Fig. 85 shows another form of storage cell containing a number of plates.
Fig. 84.
87. The Uses of Storage Batteries are almost numberless. The current can be used for nearly everything for which a constant current is adapted, the following being some of its applications: Carriage propulsion; electric launch propulsion; train lighting; yacht lighting; carriage lighting; bicycle lighting; miners' lamps; dental, medical, surgical, and laboratory work; phonographs; kinetoscopes; automaton pianos; sewing-machine motors; fan motors; telegraph; telephone; electric bell; electric fire-alarm; heat regulating; railroad switch and signal apparatus.
By the installing of a storage plant many natural but small sources of power may be utilized in furnishing light and power; sources which otherwise are not available, because not large enough to supply maximum demands. The force of the tides, of small water powers from irrigating ditches, and even of the wind, come under this heading.
Fig. 85.
As a regulator of pressure, in case of fluctuations in the load, the value of a storage plant is inestimable. These fluctuations of load are particularly noticeable in electric railway plants, where the demand is constantly rising and falling, sometimes jumping from almost nothing to the maximum, and vice versa, in a few seconds. If for no other reason than the prevention of severe strain on the engines and generators, caused by these fluctuations of demand, a storage plant will be valuable.