SOME USES OF ELECTRICITY 



FIG. 203. Bread can 

 toasted by electricity. 



The toaster (Fig. 203) is another useful electrical device, 

 since by means of it toast may be made on a dining table or 



at a bedside. The small electrical 

 stove, shown in Figure 204, is similar 

 in principle to the flatiron, but in it 

 the heating coil is arranged as shown 

 in Figure 205. To the physician 

 electric stoves are valuable, since his 

 instruments can be sterilized in water 

 heated by the stove ; and that without 

 fuel or odor of gas. 

 A convenient device is seen in the heating pad (Fig. 206), 

 a substitute of a hot water bag. 

 Embedded in some soft thick sub- 

 stance are the insulated wires in 

 which heat is to be developed, and 

 over this is placed a covering of felt. 

 290. Electric Lights. In the in- 

 candescent bulbs (Fig. 207) which 

 commonly illuminate our buildings, 



the resistance offered to the electric current by a fine hairlike 

 wire develops enough heat to make the wire 

 a glowing mass of heat and light. This thin 

 filament is inclosed in a glass bulb from 

 which the air has been exhausted; the ab- 

 sence of air prevents the filament from 

 burning away, and it merely glows and 

 radiates its light to the room. 



291. Blasting.. Until recently, dynamit- 

 ing was attended with serious danger, owing 

 to the fact that the person who applied 

 the torch to the fuse could not make a safe retreat before 

 the explosion. Now a fine wire is inserted in the fuse, and 



FIG. 204. An electric stove. 



FIG. 205. The heat- 

 ing element in the 

 electric stove. 



