Harper's Electricity Book for BoysAdams, Joseph H. (Joseph Henry)
Science
Harper's Electricity Book for Boys
Adams, Joseph H. (Joseph Henry)
Electricity -- Juvenile literature
This apparatus can be used also in connection with an alarm-clock, where
the winding-key is exposed at the back, as it is in most of the
nickel-cased clocks that are operated by a spring and which have to be
wound each day. For this purpose obtain a piece of hard rubber or fibre,
one-sixteenth of an inch thick, an inch long, and half an inch wide. A
piece of stout card-board or a thin piece of hard-wood soaked in hot
paraffine will answer just as well, if the fibre or rubber cannot be
had. Bore a small hole at the two upper corners and one at the middle
near the lower edge. Obtain three garter-clips, with springs, and rivet
one of them fast to the little plate of non-conducting material. Cut two
lengths of old brass watch-chain, four inches long, or obtain eight
inches of chain at a hardware-store, and divide it in half. Attach a
garter-clip to one end of each piece, and make the other end fast in the
holes at the corners of the small plate as shown in Fig. 13. This will
be the connector and will close the circuit when the alarm goes off.
When the clock is wound and the alarm-spring is tight, catch one
binding-post with a clip at the end of a chain and the other post with
the remaining clip. Place the clock near the box and grasp the alarm-key
with the clip on the plate. When the alarm goes off the bell on the
clock will begin to ring, and when the key has made one revolution it
twists the two pieces of chain together, closes the circuit, and the
electric bell rings until some one unfastens one of the clips on the
binding-posts and breaks the circuit. The great advantage in this
double-alarm outfit is that it keeps the bell ringing until the
attention of the sleeper is attracted. The bell on the clock will stop
ringing directly the spring is unwound or run down; but in so doing it
twists the chain and sets the electric mechanism in motion, to run until
it is stopped, or until the battery polarizes or is exhausted.
A Dining-table Call
One of the most convenient of house electric-calls is that between the
dining-room and the butler’s pantry or the kitchen, its purpose being to
summon the waitress without the necessity of ringing a bell at the
table, or calling.
There are various forms of push-buttons for this purpose--some embedded
in the floor, others hanging from the centre light, and others again
where the wire runs up from under the table, and the pear-shaped push
rests on the cloth within easy reach. These last are good enough in
their way, but are inconvenient, unsightly, and quite liable to get out
of order.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account