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additions and alterations had to be made to meet the various exigencies of
the workings, inasmuch as at that time the whole process of making a
stable electrolytic disinfectant for municipal purposes was quite an
innovation.
The demand for the fluid increased, consequently the building had
to be extended. The Borough Council was so pleased with the scheme
that a second plant was erected, which entailed the dismantling and
taking to pieces of the first plant, and quite recently on account of the
extension of the Borough Electricity Works the depot in which the
electrolytic plant was installed has been removed, reconstructed and
enlarged upon another site. It is obvious that the dismantling and
taking to pieces of the installations and the refixing of them must cause
depreciation.
When the plant was first installed breakdowns occurred and one of
them, which gave considerable trouble and anxiety, was due to the slate
of the tanks in certain parts becoming eroded and causing short
circuiting of the electric current to take place. This was due to electrical
action on the walls of the tanks on account of the metal in the slate and
tank after tank became destroyed. But this difficulty has been entirely
overcome by having the tanks made of earthenware and constructed in a
particular manner.
Another cause for depreciation in the first instance was that the zinc
or negative electrodes contained impurities, resulting in electrical action
being set up in the electrodes themselves. This difficulty is obviated by
having the zinc as free as possible from impurities, notably iron.
Still another cause for depreciation was the frequent taking to pieces
of the electrodes to find out the best way of working the installation and
to prevent heating.
Without further describing difficulties which have occurred and
which have been overcome there is no reason why any appreciable
depreciation should be estimated in the future. The heating is prevented
by simple adjustable resistances ; the flow of the fluid is kept even by
means of ball valve supply tanks. The platinum windings forming the
positive electrodes have been rearranged so as to obtain greater efficiency,
and in passing it may be mentioned that there is no depreciation in the
platinum (the expensive portion of the installation), which is always an
asset to the Borough, and so far as the taking to pieces for cleaning the
zinc or negative electrodes is concerned there is no necessity to do this, as
a switch has been so fixed that the current may be reversed once or twice