Page:Incandescent electric lighting- A practical description of the Edison system.djvu/111

 we are frank to state our objections. Excessive first cost, ponderous machinery, counter-shafting, pulleys, clutches, etc., lead us to believe that these things are unnecessary when the problem is carefully considered from an unbiased standpoint. What we are after is results; not theory, but actual practice. Assume, for the sake of argument, that we can save five or ten per cent, in steam economy; if this is obtained at a cost, the interest of which amounts to more than this, we are obtaining it for no good whatever; furthermore, there are many other problems in electric light stations which we have to carefully consider in this question of steam plant, one of which has been enumerated before, viz., the question of reliability in operation, and always being ready for service. One of the latest types of stations combining arc and incandescent, where we have the Corliss engine in all its perfection of detail and apparatus, is that of the Narragansett Company, in Providence. If one will carefully look over this plant, as I had