FIG. 203.—Bread can be toasted by electricity.
The toaster (Fig. 203) is another useful electrical device, since by means of it toast may be made on a dining table or at a bedside. The small electrical stove, shown in Figure 204, is similar in principle to the flatiron, but in it the heating coil is arranged as shown in Figure 205. To the physician electric stoves are valuable, since his instruments can be sterilized in water heated by the stove; and that without fuel or odor of gas.
A convenient device is seen in the heating pad (Fig. 206), a substitute for a hot water bag. Embedded in some soft thick substance are the insulated wires in which heat is to be developed, and over this is placed a covering of felt.
FIG. 204.—An electric stove.
290. Electric Lights. The incandescent bulbs which illuminate our buildings consist of a fine, hairlike thread inclosed in a glass bulb from which the air has been removed. When an electric current is sent through the delicate filament, it meets a strong resistance. The heat developed in overcoming the resistance is so great that it makes the filament a glowing mass. The absence of air prevents the filament from burning, and it merely glows and radiates the light.
FIG. 205.—The heating element in the electric stove.
291. Blasting. Until recently, dynamiting was attended with serious danger, owing to the fact that the person who applied the torch to the fuse could not make a safe retreat before the explosion. Now a fine wire is inserted in the fuse, and when everything is in readiness, the ends of the wire are attached to the poles of a distant battery and the heat developed in the wire ignites the fuse.
