automatic burner with two pushes; thus one can be downstairs in the hall and the other upstairs, allowing one to either extinguish or light the gas from either place. The value of this arrangement is obvious; it allows one to light up the hall before descending at night, or to put out the gas after one is safely upstairs. Again, an automatic burner can be put in the cellar and lighted and extinguished from the head of the cellar-stairs, saving matches and danger of fire.

Fig. 21 shows the connections of one automatic burner and two pendant or rachet burners. P P are the pendent burners, A the automatic burner, C the primary coil, S the buttons which control the automatic burner, M M M the cells of battery, of which there should be at least four, if not six. A low-resistance cell must be used here, as before mentioned, one that gives not less than 5 amperes on short circuit. It will be seen here that one side of the battery is connected to ground (or gas pipe), the circuit being completed owing to the burners being themselves screwed into the gas pipe. Care must be taken, however, to first see that no insulating bushings have been used at the gas fixtures, as is done in wiring for electric light. In this case a double circuit will have to be run.

Fig. 20.

Fig. 21.

In wiring up an automatic burner with two electro-magnets, two wires are run, one from the black button and one from the white button on push-plate. Most burners have binding posts inside the case, the wires running through a rubber-bushed hole in the base. One of the greatest defects in the old style automatics arose from the two binding posts being fixed on a hard rubber block, which was held by one screw to the burner top. This screw got loose at times and the block used to twist, making it hard to tighten the wires. But improvements have been made in this direction, the later burners having a block with a projection which engages in a hole in the cover, and is held by two screws.

If the push has been set in place, and all wiring done, connect up the burner, first ascertaining to which binding post the two wires run. This is done by having one button pressed, the lighting (white) one, for example, and then touching the binding post with either wire. The lighting armature will buzz violently when touched, whereas the extinguishing one only strikes once when contact is made. When only one person is working, a pin can be wedged in the push so as to keep the circuit closed.

In setting up these burners care must be taken not to bend contacts or alter adjustments, and absolute precaution is necessary that no wires touch where uninsulated. A cause of trouble is a dirty burner which does not allow the gas to strike the contact spark. The collar carrying the second contact may shift, or perhaps become short-circuited in a pendant or ratchet burner; a strip of asbestos will remedy this.

Burner Distribution.

In fitting a house with electric lighting burners, the question of selection is best solved as follows: For the main hall and foot of the cellar-stairs, use the automatic burner. For other hallways, dining-room, drawing-room, and bathroom use ratchet burners which turn on and light gas when chain is pulled. For bedrooms use plain pendant burners; automatics and ratchets add an element of danger, in that they may not turn off gas, or may leak. Most of this type on the market are as reliable as it is possible to make them, but still accidents will happen.

The frontispiece shows a diagram of the wiring in a dwelling house of medium size, dividing it into three sections, each section being controlled by a switch—either a hand switch or one of the automatic cut-out switches elsewhere described. The burners are distributed as follows:

No. 1 in the front cellar, pendant or ratchet.

No. 2 in the rear cellar at foot of stairway is an automatic burner controlled from kitchen above.

Nos. 3 and 4 ratchet burners on chandeliers in drawing-room and dining-room.

No. 5 ratchet or pendant in kitchen.

No. 6 pendant in bedroom.

No. 7 ratchet or pendant in bathroom.

No. 8 pendant in bedroom.

No. 9 pendant in bedroom.

Nos. 10, 11, and 12 pendants in bedroom.

No. 13 automatic burner in hallway operated from pushes in lower and in upper hallways.

The articles required for this job are as follows:

Two automatic burners.

Three gas lighting push-buttons and bases. Pendant and ratchet burners according to number of lights in rooms.

Six cells—open circuit battery.

One three-lever switch.

One 8 or 10 inch spark coil.

Three pounds No. 16 patent finish office wire.

Two ounces No. 24 gas-fixture wire.

One pound tinned 3/8" staples.

Few square inches tinfoil.

Small roll insulating tape.

Tools: 4-inch screwdriver, pocket knife, 4-1/2-inch side-cutting pliers, hammer, piece of sandpaper.

The simple section switch is shown enlarged in Fig. 22. The wires 1, 2, and 3 are from their respective circuits and terminate at the switch arms A A A. The wire from the battery B and coil C runs to each switch-stud S S S. If trouble shows on the line, each circuit can be thrown off by moving its switch arm until the fault is located. If it is not found at once, and the battery is weak, (test each cell with an ordinary electric bell), open all the circuits until the battery is recuperated, and disconnect the battery wire from the switch. Then attach the battery wire to the bell and touch each switch lever with a wire from the other binding post of the bell. If there is a short circuit on any section, the bell will ring or tremble when the arm is touched.