B 405557
ARTES
1837
VERITAS
LIBRARY
SCIENTIA
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
L-PLURIBUS UNUM
TUE BOR?
SI QUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAM
CIRCUMSPICE
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​223
.T9
C75
49
United States Circuit Court,
WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA.
IN EQUITY.
THE CONSOLIDATED ELECTRIC LIGHT COMPANY
vs.
THE MCKEESPORT LIGHT COMPANY.
DEFENDANT'S RECORD,
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
EXHIBITS,
(ONLY)
(FOR DEPOSITIONS SEE VOL. I.)
B. F. THURSTON,
GROSVENOR LOWREY,
R. N. DYER,
H. D. DONNELLY,
W. K. GRIFFIN,
Of Counsel.
MAGNUS PFLAUM,
Defendant's Solicitor.
C. G. Burgoyne's Printing Business, 146-150 Centre St., N. Y,
Pleadings:
Answer...
INDEX.
49362.
Vol. I.
PAGE.
DEPOSITIONS.
...
1
Batchelor, Charles (Deposition taken in Interference Proceeding):
Direct........
301
Cross......
Re-direct...……………….
Direct.
Cross........
318
338
Batchelor, Charles (Deposition taken on further Examination) :
340
365
....
Re-direct.....
Barker, Prof. Geo. F. (taken on prima facie Case)………………….
Barker, Prof. George F. (taken in Rebuttal):
Direct....
Cross...
Recalled, Direct.....
Cross......
Bracket, Prof. Cyrus F.:
Direct.......
Cross.......
Re-direct.....
Re-cross
Re-re-direct…………………………..
Recalled, Direct.........
....
389
15.
.....
526
568
577
...
..... ......
582
419
484
508
509
512
513
•
Cross.......
Broadnax, Amos:
Direct......
Cross.......
Re-direct
520
625
....
630
630
Dyer, Philip S. (Deposition taken in Interference Proceeding) :
Direct.......……………….
Cross......
Re-direct..
Re-cross.
Dyer, R. N. :
745
746
750
751
Direct..........
Cross....
. 765
781
....
II
Vol. I.
PAGE
Edison, Thomas A. (Deposition taken in the Interference
Proceeding):
Direct......
Cross........
Re-examination…....
Re-cross...
Edison, Thomas A. (Deposition taken on further Examination) :
164
197
242
247
Direct......
252
Cross........
291
Re-direct.........
296
Re-cross....
296
Field, Stephen D. (Deposition taken in the Interference Pro-
ceeding):
Direct
724
Force, Martin R. (Deposition taken in the Interference Pro-
ceeding):
Direct.......
688
Cross..
690
Galloway, R. M.:
Direct...
Garden, Hugh R.:
755
Direct.....
Cross....
641
649
Goddard, Calvin :
Direct.........
751
.....
Cross.
...
755
Griffin, Walter K.........
159
....
Hays, Jacob:
Direct.....
Cross......
631
633
Re-direct.....
Re-cross....
Hochhausen, William :
Direct
Cross....
636
637
62
71
Re-direct...
86
Re-cross.....
90
Re-re-direct....
90
Recalled:
Direct.......
Second Recall :
Direct..........
637
640
Cross
641
Holzer, William :
....
Direct........
Cross......
618
619
....
Johnson, Edward H. (Deposition taken in the Interference
Proceeding):
Direct....
Cross......
695
697
III
Keating, John M. D.:
Direct.........
Cross.......
Re-direct......
Re-cross.
Recalled:
Direct.....
Cross.......
Vol. I.
PAGE:
55
58
60
•
8888
60·
..... 160
163.
Kruesi, John (Deposition taken in the Interference Pro-
ceeding):
Direct .......
Cross ..
Re-examination.....
Kruesi, John (Deposition taken in the Interference Proceeding
on Recall):
Direct......
Cross.......
Lowrey, G. P. :
Direct........
Cross....
Man, Albon:
Direct.........
O'Keeffe, James E. (Deposition taken in the Interference Pro-
699
700
703.
720-
722.
757
761
639
ceeding):
Direct.....
737
Cross............
738.
Potter, James D. (Deposition taken in the Interference Pro-
ceeding):
Direct......
736
Russel, James A. (Deposition taken in the Interference Pro-
ceeding):
Direct........
734
Cross....
735
Sawyer, Geo. W.:
Direct.........
20
Cross...
41
Deposition taken in Interference Proceeding.…………..50-54´¯
Sawyer, William (Deposition taken in the Interference Pro-
ceeding):
Direct.......
Cross............
Sharp, William :
Direct......
Cross....
Re-direct.
