ELECTRICAL ADAPTATIONS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 919, 12 September 1910, Page 2

ELECTRICAL ADAPTATIONS.

• Somo. ; striking ■ esainples: : of yjtlie later adaptations of.electrical power '■■'&': purposes of;.botbrpublie- and. domestic: utility :rnay, at ; the'. presentStiinej * ho. 'seen hi the,:show-rooms of Messrs.'V-T;.' Ballinger arid 'Sons .in' Victoria,; Street. An interesting exhibit is an' electric impulse clock, an ■ apparatus which combines, .in a notable, degree,: simplicity' of-. constructionj arid, exactitude in time-': keeping. It consists of a transmitter: ,which is. a simple .combination' of .elec-; tfo-rriagriets,. levers- arid' a,.; ratchet-' wheel, and a.'series bf clocks eventless elaborate, iii construction. Any number of clocks can be worked fi'bm the:sairio. transmitter, provided the' battery: from which, current; is obtained'.he.'strengthened in proportion; This,battery consists of a- series, of ordinary: Leclaucke cells. Tho"number required varies ; with the length of line over'which: the current bas,,te ipassj but iii' Messrs.: llal-linger-s .'establishment,. four ■ clocks'. 1 oiui of them at the;.top of a. ing, f ,- are supplied . with' current; from eight cells. .' Th'o .advantages, of.;',this ■style of.'clock, aro,'many.' : Tile, utinpst, nicety, of adjustment is possible, clock in the series' can be adjusted sim-; .ultaneoiisly and; there is : ho possibility of one 1 clock 'disagreeing witli.another! The -troublo of■ \yiudirtu i\V and the battery from which impulse:is derived; : .need . be re-charged '-only about ' price, a: .year.;. JW'heri, '■ in course, of time, the battery needs attention, a warning, bell is automatically• operated"'by the weakening, 'cells 'arid rings at half-hiinute intervals': until the' strength} of .the battery has been .•restored: ':Thd wiiniiig; strongtli : »f .■tin? battery/it may.be mentioned, does riot in any way impair the accuracy-of the clocks- ;,So long as current is supplied their .'motion, in its simultaneous "regularity;! continues.••> The- impulso :systerii is applicable either on. a.large.:or- : small scale. - : The largest; turret .clocks' can be governed" by _ a smaU transmitter arid it would, bb quite possible, by utilisiii;< a number of transmitters, to connect up all: the clocks in a town oil the impulse ! system and so produce-a uniform accuracy, of time-keeping hitherto unknown. ; _ ..■;■,■■_'.■;.'■,:' Another department in which electricity is applied with valuable results is that of' domestic_... affairs. .-..- Ballinger have on view some appliances calculated to. greatly lighten the duties, of the ;housewife...'■. One is ; an, ,clec : trie cooker in which: an oven, of ordinary, design is placed over.a',grating of, resistarici! wires sheathed in a coriiposition of- quartz.'. Operated; by a simplß switch, the cooker"'can, in a f«w morncrits, b-i brought to its maximum heat wliich,: it is stated,. is thereafter maintained, with perfect regularity.■-■;By oporati-Vg the, switch-board three; separate temperatures, .are:: obtainable.' Among other exhibits may bo .noted copper kettles,":- electrically'•;.. fitted, in which water boils, in about 16" minutus.by the invisible operation of the cur- : eni . These aro outstanding, exariiples in a. display, in which electricity is applied to almost ' every' necessary' adjunct to" a domestic interior.. lOlectric ;rons, radiators,-hot platesj - and oven cigar-lighters are now. listed with the commonplace things of life.. Next'to their simplicity, the remarkable, feature about all these electrical appliances is their perfect'' cleanliness. , In:;'their: operation there is a total absence of tho fumes and soot that are necessarily incidental :to the' use of other forms of heating-power. : ;:• !'":::?