| OCR Text |
Show Wtlkt4r T TVvqh fSJDk IT t nrll 4" ' ReL Iminating the Splendid Home of the Nation's Cbiefl, I JLA-- A JLJ? LJ.'t JLjL AJL Bache Two Thousand Incandescent Lamps Required for Lighting the. Interior of the Mansion I (vfON, Jan. 22. When tho Efagcd in making prepara-Siial prepara-Siial "banquet at tho white finished their task of sct-H sct-H Jostles and nailing together uhich, covered with dainty Bpmposo a huge extempor-'Bcommodating extempor-'Bcommodating from sixty 'Eats, in tho state dinin-Miiai dinin-Miiai electrician pnts in an tfwith. his assistants, and jncemont of his art to ijjjyo effects as may bo con- jjyia business to furnish il-abundauce il-abundauce of which is jylded. His task is merely Jjjtho room by tho use (of jpppdieuts particularly in mjih' the accompanying dis-jors dis-jors and growing plants.' hc scatters over the table jijfiny incandescent bulbs Bjjacn and other colors ftalong hidden wires, so pcei f)rth liko fairy Jiid sniilax and roses. Intinly ono of manv clover Wjof the kind, ivhich Mr. apiavo an 'opportunity to trcalis'.ing tho labor in-Wj?do in-Wj?do they oven take the' oeitlate in regard trA the fflftuns by which the effeets MPfllov manv people, in-EjJg;o'of in-EjJg;o'of UiO 'fat-L lhat all ,a?j?ifor I he white house- is yaho basement, of tho war jgakTid is there anybody who ICwhat is the truth) that wya'udescent lamps are re-ipjAiiato re-ipjAiiato tho interior jf the 1 Jjjf"fifr is. beyond compaTi- son. tho most luxurious palace in the world. Many royal' dwellings abroad arc vastly larger, but nouo of thorn is so perfectly equipped. When Mr. Roosovelt turned tho establishment inside in-side ouf., eight years ago, at an expense ex-pense of more than half a million dollars, dol-lars, -it was sought, io v make the electrical elec-trical arrangements the most completo to bo found in any building, public' or privato, on tho faco of tho earth. It contains today over thirty-one. miles of wires, which carry currents for a dozen different useful purposes. In tho basement of tho state, war and navy building is a poworful plant for making electricity, with threo huge dynamos, and furnaces like, thoso of a great ocean steamship. Trom this sourco a supply of "juice" is furnished lo run all tho lights in the immense office buildiug, as well as in various annexes of tho threo departments. On ono side of tho dynamo room is an enormous en-ormous switchboard, ono panel in which controls tho current for the white house. "Up to eight years ago tho officer in charge of tho dynamo room was continually con-tinually in a s'tato of anxioLy lest something might, happen to intorfero with the white house lights. A failuro of current, duo to some accidcut, might in an instant put ont ovory incandescent lamp in tho presidents dwelling. Such a misfortuno is now provided against by a simple arrangement which enables tho engineer, simply by tho turn of a switch, lo connect, the white house with tho electrical oulfit that supplies tho' oily of Washington. Makos IDs Own Light. One reason why Undo Sam makes his own elect ri.city for Iho white houso is that if. costs Iii in only about ono-fourfch as much as if ho bought it that is to say, rather les than couts a kilowatt kilo-watt hour. During tho first qunrtor of the present, fiscal year tho exocutivo inunsiou consumed, for purposes of il lumination, -1,262 kilowatt hours' worth of electricity, and for power an additional 1300 kilowatt hours. The bill for electricity used in tho wliito houso during 'the last, fiscal year was $.1786. Li out. TJ. 8. Grant of tho army, who is superintendent of the state. war and navy building, keeps the account, aud souds if; every throo months to Colonel Cosby, who snltles it b' check. Now, from tho bnsemoub of tho war department the big electric cirnlo travels trav-els underground through a tcrra-cotla tubo, passing beneath Exocutivo avenue (as tho U-shaped si reel, that runs round the president's dwelling is called) and entering the basement of tho busi-noss busi-noss annex of the white house. Thoro it is split up into several small cables, all of which aro governed by a switchboard switch-board under Mr. Taft's office. Ono of these cables Iiqhts tho Annex, and operates oper-ates electric fans in summer. The others pass on to tho white houso proper, a distauco of ISO feet, through a con-crcto con-crcto conduit largo enough for a man lo walk through, stooping. Thi conduit also contains drain-pipes and boating pipes. Tho cables that pass on to tho whito houso carry a light, circuit and a powor circuit. Tho lattor runs to a motor in tho basement, which operates Iho electric elevator, and also a pump that carries wator to a tank in tho ' attic This tank is kept full in ordor that it may render tho pressure of water throughout tho mansion uniform at all timos. As for tho olovutor (whicb is in constant uso by mombors of Iho president's household), it is bo ingeniously ingeni-ously contrived that o-on a littlo child can run it in safety all that is nccos-sary nccos-sary boing to touch tho buttons