Chapter I: Preface

This book is designed primarily to give the farmer a practical working knowledge of electricity for use as light, heat, and power on the farm. The electric generator, the dynamo, is explained in detail; and there are chapters on electric transmission and house-wiring, by which the farm mechanic is enabled to install his own plant without the aid and expense of an expert.

With modern appliances, within the means of the average farmer, the generation of electricity, with its unique conveniences, becomes automatic, provided some dependable source of power is to be had--such as a water wheel, gasoline (or other form of internal combustion) engine, or the ordinary windmill. The water wheel is the ideal prime mover for the dynamo in isolated plants. Since water-power is running to waste on tens of thousands of our farms throughout the country, several chapters are devoted to this phase of the subject: these include descriptions and working diagrams of weirs and other simple devices for measuring the flow of streams; there are tables and formulas by which any one, with a knowledge of simple arithmetic, may determine the power to be had from falling water under given conditions; and in addition, there are diagrams showing in general the method of construction of dams, bulkheads, races, flumes, etc., from materials usually to be found on a farm. The tiny unconsidered brook that waters the farm pasture frequently possesses power enough to supply the farmstead with clean, cool, safe light in place of the dangerous, inconvenient oil lamp; a small stream capable of developing from twenty-five to fifty horsepower will supply a farmer (at practically no expense beyond the original cost of installation) not only with light, but with power for even the heavier farm operations, as threshing; and in addition will do the washing, ironing, and cooking, and at the same time keep the house warm in the coldest weather. Less than one horsepower of energy will light the farmstead; less than five horsepower of energy will provide light and small power, and take the drudgery out of the kitchen.

For those not fortunate enough to possess water-power which can be developed, there are chapters on the use of the farm gasoline engine and windmill, in connection with the modern storage battery, as sources of electric current.

It is desired to make acknowledgment for illustrations and assistance in gathering material for the book, to the editors of _The Country Gentleman_, Philadelphia, Pa.; The Crocker-Wheeler Company, Ampere, N. J.; The General Electric Company, Schenectady, N. Y.; the Weston Electrical Instrument Company, of Newark, N. J.; The Chase Turbine Manufacturing Company, Orange, Mass.; the C. P. Bradway Machine Works, West Stafford, Conn.; The Pelton Water Wheel Company, San Francisco and New York; the Ward Leonard Manufacturing Company, Bronxville, N. Y.; The Fairbanks, Morse Company, Chicago; and the Fitz Water Wheel Company, Hanover, Pa.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION xvii

PART I

WATER-POWER

CHAPTER I

A WORKING PLANT

The "agriculturist"--An old chair factory--A neighbor's
home-coming--The idle wheel in commission again--Light,
heat and power for nothing--Advantages
of electricity 3

CHAPTER II

A LITTLE PROSPECTING

Small amount of water required for an electric
plant--Exploring, on a dull day--A rough and ready
weir--What a little water will do--The water wheel
and the dynamo--Electricity consumed the instant
it is produced--The price of the average small
plant, not counting labor 22

CHAPTER III

HOW TO MEASURE WATER-POWER

What is a horsepower?--How the Carthaginians
manufactured horsepower--All that goes up must come
down--How the sun lifts water up for us to
use--Water the ideal power for generating
electricity--The weir--Table for estimating
flow of streams with a weir--Another method of
measuring--Figuring water horsepower--The size
of the wheel--What head is required--Quantity of
water necessary 32

CHAPTER IV

THE WATER WHEEL AND HOW TO INSTALL IT

Different types of water wheels--The impulse and the
reaction wheels--The impulse wheel adapted to
high heads and small amount of water--Pipe lines--Table
of resistance in pipes--Advantages and disadvantages
of the impulse wheel--Other forms
of impulse wheels--The reaction turbine, suited to
low heads and large quantity of water--Its advantages
and limitations--Developing a water-power
project: the dam; the race; the flume; the penstock;
and the tailrace--Water rights for the farmer 56

PART II

ELECTRICITY

CHAPTER V

THE DYNAMO; WHAT IT DOES, AND HOW

Electricity compared to the heat and light of the
Sun--The simple dynamo--The amount of electric energy
a dynamo will generate--The modern dynamo--Measuring
power in terms of electricity--The volt--The
ampere--The ohm--The watt and the kilowatt--Ohm's
Law of the electric circuit, and some
examples of its application--Direct current, and
alternating current--Three types of direct-current
dynamos: series, shunt, and compound 89

CHAPTER VI

WHAT SIZE PLANT TO INSTALL

The farmer's wife his partner--Little and big
plants--Limiting factors--Fluctuations in water
supply--The average plant--The actual plant--Amount
of current required for various operations--Standard
voltage--A specimen allowance for electric
light--Heating and cooking by electricity--Electric
power: the electric motor 121

CHAPTER VII

TRANSMISSION LINES

Copper wire--Setting of poles--Loss of power in
transmission--Ohm's Law and examples of how it is
used in figuring size of wire--Copper-wire
tables--Examples of transmission lines--When to
use high voltages--Over-compounding a dynamo to
overcome transmission loss 153

CHAPTER VIII

WIRING THE HOUSE

The insurance code--Different kinds of wiring
described--Wooden moulding cheap and effective--The
distributing panel--Branch circuits--Protecting the
circuits--The use of porcelain tubes and other
insulating devices--Putting up chandeliers and
wall-brackets--"Multiple" connections--How to connect
a wall switch--Special wiring required for heat and
power circuits--Knob and cleat wiring, its advantages
and disadvantages 172

CHAPTER IX

THE ELECTRIC PLANT AT WORK

Direct-connected generating sets--Belt drive--The
switchboard--Governors and voltage regulators--Methods
of achieving constant pressure at all loads:
Over-compounding the dynamo; A system of resistances
(a home-made electric radiator); Regulating
voltage by means of the rheostat--Automatic
devices--Putting the plant in operation 192

PART III

GASOLINE ENGINES, WINDMILLS, ETC.
THE STORAGE BATTERIES

CHAPTER X

GASOLINE ENGINE PLANTS

The standard voltage set--Two-cycle and four-cycle
gasoline engines--Horsepower, and fuel
consumption--Efficiency of small engines and
generators--Cost of operating a one-kilowatt plant 217

CHAPTER XI

THE STORAGE BATTERY

What a storage battery does--The lead battery and the
Edison battery--Economy of tungsten lamps for
storage batteries--The low-voltage battery for
electric light--How to figure the capacity of a
battery--Table of light requirements for a farm
house--Watt-hours and lamp-hours--The cost of storage
battery current--How to charge a storage
battery--Care of storage batteries 229