The Library of Work and Play: Electricity and Its Everyday UsesWoodhull, John F. (John Francis)
Science
The Library of Work and Play: Electricity and Its Everyday Uses
Woodhull, John F. (John Francis)
Electricity -- Juvenile literature
Indeed, since that season, the boys have found that battery cells
which had been too much exhausted for use on the engine served very
well on the lamps. By use the cells lose, not much in voltage, but in
the ability to furnish sufficient quantity in amperes to make the hot
spark required for igniting the mixture of gasolene and air in an
engine cylinder. When they have been discarded for use with the engine
they may still furnish the small amount of current required for the
lamps--provided not too many lamps are used at one time.
The dynamo current is always surprisingly cheap when compared with
that produced by a battery, but, on the other hand, we are never as
economical in the use of the dynamo current as we are with that of the
battery.
If all five of the lamps in the above equipment were lighted at the
same time and kept burning for half an hour, the battery would run down
rather badly and would not fully recover. But if one only is used at a
time and for not more than thirty minutes, or if more than one is used
at a time and for a proportionately shorter period, the battery will
receive no damage.
Dry battery cells may be purchased for either twenty-five cents or
fifteen cents each. The chief difference is that the former are
capable of giving larger current than the latter, when working against
very small resistance. For example, the former may give twenty to
twenty-five amperes on a short circuit, that is, connected directly
with the ammeter without other resistance, while the latter may give
not more than six to ten amperes under similar conditions. For most
purposes, other than igniting gasolene engines, in which dry cells
are used, an exceedingly small current is required. The electric
bell, for example, may not require more than .2 of an ampere and that
intermittently. Now it is found by experience that the dry cells which
are only capable of furnishing on short circuit six to ten amperes will
last quite as long in bell work as one which may give on short circuit
twenty to twenty-five amperes. Hence it is good economy to buy them.
"What a fine sitting room you have here! (Fig. 107, _f._) When do you
expect to fit it up?" said I. Instantly reminding myself, however, that
boys do not want a sitting room, I inquired what they intended to use
this fine, large room for. They told me that they had plans for making
a machine shop out of that. The idea had been suggested by a counter
shaft which still hung from the ceiling, and they had discovered that
the old mill wheel would still roll over if the penstock were repaired.
I replied that I would see what could be done about that sometime.
On the next day matters concerning the motor boat engaged our
attention.
X
HOW ELECTRICITY FEELS
What is more fickle and yet more fascinating than a motor boat? On the
morning after my arrival at Millville the boys wanted me to go out with
them in the motor boat on the mill pond, as our beautiful little lake
is called.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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