The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

1C6 THE LOCOMOTIVE. [July,
connected with this Board for nearly twenty-seven years, having been elected a member
July 8, 1867. The company had just entered upon a new and hitherto untried class of
insurance, and many doubts were expressed as to its ultimate success. Mr. Enders's
faith never wavered. He firmly believed that an enterprise which had sound underlying
principles would succeed with well-directed effort and honest management. His wide
experience in insurance and financial lines rendered his counsel and advice invaluable.
This occasion recalls the early meetings of this board, when methods of management
were discussed and the foundations of ultimate success laid. As an associate, Mr.
Enders was kindly in his bearing, sympathetic and courteous to all, and his life and
character have made an enduring impression upon those who were brought into intimate
official relations with him. We record this minute as a tribute to his memory and as a
murk of our high esteem for his life and character. C. C. Kimball, Clerk.''''
Power Rental.
The following article on this troublesome question is from our esteemed contem-
porary, Engineering (London). In reproducing it we have reduced the items of ex-
pense and income to their American equivalents, assuming the English pound equal to
$5. Some of the estimates do not correspond with the facts in this country — the
wages of the fireman, for example,— but, nevertheless, we think readers of The Locomotive
will find the article interesting and suggestive
"The rental of factories and of power is perhaps not so common now as it was forty
years ago, when it frequently obtained, particularly in the Manchester district.
Nasmyth relates in his autobiography that he started work on his own account on the
upper floor of a mill, the other floors of which were let to separate tenants, and the
power for driving the machinery on all the floors was supplied from one engine at a fixed
rental. The practice was particularly convenient in the case of a young man going into
business on his own account with but a limited capital, but it was not free from objections,
as the interests of the different tenants might happen to clash. In fact, this was
what occurred in Nasmyth's case, as some of his heavy castings came through the floor
one day and smashed up the goods of a glass-cutter, who occupied the floor below. This
incident led to a termination of Xasmyth's tenancy, and to the establishment of his wellknown
works at Patricroft.
"When power is rented in this way, the question arises as to what is a fair price to
charge for it. This depends upon several conditions, and a rate which may be perfectly
fair for a small amount of power is excessive when greater amounts are taken. At the
Chicago Exhibition, where the plant was on the largest scale, steam power was supplied at
the rate of $40 per horse-power for the six months during which the Exhibition w T as open,
and electric power at rates varying from $120 to $50 per horse-power, according to the
quantity taken. As the plant was a temporary one the fixed charges were naturally
high; but as it was also carried out on a large scale, it is probable that these prices paid
very well. This case, however, corresponds rather to such a system of power supply as
that of the London Hydraulic Power Company, or the Paris compressed air system, than
to the rental of the floor of a factory to which the power is supplied from the main
engine. This last case has been discussed pretty fully by M. V. Dubreuil in a paper
read before La Societe Industrielle du Nord de la France. The rate at which power
can be rented in such a case will depend mainly upon the rate at which the proprietor
: