The most satisfactory way to carry power from the water-wheel to the farm buildings is by means of electricity. The dynamo may be coupled to the water-wheel and wires carried any required distance.
The work of installing electric power machinery is more a question of detail than mechanics or electrical engineering. The different appliances are bought from the manufacturer and placed where they are needed. It is principally a question of expense and quantity of electricity needed or developed. If the current is used for power, then a motor is connected with the dynamo and current from the dynamo drives the motor. A dynamo may be connected with the water-wheel shaft at the source of power and the motor may be placed in the power-house or any of the other buildings.
The cost of farm waterworks depends principally on the amount of power developed. Small machinery may be had for a few hundred dollars, but large, powerful machinery is expensive. If the stream is large and considerable power is going to waste it might pay to put in a larger plant and sell current to the neighbors for electric lighting and for power purposes. Standard machinery is manufactured for just such plants.
The question of harnessing a stream on your own land when you control both banks is a simple business proposition. If anyone else can set up a plausible plea of riparian rights, flood damage, interstate complications or interference with navigation, it then becomes a question of litigation to be decided by some succeeding generation.
STEAM BOILER AND ENGINE
Farm engines usually are of two different types, steam engines and gasoline or oil engines. Steam stationary engines are used on dairy farms because steam is the best known means of keeping a dairy clean and sanitary. The boiler that furnishes power to run the engine also supplies steam to heat water and steam for sterilizing bottles, cans and other utensils.
For some unaccountable reason steam engines are more reliable than gasoline engines. At the same time they require more attention, that is, the boilers do. Steam engines have been known to perform their tasks year after year without balking and without repairs or attention of any kind except to feed steam and oil into the necessary parts, and occasionally repack the stuffing boxes.
On the other hand, boilers require superintendence to feed them with both fuel and water. The amount of time varies greatly. If the boiler is very much larger than the engine, that is, if the boiler is big enough to furnish steam for two such engines, it will furnish steam for one engine and only half try. This means that the fireman can raise 40 or 60 pounds of steam and attend to his other work around the dairy or barn.
Where steam boilers are required for heating water and furnishing steam to scald cans and wash bottles, the boiler should be several horsepower larger than the engine requirements. There is no objection to this except that a large boiler costs more than a smaller one, and that more steam is generated than is actually required to run the engine. The kind of work required of a boiler and engine must determine the size and general character of the installation.
Portable boilers and engines are not quite so satisfactory as stationary, but there are a great many portable outfits that give good satisfaction, and there is the advantage of moving them to the different parts of the farm when power is required for certain purposes.