Where connection cannot be made with a local electric distributing concern, the farmer should have his own generating station, which may be operated by water, steam, gas, gasoline, oil or windmill power. Where a stream runs through a farm, or is in the neighborhood, cheap power, both as regards first cost and operating expenses, may be derived from this natural source.
In generating the current by steam power, the cost per kilowatt hour is comparatively high. Somewhat better results may be obtained with a gas-producer plant, which, instead of burning the coal in a steam boiler and using the steam for driving the engine, burns the coal gradually in a producer, generating gas for operating the gas engine.
Gasoline, oil and alcohol engines work on the same principle as the gas engine, as all are of the internal combustion type. Great strides have been made during the past decade in this type of engine, so that it operates with an economy and a precision that requires but lit tle attention.
Another source of energy for the generation of electric current for farm and country resi dences is the windmill. The early Dutch wind mills were built with sweeps of from 50 to 100 feet in diameter, while our modern American windmills have a sweep of only from 12 to 18 feet, but generate more power than the earlier type, with less attention.
All of the above primary powers may be connected to the electric generators by belt, gearing or couplings, and their control may be regulated automatically, so that they require but little attention. There are, of course, cer tain matters in their operation that experience has shown to be of advantage. For instance, the greatest quantity of energy being required for the daytime, and the load for illumination being small and wanted principally in the even ing, it is therefore not profitable to operate the prime movers other than during the day. The use of the storage battery is therefore of great service in supplying electric energy at periods of small demand, when the generators are shut down. In connection with the storage battery, and with the development of the low-voltage Tungsten lamps, the cost and size, as well as the maintenance expense, may be considerably reduced by proper engineering.
The great advantage, in which lies the su periority of a farm operated by electricity, is in the fact that the farmer has at all times under his direct control the entire supply of electric energy available, whether obtained from a public service enterprise or supplied by his individual plant.
Electric farming, while in general use in Germany for the past 20 years, has recently made rapid strides in the United States, particu larly in the West and on the Pacific Coast, where central station enterprises encourage the use of electricity for agricultural purposes. There are, however, to be found in the State of New York several notable water-power in stallations on farms. For instance, there is a 100-acre farm near Oriskany Falls, Oneida County, N. Y., devoted to hop raising, mixed tarming and dairying, on which has been in stalled a 17-horse-power hydro-electric plant, supplying electricity for lighting the farm buildings and for operating various electric motors. The power-dam, of timber-crib con struction, is 36 feet long, raising the water four feet, is carried on heavy concrete sills cast in a 2X1.5-foot ditch dug across the stream bed. A row of 12-inch flash-boards held erect by chains positioned by pins removable -by a capstan, dropping the boards in case of high water, is above the crest of the dam. There is also pro vided a supplementary 40-foot spillway, its crest being slightly higher than the main dam, per mitting the discharge during heavy floods. A 60-foot canal and forebay lead from the dam downstream to the power-house, where a 17-horse-power turbine wheel has been installed. The latter, by means of belt drive, operates a 12.5 kilowatt generator at 1,100 revolutions per minute. The power-house is 12X16 feet in size.
The drainage area of Oriskany Creek at the point utilized by this plant is 14 square miles, ensuring a supply of water the year round suf ficient to drive the plant at full load under the available head of six feet. The distance from the power plant to the farm buildings is 1,700 feet, the current being carried on an aluminum wire stretched on 20-foot poles, 100 feet apart. From the power generated, practically every bit of machinery on the farm is operated, compris ing a circular saw, machine lathe and drill press, vacuum cleaning system, adapted likewise for the operation of the milking machines in the 25-stall cow-house, a cream separator, churn, grindstone, ventilating and cooling fans, electric iron, sewing machine and pump. In addition, besides lighting the premises, five elec tric heaters are operated, maintaining a constant temperature of 75° throughout the winter. En gineering estimatesplace the cost of the entire equipment at about $1,800— dam, power-house, line and equipment— but in its efficiency it is worth many times this sum.