Re-cross
Stillman, Thomas B. (Deposition taken in the Interference Pro-
ceeding):
Direct.......
Cross........
731
734
92
116
151
157
726
729
IV
1
Vol. I.
'Tomlinson, John C. :
Direct..
Cross.......
Upton, Francis R. (Deposition taken in the Interference Pro-
ceeding):
Direct......
Cross.......
Upton, Francis R. (Re-called in Interference Proceeding) :
Direct.........
Vineing, Henry E.:
Direct....
Cross........
Wilson, Prof. William P.:
Direct.......
Cross.....
Wright, James Hood:
Direct....
Cross....
EXHIBITS.
PAPER EXHIBITS (OTHER THAN PATENTS).
PAGE
797
811
703
714
...' '740
392
415
586
608
762
764
Offered.
Vol. I.
Printed.
Vol. II.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Herald Article of Dec. 21, 1879…………..
Offer of Sharp's Statement for Inspection
Complainant's Exhibits Sharp's Drawings, Fig-
ures 1, 2 and 3 (bound in where offered)…………….
Edison Exhibit No. 1, Sketch............
...15 & 174
96
121
37
135
169
269
No. 2, Herald Article………..
174
270
"
((
No. 3, Pages 1 to 15 of Note
Book
176
126-131
(C
No. 4, Sketch.......
178
271
No. 5, Notes …..
179
272
"
No. 6, Sketch....
185
273
No. 7, Notes......
186
132
•
((
"
No. 8, N. Y. Sun Article ........
194
133
"(
((
No. 9, Sketch......
213
274
No. 13,
246
275
Complainant's Exhibit Edison, Maxim & Swan
Interference Record (not printed) ..
296
Edison's Exhibit No. 14, Notes
303
276
Defendant's Exhibit Note Book, No. 52
344
V
Offered.
Printed.
Vol. I.
PAGE.
Vol. II.
PAGE.
Defendant's Exhibit Philosophical Transac-
tions, Paper No. 1, Paper No. 2, Paper No.
3, Paper No. 4, Paper No. 5 and Paper No. 6
Defendant's Exhibit Extracts from Collected
Works of Sir Humphrey Davy
522
71-119
522
45-59
Defendant's Exhibit Violette Paper
523
123-125
Defendant's Exhibit Sidot Paper.......
523
150-152
Defendant's Exhibit Extracts from Watt's
Dictionary of Chemistry ....
523
60-62
Defendant's Exhibit Extracts from Mechanics'
Magazine of 1846......
525
63-70
Defendant's Exhibit Published Description of
Ladiguin's Electric Light......
525
120-122
Defendant's Exhibits Wilson Drawings, March
21st, 1889 ...
617
260-268
Defendant's Exhibit "Broadnax-Cheever" Let-
ter......
629
19
Defendant's Exhibit Electro-Dynamic Light
Record, March 20th, 1879 (printed)……………
Edison's Exhibit No. 10, Article from Scrib-
ner's......
644
710
175-188
}
Edison's Exhibit No. 11, Record Book of Life
of Lamps
711
135-141
722
(Not
reproduced.)
221-259
Edison's Exhibit No. 12, Memorandum Book..
Defendant's Exhibit Fontaine's Book-offered
p. 1188 of Complainant's Record…………..
Defendant's Exhibit Higgs Translation of
Fontaine's Book-offered p. 1188 of Com-
plainant's Record......
Defendant's Exhibit Morton's Paper on the
Electric Light (in four parts)—offered p.
1332 of Complt.'s Record....………….
Defendant's Exhibit Sanitary Engineer, Letter
and Interview April 24, 1889-offered p.
1334 of Complt.'s Record......
Defendant's Exhibit Extract from Ferguson's
Electricity offered p. 1623 Complt.'s
Record, printed, p. 1599, Complt.'s Record.
Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer Tribune Interview
-offered p. 1623 Complt.'s Record, printed,
p. 1601 to 1604 inclusive, Complt.'s Record..
Defendant's Exhibit Extract from Prescott's
Book-offered p. 1623 Complt.'s Record,
printed, 1607 Complt.'s Record.....
Defendant's Exhibit Extract from Du Moncel
Electric Lighting-offered p. 1623 Complt.'s
Record, printed, p. 1608 Complt.'s Record...
189-220
280-312
27
VI
Offered.
Vol. I.
PAGE.
Printed.
Vol. II.
PAGE.
Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer's World Letter of
Dec. 24, 1879-offered p. 1623 Complt.'s
Record, printed, pp. 1609 to 1611 inclusive,
Complt.'s Record...
Defendant's Exhibit Morton Tribune Inter-
view-offered p 1334 Complt.'s Record .....
