ELECTRICAL PROGRESS IN NEW ZEALAND.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18659, 7 April 1926, Page 11

ELECTRICAL PROGRESS IN NEW ZEALAND.

A remarkable New Zealand invention resulting from some four years' research work is an extraordinary Electric Heating Device lor uso with Polarized Alternating Electric Current of Medium or preferably high frequencies, and General Public Supply Voltages commonly in use. Tho device is applicable to any alternating current supply where the electrical method of connexion or wiring is that adopted by this district, all the new Power Boards, anl the South •Seas Exhibition, for which such method of electrical reticulation and connexion forms an example. The device is not applicable to some of the older electric supply systems using the double polo method of fusing and wiring. Letters Patent have been granted in the chief countries of the world for tho base applications to the inventor, who is a Londoner, resident in the Dominion about fourteen vears.

The successful prosecution of the work has only been possible by tho sympathy, unswerving confidence, and financial assistance rendered by a single South Otago financier. Messrs Wallis Brown and Co., 18 Cox street, Merivale, have installed a small factory which will have a limited output immediately.

The object, among others, of the invention is the more rapid and economical production of boiling water. With this new heating device it 13 for the first time possible to produce an independent Electrical Heating Unit of very large kilowatt capacity, yot capable of functioning in a very small vessel of water, equally with the same efficiency as would obtain if tho unit is working in a large cylinder. This advance now overcomes the difficulty and inefficiency formerly existing in water-boiling portables as kettles and jugs, etc., caused by the old method of external heating; the old method of external heating was not only wasteful and uneconomical, but was also bulky and heavy. The limited space on small portables did not permit of heavy electric loading. With the new Electric Heating Unit, the position is reversed; small electrical appliances as jugs kettles, and urns, etc., can be boiled in a fraction of - the time formerly ?w ' l by reason °f tho fact that the new unit is practically unlimited an heat production. The time in future, necessary for boiling tho domestic kettle will be regulated only by the amount of current the supply authorities will permit in domestic circuits. More plainly put, this means an electric kettle, or jug, fitted with the new heating unit is capable of boiling a quart kettle in two minutes, or a half-gallon size in four minutes; even with the average or regulation load at present available from domestic heatting points of one kilowatt, the time necessary would only be four and eight minutes respectively. reason for this acceleration is that all the current passing through the unit is transmitted to the water as heat. There is no waste, the unif at the heating end being in direct contact with the water. When its enormous heating capacity is considered, the new electric heating unit is very small, bo small that it, could be.placed in one's waistcoat pocket. It is provided with Jin or lin standard pipe threads for affixing to vessels containing water, or even oil, tp be heated; Like most useful inventions, it is remarkably simple. In appearance the external portion is not unlike an automobile ignition plug, and possesses the same, rugged and strong assembly. The other or immersed heating end is'only Jin in diameter by 3in long. The whole assembly is symmetrical, and truly concentric in construction and electrification being quite unlike anything used for the same purpose hitherto. One of 1 the chief divergencies of this unit from orthodox practice is the poles are nowhere dose together, but placed the greatest distance apart. <lt is well-nigh impossible to produce a! short circuit, and, being quenched, is quite free from the danger present in most heating appliances, of. causing a fire. - Fundamentally the problem of boiling water by, electricity, whether jn large or small 1 quantity rapidly, hinges on the amount of electric current available. The tendency in the past has been' to restriction, and though the problem from the practical standpoint 'has largely been solved by the new electric heating unit, it does still rest with the various electric power supply authorities to give a more generous consideration thereto. It is the opinion of, the firm, that small portable electrical appliances, as radiators, ovens, kettles, and urns, now being manufactured, in New Zealand will 1 be better able to compete with other forms of beating if connexion to domestic points is. extended to 2i or 3 kilowatts. The present average loading on such portables is only one 1 kilowatt, hardly sufficient to make radiators and kettles attractive to the public; where 2J or 3 kilowatt capacities are in operation, they have been found quite satisfactory to users. It does, therefore, seem to represent the minimum average requirement. A very great advantage obtainable with the use of the new unit arises from the peculiar nature of tho element mounting which allows the electric loading to be inexpensively adjusted to any desired wattage without changing the whole unit, and with almost the same facility as an ordinary fuse can be replaced; this latter feature is obviously an important advantage in electric jugs or kettles*' It is claimed ! by the inventor that a kettle or wateri heading appliance fitted with the new unit can be left to take cafe of itself, so far is damage to vessel, fire, or current-wastage is concerned. It is well-known now that where an electric element, through neglect, is caused to, burn out, it becomes a matter for'some concern and expense of the replacement, what frequently happens is the destruction of the whole appliance, and sometimes fire. _ The functional nature- of the new unit prevents all this, for where a kettle or vessel.operated by this unit is through neglect allowed to boil dry, the heating element becomes suspended jn air, fuses out, and stops any further heating and current waste. The element may then be restored very quickly at a trifling cost. , The new electrife heating unit is not confined merely, to the boiling of water, and presents a multiplicity of domestic and industrial uses—as the maintenance of normal working temperature automatically, of automobile engines, to prevent damage thereto by frost, and facilitate starting in zero weather. It becomes possible now to operate power hammers requiring steam by disposal of the ordinary coal fired boiler, or in tbe case of compressed air, the compressor, motor, container, and piping; and substituting a small spherical steel, or preferably monol-metal generator, close un to hammer, no bigger thah an ordinary bucket—operable at short notice, and very high efficiency. The new heating unit is peculiarly suitable, to industrial apparatus requiring high-pressure or super-heated steam, and is also applicable to steam radiators, driers, steam blast cleaners, portable or stationary. The distillation of water, also the heating of oil or' water under conditions requiring a steady prolonged temperature, thanks

