Produced by Stacy Brown, Marcia Brooks, Steven Giacomelli and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images produced by Core Historical Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University) ELECTRICITY FOR THE FARM THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA · MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO [Illustration: Even the tiny trout brook becomes a thing of utility as well as of joy (_Courtesy of the Fitz Water Wheel Company, Hanover, Pa._)] ELECTRICITY FOR THE FARM LIGHT, HEAT AND POWER BY INEXPENSIVE METHODS FROM THE WATER WHEEL OR FARM ENGINE BY FREDERICK IRVING ANDERSON AUTHOR OF "THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW," ETC., ETC. New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1915 _All rights reserved_ Copyright, 1915 By THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY The Country Gentleman Copyright, 1915 By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1915. PREFACE This book is designed primarily to give the farmer a practical working knowledge of electricity for use as light, heat, and power on the farm. The electric generator, the dynamo, is explained in detail; and there are chapters on electric transmission and house-wiring, by which the farm mechanic is enabled to install his own plant without the aid and expense of an expert. With modern appliances, within the means of the average farmer, the generation of electricity, with its unique conveniences, becomes automatic, provided some dependable source of power is to be had--such as a water wheel, gasoline (or other form of internal combustion) engine, or the ordinary windmill. The water wheel is the ideal prime mover for the dynamo in isolated plants. Since water-power is running to waste on tens of thousands of our farms throughout the country, several chapters are devoted to this phase of the subject: these include descriptions and working diagrams of weirs and other simple devices for measuring the flow of streams; there are tables and formulas by which any one, with a knowledge of simple arithmetic, may determine the power to be had from falling water under given conditions; and in addition, there are diagrams showing in general the method of construction of dams, bulkheads, races, flumes, etc., from materials usually to be found on a farm. The tiny unconsidered brook that waters the farm pasture frequently possesses power enough to supply the farmstead with clean, cool, safe light in place of the dangerous, inconvenient oil lamp; a small stream capable of developing from twenty-five to fifty horsepower will supply a farmer (at practically no expense beyond the original cost of installation) not only with light, but with power for even the heavier farm operations, as threshing; and in addition will do the washing, ironing, and cooking, and at the same time keep the house warm in the coldest