Type of
Lamp.		  Installation 
charge
per lamp.		Charge per
lamp·hour.
s. d.
10- candle18 0·26
16- ”28 0·40
32- ”56 0·80

that is, a little over ½d. per ampère-hour; the 10-candle lamps requiring 0·5, the 16-candle lamps 0·75, and the 32-candle lamps 1·5 ampère.

The company lends meters for 50, 100, and 150 lamps, at an annual rent of 4s. 10d., 7s. 3d., and 9s. 7d. respectively, and replaces, without charge to the consumer, any lamp the filament of which has broken, but it does not replace lamps where the glass is broken. For arc lamps requiring 9 to 10 ampères, an annual rent of £2 must be paid for the lamp itself, and a charge of a little over ½d. per hour for every ampère-hour. The carbons are charged for at 1d. per pair, lasting for about seven hours. Now that the installation has been in use for several years, and that the company has arrived at a very accurate estimate of the time during which an average consumer requires the light—about one thousand six hundred lamp-hours per annum—it proposes to simplify the method of charging large consumers, by omitting the initial charge of each lamp, and, instead, to charge 0·6d. for each 16-candle lamp-hour.

The Edison meters are based on the electrolytic action of a small fraction of the current which passes through the meter. They are cells, with rectangular zinc plates immersed in a solution of sulphate of zinc of 1·054 density, the distance between the plates being a little over ¼ inch. The proportion of the current which passes through the meter to that which passes directly into the consumer’s house is 1 to 973. The resistance of the shunt circuit is 9·75 ohms, made up as follows: cell, 1·75 ohm; metallic portion, 8 ohms. The resistance of the metallic portion rises with the temperature, whereas that of the cells falls with a rising temperature; and in this manner the small variations of resistance which might take place in the cell are counter-balanced by the equally small variations in the resistance of the metallic portion. A complete meter consists of two similar-sized cells of the same resistance, placed in series. The object of employing two cells is, that when little current is passing, as in the summer months, one cell alone is used, and when the consumption is sufficiently large both cells are employed, and the mean between the two indications is taken as the basis for calculation in number of ampère-hours. The quantity of electricity passed through the cell is calculated by the loss of weight which has taken place in the positive plate. An employé of the society visits every meter monthly, taking away the old cells and substituting others freshly constructed. A book is kept in which the weights of the new plates and those of the returned plates are entered, and on the basis of these entries the accounts are made up. The largest plates are those in the 100-light meter, and are intended for a maximum current of 75 ampères in the main circuit; they are 6 inches long by 2 inches wide. In cases where a larger amount of current is taken, the capacity of the 100-light meter is increased by joining two or more copper strips across the terminals of the cells. The weak point of the system is the removal of the cells, which leaves the adjustment of the account to be paid entirely in the hands of the Electric-Light Company; in spite of this drawback, it is stated that there has not been a single complaint from consumers during the four years in which the meter system has been in use.

Discovery of Faults.

It is evident that in so extensive a system of lighting a short circuit now and then between the lamp wires and the earth cannot altogether be avoided. Many of the lamps have been fitted to existing gas fittings, and are beyond the daily supervision of the company’s officers; the faulty place is often not easily accessible, so the first step taken is to discover on which of the two circuits the trouble has occurred. This is done at the station by joining two 16-candle lamps in series across the main conductors and the point of junction between the two lamps is connected to earth by a stout wire. As long as both circuits (positive and negative) are perfectly insulated from earth no current flows through this middle wire, and both lamps remain hardly incandescent; but, if one of the circuits should be in connection with the earth, the lamp which is joined on the other circuit will brighten up, because the potential of the middle wire and that of the faulty circuit are both zero, and consequently the lamp between the middle wire and the sound circuit receives the full pressure of 110 volts. To localise the fault, contact is made between the earth and the sound circuit by means of a fusible plug of known melting point, say for a thirty-lamp supply. If the fault is on a portion of the external circuit, supplying less than thirty lamps, its fusible plug will melt as soon as the sound main is put to earth. If, however, the fault is on a portion supplying more than thirty lamps, the fusible plug which has been inserted at the station between the sound main and the earth will melt instead. A series of fusible plugs are thus tried, increasing in melting capacity until one is found that does not go: in this case, the other plug on the faulty portion has melted, and the consumer’s lamps on that branch are extinguished; the position of the fault is thus localised, and the company proceed to remedy the defect without interfering in the slightest degree with the rest of their system.

The Electric Lighting of Berlin.

The Edison system is also employed at Berlin, in fact the Deutscher Edison Gesellschaft have at the present time a monopoly of the supply of the city from three large central-stations, each of which serves the area in their immediate neighbourhood. The mains differ from those used at Milan in that stranded highly insulated cables, protected with steel wire on the outside, are laid under the pavement in every street throughout the district. With the exception of the Leipziger strasse and Unter den Linden, which are lit with arc lamps suspended from chains running between cast-iron poles 24 ft. high, about 100 to 250 ft. apart, gas is used for the street lighting, and electricity for the interior illumination of many public buildings and private houses; there are also a good many arc lights outside the shops and restaurants. The mains are on the Edison network system, the area of copper being such, that when all the lamps are on there is a loss of energy of 25 per cent.; but this does not occur on an average for more than half an hour a day. No sole concession is given to the company, who simply have the right to take up the pavement and cross streets, and for this permission they are bound to furnish any consumer in the district with a constant supply of electricity at the following charges:—

10-candle lamps 2·5 pf., about 0·29 d. per hour.
16-” 4·0”0·48”
32-” 8·0”0·96”
50-”12·5”1·50”
100-”25”3·00”

In addition to this an installation fee of 6s. per lamp is charged, which includes one lamp.