The expense in starting a farm electric light plant may be a little more than some other installations, but it seems to be more economical in service when figured from a farmer’s standpoint, taking into consideration the fact that he is using power for generating electricity that under ordinary farm management goes to waste.
A three-horsepower engine will do the same amount of work with the same amount of gasoline that a two-horsepower engine will do. This statement may not hold good when figured in fractions, but it will in farm practice. Also when running a pump or cream separator the engine is capable of doing a little extra work so that the storage batteries may be charged with very little extra expense.
On one dairy farm a five-horsepower kerosene engine is used to furnish power for various farm purposes. The engine is belted to a direct-current generator of the shunt-wound type. The generator is wired to an electric storage battery of 88 ampere hour capacity. The battery is composed of a number of separate cells. The cells are grouped together in jars. These jars contain the working parts of the batteries. As each jar of the battery is complete in itself, any one jar may be cut out or another added without affecting the other units. The switchboard receives current either from the battery or from the engine and generator direct. There are a number of switches attached to the switchboard, which may be manipulated to turn the current in any direction desired.
Some provision should be made for the renewal of electric lamps. Old lamps give less light than new ones, and the manufacturers should meet customers on some kind of a fair exchange basis. Tungsten lamps are giving good satisfaction for farm use. These lamps are economical of current, which means a reduction of power to supply the same amount of light. The Mazda lamp is another valuable addition to the list of electric lamps.
The Wisconsin Agriculturist publishes a list of 104 different uses for electricity on farms. Many of the electrical machines are used for special detail work in dairies where cheese or butter is made in quantity. Sugar plantations also require small units of power that would not apply to ordinary farming. Some of the work mentioned is extra heavy, such as threshing and cutting ensilage. Other jobs sound trivial, but they are all possible labor-savers. Here is the list:
“Oat crushers, alfalfa mills, horse groomers, horse clippers, hay cutters, clover cutters, corn shellers, ensilage cutters, corn crackers, branding irons, currying machines, feed grinders, flailing machines, live stock food warmers, sheep shears, threshers, grain graders, root cutters, bone grinders, hay hoists, clover hullers, rice threshers, pea and bean hullers, gas-electric harvesters, hay balers, portable motors for running threshers, fanning-mills, grain elevators, huskers and shredders, grain drying machines, binder motors, wheat and corn grinders, milking machines, sterilizing milk, refrigeration, churns, cream-separators, butter workers, butter cutting-printing, milk cooling and circulating pumps, milk clarifiers, cream ripeners, milk mixers, butter tampers, milk shakers, curd grinders, pasteurizers, bottle cleaners, bottle fillers, concrete mixers, cider mills, cider presses, spraying machines, wood splitters, auto trucks, incubators, hovers, telephones, electric bells, ice cutters, fire alarms, electric vehicles, electro cultures, water supply, pumping, water sterilizers, fruit presses, blasting magnetos, lighting, interior telephones, vulcanizers, pocket flash lights, ice breakers, grindstones, emery wheels, wood saws, drop hammers, soldering irons, glue pots, cord wood saws, egg testers, burglar alarms, bell ringing transformers, devices for killing insects and pests, machine tools, molasses heaters, vacuum cleaners, portable lamps to attract insects, toasters, hot plates, grills, percolators, flatirons, ranges, toilette articles, water heaters, fans, egg boilers, heating pads, dishwashers, washing machines, curling irons, forge blowers.”
GASOLINE HOUSE LIGHTING
Gasoline gas for house lighting is manufactured in a small generator by evaporating gasoline into gas and mixing it with air, about 5 per cent gas and 95 per cent air. We are all familiar with the little brass gasoline torch heater that tinners and plumbers use to heat their soldering irons. The principle is the same.
There are three systems of using gasoline gas for farmhouse lighting purposes, the hollow wire, tube system, and single lamp system.
The hollow wire system carries the liquid gasoline through the circuit in a small pipe called a hollow wire. Each lamp on the circuit takes a few drops of gasoline as needed, converts it into gas, mixes the gas with the proper amount of air and produces a fine brilliant light. Each lamp has its own little generator and is independent of all other lamps on the line.