Water Power for the Farm and Country Home — John Shaqi
Water Power for the Farm and Country HomeCooper, David R.
Science
Water Power for the Farm and Country Home
Cooper, David R.
Hydroelectric power plants -- New York (State)
However, the convenience and cleanliness of electricity are fairly well
known and appreciated, but the means by which electric currents may be
generated economically, and by which this form of energy may be applied
to bring about sufficient returns, financial and otherwise, to warrant
the installation of an isolated plant for a farm or country home, are
not so generally understood.
Electric current may be generated by means of a dynamo, or generator,
with any kind of a power-producing plant. All that the dynamo requires
to enable it to produce electric current is power of some kind that
may be applied in such manner and quantity as will cause the armature,
or “interior core,” of the machine to rotate at a sufficiently high
and uniform rate of speed. There are various kinds of power generators
which will perform this work satisfactorily for isolated plants. Within
the last few years the small internal combustion engine, supplemented
by the electric storage battery, for stationary service, have been so
much improved and simplified as to cause them to compare very favorably
with the better-known types of power-producing apparatus in first cost
and in reliability of operation. The extreme simplicity of both this
type of engine and of the storage battery, together with the great
economy in fuel consumption of these engines, the low price of fuel,
and the efficiency of the battery as a device for storing the energy
and delivering it in the form of electric current when needed and in
the quantity required, result in a low operating cost. The advent of
tax-free alcohol into the field of available fuels for use in internal
combustion engines, and the growing demand for this class of fuel,
indicate that it will become, in time, a strong competitor of kerosene
and gasolene. At present, gasolene is the fuel most generally used for
engines of this type and small-size gas engines are now manufactured by
many firms.
Steam power is probably the best understood of all classes of power. In
many cases, especially where the fuel is very cheap, this is the best
power for a farmer to have. Steam-power plants, as well as gasolene,
kerosene and alcohol plants, all require personal attendance during
operation and necessitate more or less frequent applications of fuel.
Wind power is also a source of energy which may well be considered by
the farmer who needs a small amount of power.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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