The Wonder Book of Knowledge: The Marvels of Modern Industry and Invention, the Interesting Stories of Common Things, the Mysterious Processes of Nature Simply Explained
History
The Wonder Book of Knowledge: The Marvels of Modern Industry and Invention, the Interesting Stories of Common Things, the Mysterious Processes of Nature Simply Explained
Industrial arts -- History
There are several things to be remembered by farmers when putting fodder
into the silo, if they want to have perfect silage to take out. One of
the main things is to see that the silage is cut to proper lengths,
which would be about half-inch or one-inch pieces. It should also be
well packed, especially next to the wall of the silo. It should have a
certain amount of moisture, which it naturally would have if put in at
maturity. Good silage is a result of proper cutting, proper packing and
a correct amount of moisture, because when the silage is stored it
begins to ferment. Heat is generated in the process of fermentation. If
the heat is lost through the silo wall, the fermentation is not correct.
If the silage is not packed properly and tightly, especially next to the
wall, it does not settle in a compact mass and air is admitted that
spoils the silage; or if the silo wall is porous this is apt to occur.
All these things must be guarded against or a great loss to the owner is
probable.
[Illustration: A MODERN REDWOOD SILO WITH STEEL DOME ROOF]
The Story of the Advance of Electricity[18]
It is often remarked that the history of electrical development is the
history of modern industrial development. This is true, except that the
terms should be reversed. Electric lighting was not invented to equip
skyscrapers and the huge apartment buildings of today. In point of fact,
the invention of these structures was possible only because electric
light already existed. Electric motive power was not devised to supply
the great manufacturing establishments of the present. On the contrary,
such institutions were erected precisely because such a thing as the
electric motor was available. The history of modern industry is thus
seen emphatically to be the history of electricity.
The First Commercial Central Station.
The first central station for the commercial distribution of electricity
was set going on the 4th of September, 1882, by Thomas Edison himself,
at 257 Pearl Street, New York City. Newspapers of the following day had
much to say. Wonder was expressed over the “blazing horseshoe that
glowed within a pear-shaped globe.” Another told of “the dim flicker of
gas supplanted by a steady glare, bright and mellow.” A third observed,
“As soon as it is dark enough to need artificial light, you turn the
thumb-screw and the light is there; no nauseous smell, no flicker, no
glare.”
Among the five or six buildings supplied with the new lighting were the
_Herald_ offices and the Drexel Building, at the time one of New York
City’s show places. The illumination of the latter was held to be a
truly momentous achievement owing to its great size. The equipment, in
other words, reached the grand total of 106 lamps. In comparison, it is
interesting to mention the lighting equipment of the new Municipal
Building, in New York City, numbering something over 15,000 lamps.
The Old Pearl Street Plant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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