The Electrical experimenter

April, 1918 ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTER 873
the characteristics of the energy about us
and with which we have to deal, but the
greatest understanding and enlightenment
will come to us when we delve more deeply
into the causes which produce all the conditions
about us, that is, what is this universe
in which we live and what perpetuates its
existence?
ELECTRICITY TO PREVENT FU-
TURE FUEL CRISIS.
(Continued from page 825)
were supplied from one big generator. At
first sight it would appear that a 40,000
H.P. machine would be needed to carry the
load, but such is not the case. As a matter
of fact a generator oijo,ooo H. P., or even
smaller, would be ample, for the simple
reason that all the industries would never
need their full quota of power at the same
time. The principle is the same as that
which permits a bank to serve its depositors
with a cash reserve that is very much less
than its total deposits. When producing
its own power each plant might occasionally
need the full power of its generator, but
for the most part the generator would be
running below its rated capacity and therefore
under conditions of poor economy
and high coal consumption per horse-power.
By combining all these small loads on to
one machine, a much more uniform large
load and a much higher operating efficiency
are obtained. As a result, the large unit
would consume even less than from '/i to
J4 of the coal consumed by the individual
plants of the 80 industries.
The same principle applies to cities as
well as to plants, and if, therefore, several
cities were supplied with power from a single
system (obtaining its electrical energy
from several large steam and water-power
generating stations), the saving in fuel as
compared with present conditions would be
truly remarkable.
Small generators must necessarily be
near their loads and the coal they need
hauled to them. This, however, is not the
case with large machines generating enormous
amounts of power and capable of supplying
the demands of entire cites. It is
thoroly feasible to place the generator at
the mine and transmit the electric energy
over wires, thus eliminating railroad transportation
altogether. The bee-line distance
between New York City and the anthracite
regions is but 100 miles. Electricity is at
this time being transmitted over 200 miles
in several American systems, and in one
case the distance is over 400 miles. How
gratifying it would be at this time if New
!
York's power were
roads and tug-boats
independent of rail-
But where central generating stations had
to be located away from the mines, as in
many cases it will still be necessary for
some time to come, it would obvious!
a very much simpler matter to supply with
coal a few large plants equipt with every
modern time- and labor-saving device than
to distribute coal to a large number of
small plants situated in all sorts of inconvenient
locations and without proper facilities
for rapid handling of the fuel. Much
of our present trouble is due to the difficulties
incident to rehandling the coalwaiting
number
cars, frozen coal,
of trucks, teams,
an insufficient
and men, etc.
Such difficulties would be entirely eliminated
were the bulk of the coal to go to a
few central points.
Passing now to the fifth point, the electrification
of a large portion of our railroad
system (no one expects that all of
our railroad mileage will be operated electrically
during the present century) would
be the greatest single step that can be taken
in the direction of fuel economy. American
railroads consume nearly 150,000,000
tons of coal annually, nearly one-quarter
of our entire output. Much of this coal
consumption could be eliminated by the
use of water-power, and almost as much
could be saved by generating power in efficient,
steam-operated, central station plants,
instead of in
locomotives.
the naturally wasteful steam
Some idea of the possibilities
can be obtained from the fact that the
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad
saves annually a half a million tons of coal
and several hundred thousand barrels of
fuel oil by operating 440 miles of its line
by means of hydro-electric power.
Equally important, from the stand-point
of preventing a recurrence of the present
fuel crisis, would be the great increase in
traffic capacity that electrification would
secure for our railroads. The steam locomotive
has about reached the limit of its
power and therefore freight trains have
also about reached the limits of their
length and speed. But with electrical operation,
of the railroads there is practically no
limit to the amount of power that can be
applied to a single train.
motives several times more
Electric loco-
powerful than
the largest steam locomotives are already
in operation, and still larger ones can be
built when occasion demands. With more
power available longer trains could be operated
at higher speeds, which means that
more freight could be hauled in a given
time over existing rails.
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ELECTRIC GENERATORS
We also have a number of
Holtzer-Cabot Hand Generators
which we will dispose of at bargain
prices. Give up to about
100 volts, alternating current.
You can make direct If desired,
strictly high grade, fully up to
H-C standards. No catalog
While they last. $3.00 each
Watson Electric Co.
122 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago