An All-Electric Hotel Conjures Visions of Elysium before Housewives' Eyes

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 30, 7 February 1930, Page 31

An All-Electric Hotel Conjures Visions of Elysium before Housewives' Eyes

LL-ELECTRIC hotel-keeping and housekeeping has been thoroughly tested at the new hotel in Yallourn. This town has sprung into existence to provide accommodation for the numerous employees of the Victorian State Electricity Commission, and it is therefore natural that the splendid hotel which bears its name should incorporate all the latest electrical devices. -The demands of a first-class hotel for instant service and unfailing success in operation have been thoroughly weighed against the possibilities of electrical execution, and, as a result, the whole of the duties in the Hotel Yallourn are mechanically performedwithout fear of casualty! "Press-a-button service" is in full swing, and has proved to be of such standard excellence that even more up-to-date appliances are to be shortly installed. Scalding water and refrigerated drinks are provided by electric power. Cooling and heating of the air are effected by the same medium. From the egg-beating operations in the kitchen to the artistic lighting fittings in the main rooms, the entire hotel is an example of what ingenious and scientific attention to detail can achieve in minimising labour, and procuring maximum utility. No Mere Luke-warm Beer. ON E of the most discouraging liquids known to man is luke-warm beer. The Hotel Yallourn has eliminated this possibility by the provision of a suitable refrigerating plant, capable of cooling draught and bottled beer and aerated waters to a temperature of 45 degrees Fah. An _ instantaneous cooler is in use for draught beer, and special cooling cabinets for bottled liquers. The compressor operating these coolers are half h.p. water-cooled Frigidaire and half h.p, air-cooled Frigidaire respectively. These systems are entirely automatic and electricity is the main factor in their operation. An elaborate hot water service with a capacity of 1300 gallons, is simply controlled by a switch in the manager's room. Water heated to 160 degrees exn be drawn from 100 different points over the hotel at any hour of the day or night. The whole service is thoroughly insulated with cork, andthe various units are erected in convenient points at the rear of the building or above ceilings, and therefore are not an eyesore, In the 88 bedrooms adequate lighting has been provided. Two-light fittings have been suspended over dresxing tables and an additional light provided for those wishing to read in ‘bed. The thoughtful genius at the back of this installation has provided a remarkable cloudless face mirror for use when shaving and dressing. The purpose of the electrical part of the mirror is to prevent steam condensing on its surface and obscuring the view into it. This is effected by the heat of an ordinary electric light globe fitted at the back of the mirror, The light from this is reflected ina "bull’s-eye" in the mirror. . .

e Paradise for the Cook. "THE kitchen of this hotel is a cooks’ paradise. Two types of double roasting and baking ranges are controlled by electricity, and a large boiling table is operated separately. Hot meals and cold drinks appear to be the aim of the management. Anu efficient heating apparatus for foods, which compares favourably with the eooling apparatus for drinks, is in use. This is in the form of an electric hot closet and carving table fitted. with counter-weight overhead gear for lifting off covers from prepared dishes. A large hot-water container at one side of the closet keeps vegetables heated before serving. Cooks and housekeepers will be intensely interested in the electrical "maid of all work." This automatic kitchen aid, by the interchange of parts, cuts up vegetables, grinds coffee beans, mashes potatoes and other vegetables, polishes knives, cuts bread, is used to whip cream, as a mincing machine, and, to crown all, as an ice cream freezer. It sounds remarkably like electricity "gone mad," but it is electricity become sane. Fundamentally, the success of hotelkeeping depends on efficient service from the kitchen. Regularity of meals is essential, and where this is possible the other departments automatically fall into line. The wellregulated use of electricity is the most dependable of kitchen aids. A refrigerator is fitted in the kitchen. This has an ice-making coil and is operated from 1-3 h.p. air-cooled Frigidaire compressor. The motor-driven dish washer will clean, rinse, and dry upwards of 3000 pieces of glassware, crockery, and cutlery in one hour. This works automatically, from the feeding in of the articles on wooden trays until the washing-up process is quite complete. Miracle-working Laundry. WASHING machine, capuble of holding about 20 double sheets at one time, which boils the necessary water, blues and rinses the clothes, and does all the other irksome washing-day duties, is the laundry marvel. This branch of the work is finished off by drying cabinets, of handsome design, having rust-resisting metal rods placed step by step a few inches apart. The length of the rods in each of these cabinets is equal to about 125ft. of clothes line. The cabinets are constructed of 25-guage galvanished sheet metal, and perfect regulation of the drying temperatures and yentilation systems is possible. Ironing is done by electricity and a motor-driven mangle is to be installed. The comfort of the guests and employees has been studied. and ensured by the installation of ample radiators and electric fires, with the provision of a tubular electric heating system in the bar and the large public rooms, Electric fans to war against the heat of summer, and electric clocks guaranteed correct within 80 seconds per week, have their place in the all-electric scheme of this modern hotel,