markod r Wtftf-H ' f-OUSB EL EC TRC 1, 2, 3, according to tho floor one wishes io reach. Jt, may bo called to any lloor by liko' means. How Juico Ir, Distributed. The light current, msl before if. enters en-ters t lie mansion, is distributed from u switchboard to three minor switch- boards, which govern the electric lamps in diU'drout parts of the house. Mechanically Mechan-ically speaking, the arrangciuenr, is vprv complex, but its operation is exceedingly ex-ceedingly sirrinlo. Under ordinary cir-cunistauces cir-cunistauces Mr. Hoover, tho head usher, and his assistants attend to nil tho business busi-ness of turning on tlio lights and putting put-ting thcin out. It is only' on important import-ant occasions as, for example, at an ovpning reception that Mr. Riley, the chief clect.rieiau. is on hand lo sen that' evorvthing is all right in his department. depart-ment. The 2000 lights at the white house aro all of them incandescent electric lamps, of high powor large numbers of thorn thirty-two-caudlopowcr. In the cast room, which is the greatest c5u-ter c5u-ter of illumination, thoro are three huge1 cutglass electroliers, with 100 lamps in each these being supplemented by four great golden cnudolnbrn,' one in each cornor, and holding fifteen lights apiece. From the ceiling of tho great vestibule vesti-bule there liaugs an enormous cylindrical cylindri-cal lantern, which contains a dozen lights fashioned to look liko candles. In each of tho throo corridors (on different dif-ferent floors), which run . lengthwise through tho building, thoro aro fifty poworful lamps. In addition, tho main corridor, on tlio first floor, is illuminated by four golden candelabra which stand on tho floor, each uplifting a bunch of twenty lamps to a height, of teu feet. Tho greou, bluo and red rooms, and stato dining-room havo each of them ch.mdeliors'. In each room the chandeliers chande-liers or domes are supplemented by lamps in gold wall brackets. Would Illuminate a Block. Enough electricity is used in the basement of tho wliito house alone toj illumiuatc a wholo block of ordinary dwellings. There arc fifty incandescent lamps irr tho two kitchens ono. of which, by the way. is now used not for culinary purposes, but as a dining-room dining-room for the servants. The house servants serv-ants sleep in rho altic. but in I he basement base-ment arc the steward's room, the ushers' ush-ers' room, the indoor policeman's renin, as well !ts (if tho terraces bo included) the laundry and various offices not to mention the so-called Hat Box, which occupies the whole of the cast terrace, or wing, and which is always brilliaurl"-lighted. brilliaurl"-lighted. Ordinarily, only about one-third of Hie total number of lamps aro lighted say, perhaps, 700. Formerly tho mansion man-sion was piuod for gas, but at tho present pres-ent time I he only gas used within ils precincts is employed in the laundry, for operating llatirons of an ingenious pattern, which, being connected with an overhead tube by rubber pipe's, remain re-main always at. tho same temperature. The dumbwaiter in tho white house pantry is operated- by electric push-burtons, push-burtons, like tho elevator already described. de-scribed. Also, there is in tho panlrv a hugfc electrical plate-warmer, whicli heats 3000 plates in fivo minutes. This apparatus is controlled bv switches, 1 ( SA 7V?C Er 70 TH 177- -5"oX , f - , I fitty lamps, arranged in beautiful fixtures fix-tures hanging from tho .ceilings, and in .brackets. The brackets nro of gold, ox-copt ox-copt in the slalo dining-room, where thoy aro pf silvor. Tho central chandeliers chande-liers aro gold ami gJnss. in tho red, bluo and green rooms, but. silver in tho state dining room. Each of the' bedrooms has twenty incandescent, in-candescent, lamps nouo too manyj; "when it is eonsidcrod that thoy aro twonfv-four twonfv-four by twonty-four feet, wll.h ceilings sixteen foot high. Some of .ho coiling lights aro in domes, nnd others in gold which make tho tempera turo higher or lower as mny be desired. Electric Carriage Call, A rather striking feature of tlio ormipmcnt; is an electric carriage call, which, when a largo evening entertainment, entertain-ment, is given at, I ho white house, is sol. up above iho outraneo to the east wing, or Tint Box. II; is the same sort of (le-vR-o thai; is commonly used nowadays by theaters, liacli guest arriving in"a carriage receives a strip of cardhoa rd , iwit.hta number on it.' Part of this is given to f hevCoaohmau. whilo the other part, which has a number of porfora-lions porfora-lions is retained by the guest. When flic guest, on departure, wishes to have his carriage called, ho hands tho per-forntcd per-forntcd piece to a man at tho door, I who drops ib into a. machine and touches a button that makes an electric circuit. Instantly tho number represented by tho ticket flashes out on the electric board up above, and tho eoachman, seeing ifc drives up. This is a great improvement over tho old method of calling car-riages car-riages at the white house by megaphone. |
