices which have proved their reliability during years of practical work, so that no part is likely to go wrong; in fact, the plant was started and stopped by switching lamps on and off some thousands ot times before it was placed on the market. In addition to those advantages we have a low first cost, a great reduction in space, and a plant which requires no foundations; in fact, it is delivered practically ready for connecting up to the house wiring, hence it can be used within an hour or two of being unpacked, provided, of course, that the house is already fitted up with lamps and wiring.