A
battery of 24 cells, each weighing 14 lb., will keep a strip of platinum
five-eighths of an inch wide, one-thirty-second of an inch thick, and 9
ft. 10 in. long, red-hot for a long time.
The loss resulting from the charging and discharging of this battery is
not great; for example, if a certain quantity of energy is expended in
charging the cells, 80 per cent. of that energy can be reproduced by the
electricity resulting from the discharge of the cells; moreover, the
battery can be carried from one place to another without injury. A
battery was lately charged in Paris, then taken to Brussels, where it
was used the next day without recharging. The cost is also said to be
very low. A quantity of electricity equal to one horse power during an
hour can be produced, stored, and delivered at any distance within 3
miles of the works for 11/2d. Therefore these batteries may become useful
in producing the electric light in private houses. A 1,250 horsepower
engine, working dynamo-machines giving a continuous current, will in one
hour produce 1,000 horse-power of effective electricity, that is to
say 80 per cent. of the initial force. The cost of the machines,
establishment, and construction will not be more than L40,000, and the
quantity of coal burnt will be 2 lb. per hour per effective horse-power,
which will cost (say) 1/2d. The apparatus necessary to store up the force
of 1,000 horses for twenty-four hours will cost L48,000, and will weigh
1,500 tons.
Pages:
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71