APPENDIX
A. The Electrical Apparatus
For giving children a practical understanding of such laws of electricity as affect everybody, the following simple apparatus is invaluable. It is the electrical apparatus referred to several times in the text. The only part of it that is at all difficult to get is the nichrome resistance wire. There is a monopoly on this and each licensee has to agree not to sell it. It can be bought direct from the manufacturer by the school board if a statement accompanies the order to the effect that it is not to be used in any commercial devices, nor to be sold, but is for laboratory experimentation only. The manufacturers are Hoskins Manufacturing Company, Detroit, Michigan.
The following diagram will make the connections and parts of the electrical apparatus clear:
Fig. 190. Electrical apparatus: At the right are the incoming wires. Dotted lines show outlines of fuse block. A, 2 cartridge fuses, 15 A; B, 2 plug fuses, 10 A; C, knife switch; D, fuse gap; E, snap switch; F, H, lamp sockets; G, flush switch; I, J, K, nichrome resistance wire, No. 24 (total length of loop, 6 feet), passing around porcelain posts at left.
The flush switch (G) should be open at the bottom for inspection,—remove the back. The snap switch (E) should have cover removed so that pupils can see exactly how it works.
The fuse gap (D) consists either of two parts of an old knife switch, the knife removed, or of two brass binding posts. Across it a piece of 4-ampere fuse wire is always kept as a protection to the more expensive plug and cartridge fuses. Between the resistance wire (I, J, K) and the wall should be either slate or sheet asbestos, double thickness. Under the fuse gap the table should be protected by galvanized iron so that the melted bits of fuse wire can set nothing on fire when the fuse wire burns out.