to this invention, it is now possible to produce ; Electrically operated _ geysers of conveniently small dimensions at reasonable coatj such geysers should hare immediate if limited application to. existing electric installations where the connected load is already sufficiently heavy. The geysers will be known as the "Kiwi." Where no restrictions obtained, and sufficient current is available, it'will be possible to produce a constant supply or running, sterilized boiling water in a few seconds' notice at a rate of flow half to one gallon per minute, with a 7J to 14 k.w. load respectively with the additional advantage of fresh running cold water from the same source instantly. Functionally the Geyser is in every respect ;a very satisfactory appliance, being unohtrusivie, safe, free from fire, uses electrio current, balanced' on all three, or more: phases, is steady, noninductive, for practical, purposes nonelectrolytic, and contains no parts to occasion any concern or subsequent expense. One drawback to the general as distinguished from the particular adoption of the "Geyser" lies in the various power supply; authorities' inability to meet the electrio current demand for heavily loaded; apparatus,' owing partly to the user requiring comparatively short periods of operation, and partly to the amount' of 'current avadable, having regard to'the general calibre of reticulation. '■''.' Not to cause misunderstanding, this report only / foreshadows the general use; but in particular cases, such 7as public institutions, factories, or places already wired for three please ' heavy current consumption, the Geyser should .have immediate application and significance. -, , The new electric heating unit can be seen, at the South Seas Exhibition, Dunedin, in the. New Zealand Industries Court, No. 6, showing its application to mator-cars, hot water, cylinders, kettles, jugs; and,.immersion heaters, •etc.. '.'.•.,■"'.■. . The kettles will be known as the Brown "Rapids Electric," ; and visitors to the Exhibition who have experienced the difficulty of boiling water in quantity rapidly, in the past-; will be delighted to notice kettles from 2 to 5 pint sizes, boiled approximately at the speed of one pint per minute at the negligible current cost of .055 of a unit per pint, average or regulation 1 k.w. Loaded kettles are also on view of identical efficiency, capable of pro?viding tea for seven persons inside, six minutes. These jugs and kettles will last the user an ordinary lifetime, and cannot become 'permanently injured. It should be of interest to students of electricity, ,the manner of ex-citation and provision for electrolytic., action, formerly the main drawback. \to many earlier attempts on this principle of direct beating. ..'•■.' It is now well known that the modern electric range or oven is a highly satisfactory equipment, but boiling water is not thereby rapidly or economically produced. The range can now be made complete by the use of the Rapid Electric Kettle or Jug, thereby effecting a very substantial saving of electrio current.—ALFßED BROWN, for Wallis, Brown, and Co.', 18 Cox street, Merivale, Christchurch.' March 28th, 1926. —6