1 Operators Reading at the Testing Tables, General Electric Works, Schenectady, N. Y. 2 Dynamo Electric Machinery Under Test, in the Testing Department, General Electric Works, > Schenectady, N. Y. PRODUCTION IN UNITED STATES OF ELECTRICAL_MACHINERY, APPARATUS AND SUPPLIES COMPARATIVE STATISTICS: 1914 AND 1909 PRODUCTION IN UNITED STATES OF ELECTRICAL MACHINERY, APPARATUS AND SUPPLIESCOMPARATIVE STATISTICS: 1914 AND 1909-Concluded $23,623,244 $17,765,645 33.0 All other products, including amount received for custom work and re-! pairing.. Includes for 1914, number and output of 91 establishments engaged primarily in other lines of industry, but which manufactured electrical machinery, apparatus and supplies valued at $24,261,961; and for 1909, number and output of 142 similar establishments which made electrical machinery, apparatus and supplies to the value of $18,728,916. A minus sign (-) denotes decrease. Rheostats and resistances only. Figures not available. Includes a considerable number of starting motors for gasoline automobiles, not separately reported as such. Not including fixtures made by establishments engaged primarily in the manufacture of gas and electric fixtures. 'Including insulated wire made in wire-drawing mills. Electric Light and Power Statistics.-It is unfortunate that the authoritative statistics as to the four great groups of electrical public utilities which manufacture "service" as compiled by the government - telegraphy, telephony, electric light and power and electric street railways do not come down to a later period than 1912. Their figures under an act of Congress are taken by the United States Bureau of the Census every five years, the last being compiled in 1912 and the next not being due until 1917, and not becoming available before the end of 1918 at the earliest. The data for 1912 are therefore presented herewith subject to the expansion up to date under the average rates of increases that are apparently revealed. 6,000,000 customers in 1916. At least 10,000,000 devices for consuming current, outside of power and light purposes, were then in circuit- flatirons, vacuum cleaners, coffee percolators, grills, toasters, etc.- but electrical refrigeration except in bulk and especially in the production of "raw water" ice had not advanced very far. In the use of electric power some States in the South and on the Pacific Coast showed enormous gains in the period 1905-12, running up to 4,000 per cent, due in both sections to the utilization of water power, and in the South to the electrification of the cotton goods industry as a whole. As to lighting, one of the most interesting developments has been the relative supersession of arc lighting for street and commercial purposes by the incandescent lamp, al COMMERCIAL AND MUNICIPAL CENTRAL ELECTRIC STATIONS: 1912, 1907 and 1902 The term "station" as here used may represent a single electric station or a number of stations operated under the same ownership. Exclusive of $36,500,030 in 1912, $20,093,302 in 1907 and $7,703,574 in 1902, reported by street and electric railway companies as income from sale of electric current for light or power or from sale of current to other public service corporations. In addition to salaries and wages, includes the cost of supplies and materials used for ordinary repairs and replacement, advertising, fuel, mechanical power, electrical energy purchased, taxes, and all other expenses incident to operation and maintenance, and for 1912 charges for depreciation and charges for sinking fund. Includes auxiliary engines. Includes, for purposes of comparison, 7,082 arc and 267,997 incandescent lamps reported by the electric companies to light their own properties. Lamps used for such service were included in the total number reported in 1912. Various items in connection with the central station electric light and power industry may here be noted. Statistics as to its income are regularly compiled by the Electrical World on a basis in excess of 60 per cent of the totals reported from month to month; and these show for 1916 an income of not less than $425,000,000 from electric service. If the return from other service such as sale of electrical supplies, steam heating, refrigeration and return on investments be considered, the total 1915-16 income of the industry cannot possibly be put lower than $450,000,000, and it is probably far in excess of that. The number of electric meters on all central station consumption circuits in 1912 was 3,617,189, coinciding very closely with the number of customers, and it is estimated on this basis and others that there were not less than though in projection and searchlight use it has made such strides that an arc search light operating in New York has made its beam visible in Philadelphia, 90 miles away. There is also a large use of arc lights in theatrical and motion picture work. Owing to the advancing perfection of the incandescent lamp through the stages of carbon, metallized carbon, tantalum and tungsten filaments, the number of spherical candle power hours delivered for one cent has risen from 13.9 in 1885 to 71 in 1916, an increase of nearly 500 per cent in about 30 years, during which time the price of the lamp and the price of electrical energy have both decreased enormously. The rate here given is figured on operation at 1,000 hours of energy at 10 cents per kilowatt hour for current. Among the chief advances of the period in electrical development outside of railway work have been those in electro-chemical and electrometallurgical development, both stimulated undoubtedly by the great war and both dependent upon the supply of cheap current. Thus one plant building in 1916 in California was to use 2,500 horse power of electrical energy generated by a hydro-electric company, with an output of 5,000 tons of caustic soda and 10,000 tons of "bleach." The electrolytic production of hydrogen and oxygen has increased enormously, so that over 300,000,000 cubic feet of hydrogen per year are thus manufactured in the United States. It is interesting to note, however, that while the electrical fixation of atmospheric nitrogen has increased enormously abroad, representing about 300,000 tons at the beginning of 1916, or a gain of over 200 per cent in three years, requiring 1,000,000 horse power, little corresponding activity has been shown in the United States up to this time of writing; although several processes of proved value are of American origin. On the contrary, the development of the electric steel furnace has been remarkable. Electrical castings command a premium where unusual durability and resistance to stress are needed. On 1 Jan. 1916, about 73 electric steel furnaces were in operation in the United States with an output of about 100,000 tons per year, but a terrific jump was made during 1916, so that the number of American furnaces was at least doubled, while their output has been estimated at 1,000,000 tons by a conservative authority. Probably the United States has now more electric furnaces than any other country. The business of the central station has a constantly growing diversity factor. The revenue of one leading system in 1916 was derived as follows: Commercial lighting, 37 per cent; power for industrial and general purposes, 22 per cent; residence lighting, 18 per cent; power for electric railway use 23 per cent. The item of residence lighting reveals one of the large opportunities before the central station, and includes an endless variety of apparatus and appliances, ranging from the curling iron to the electric range for cooking. In other cities than the one quoted the proportion of commercial and domestic service would average higher, although taking the country as a whole perhaps only one house or family in every five has electric service. However, very few new houses, even in remote rural districts, are built now without electrical wiring. Electric Railway Statistics.- Herewith are given the latest available official statistics for the electric street railways of the United States, in this case, as in those of electric lighting, being the Census Office figures for 1912, the next compilation not being made by the government until 1917 and not available before 1918-19. The present figures serve, however, as a safe basis from which to estimate the advance in the succeeding five years in almost every respect at an average rate of increase not in excess of 8 per cent. It is a well-known fact that, as to surface traffic, street railways have been subjected to a serious competition from the automobile "jitney," but this element of loss has been largely reduced; while on the other hand it has stimulated the street railways to develop many types of new and better service, adding to the return on the investment and to the satisfaction of the public. While the surface traction lines-trolley or slot-conduit-have been working out their own salvation through this strenuous period, elevated, subway and steam railroad electrification have undergone a marvelous expansion as indicated by other statistics. The gross income of operating street railways virtually all electric-is given for 1912 as $520,000,000. The income of all electric service, urban, interurban and main line, is estimated for 1917 at not less than $800,000,000. |