Page:Incandescent electric lighting- A practical description of the Edison system.djvu/15

 designed to control or utilize the current produced by the generator. This latter then is practically the alpha and omega of all systems^ for from it goes forth, and to it returns, the energy which in different parts of the circuit, take the form of light, through the instrumentality of the carbon filament enclosed in the glass bulb of the lamp. The generator acts somewhat like a pump, having a reservoir within it, and which, when in motion, forces the water from the reservoir, through a long loop of pipe, both ends of which terminate in itself.

It is thus, that the circuit may be said to commence and end at the generator, which transforms the mechanical energy imparted to it into electrical energy, and through the medium of electricity, produces effects that would be otherwise unobtainable.

While the laws, upon which the construction and operation of the electric generator depends, are complex, it is yet possible to understand its parts, their relation to, and action upon each other,