"I don't like the idea," drawled Erg, "that this machinery has got to be kept running all the time. When will a fellow get a chance to sleep or go a-fishing or have any vacation, with this central-station machine shop on his hands all the time?"
I had inquired how the last two boys won their nicknames of Dyne and Erg and had been informed that one was very keen about dining and the other had a great aversion for work. They had doubtless seen these terms somewhere in their reading of physics, but they appeared to have forgotten their significance by a too familiar use of them. I told them that these were sacred terms, the first being a name for the unit of force, while the second designated the unit of work. Both boys said that under those circumstances they would like to shed the names. The names, however, stuck and the boys themselves might, I think, be said to exercise a maximum of power with the least waste of energy.
This idea of running the plant continuously had evidently received no attention hitherto and it bid fair to quench all the enthusiasm until I came to the rescue by proposing a storage battery.
If we can procure a battery in which we may store energy, which shall always be on draught by merely pushing a button, one which "is not injured by overcharging nor too rapid discharging, nor even by complete discharge"; one which is not injured by standing idle for any length of time, either charged or discharged; and finally one which "is practically foolproof"—we want to try it. I propose that you appoint a committee to look into it. But at any rate this enterprise must go on even if I have to hire a man to live in the loft of the mill and keep the machinery going.
Fig. 141
"No man in the loft," said Dyne, "while I have my rations."
"There will be no need for him so long as I can store energy here," said Erg, "so let the job of equipping the establishment go on in the regular fashion."