Defendant's Exhibit Prof. Cross' Report No. 1—
offered p. 1216 Complt.'s Rec.........
Defendant's Exhibit Prof. Cross' Report No. 2—
offered p. 1216 Complt.'s Rec…………………..
Defendant's Exhibit New York Times, Oct.
30, 1878-offered p. 872, Complt.'s Rec.......
Defendant's Exhibit Preece's Philosphical
Magazine Article-offered p. 1623 Complt.'s
Record, printed, p. 1615 Complt.'s Record...
Defendant's Exhibit Preece Electrician
Extract-offered p. 1624 Complt.'s Record,
printed, p. 1615 Complt.'s Record........
Defendant's Exhibit Tyndall Extract Feby.
16, 1879-offered p. 1624 Complt.'s Record,
printed, p. 1615 Complt.'s Record.........
Defendant's Exhibit Bennett and Valon
Report-offered p. 1624 Complt.'s Record,
printed, p. 1616 Complt.'s Record......
Defendant's Exhibit Redwood Extract-offered
p. 1624 Complt.'s Record, printed, p. 1616
Complt.'s Record...
Defendant's Exhibits Engineering Extracts
Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8-offered p. 1624
Complt.'s Record, printed, pp. 1616-17-18-19
Complt.'s Record....
Defendant's Exhibit Thompson Extract—
offered p. 1624 Complt.'s Record, printed,
p. 1618 Complt.'s Record...…………………….
Defendant's Exhibit Weisendaugh English
Mechanic Extract-offered p. 1625 Complt.'s
Record, printed, p. 1618 Complt.'s Record...
Defendant's Exhibit Telegraphic Journal Ex-
tract-offered p. 1625 Complt.'s Record,
printed, p. 1629 Complt.'s Record..............
Edison's Exhibit No. 23, Letter Showing Sig-
nature of W. E. Sawyer..
32:
153-155
156
171-172,
728
277-278
Edison's Exhibit No. 24, Note from Wm. E.
Sawyer to Stillman
728
279
Edison's Exhibit No. 25, Extract from N. Y.
Sun of January 5, 1880......
729
142
Offers of Depositions, Exhibits and Patents,
taken and used on behalf of Edison in the
Interference Proceeding…………………..
10-17
VII
Offered.
Vol. I.
PAGE.
Defendant's Exhibit Interference Stipulation,
John H. Kitchen, Examiner
Defendant's Exhibit Sharp's Statement..........
Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer-Man Scientific
American Article No. 1
Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer-Man Scientific
American Article No. 2...........
Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer-Man Scientific
American Article No. 3...........
Printed.
Vol. II.
PAGE.
17
37-44
24
160-170
11
25
Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer-Man Scientific
American Article No. 4......
26
.....
(Not reproduced)
.22
Edison Exhibit Sawyer Book
Edison Exhibit Herald, January 5, 1880...
Edison Exhibit Herald, January 6, 1880.......
Defendant's Exhibit Cheever-Man Letter
Defendant's Exhibit
Letter........
Arnoux-Hochhausen
Chart of Specifications and Amendments patent
in suit..........
......
232
20
18
PAPER EXHIBITS, PATENTS.
Offered.
Vol. I.
Printed.
Vol. II.
PAGE.
(6
66
((
"
(
"
U. S. Patent to T. A. Edison No. 264,642...
266,793......
369,280......
" 214,636...
214,637....
218,866......
....
PAGE.
341-346
347-350
313-315
((
316-318
......
((
319-320
(6 219,628.....
321-322
<< 248,417......
337-338
224,329....
241
326-327
(6
((
<< 227,227.....
241
328-330
"
(C
"
"
227,228.....
227,229.
241
331-333
241 & 256
334-336
(6
223,898....... 241 & 256
323-325
English
U.S.
No. 2402 of 1879
256
695-714
(C
""
"
Sawyer & Man No. 205,144.....
256
360-365
((
210,152.....
256 366-369
((
66 210,809....
256 370-372
((
W. E. Sawyer
Sawyer & Man “
219,771.
211,262.....
256
256
373-379
380-381
"" 229,335.
((
T. A. Edison
J. W. Swan
((
233,445.......
227,118.......
251,540.......
256 388-389
256 382-387
267
400-403
1
VIII
Offered.
Vol. I.
PAGE.
Printed.
Vol. II.
PAGE.
Defendant's Exhibit Pinkus English Patent
No. 8644 of 1840…………..
523
404-451
Defendant's Exhibit De Moleyn's English Pa-
tent No. 9053 of 1841.....
523
452-463
Defendant's Exhibit King's English Patent No.
10,919 of 1845.....
523
464 470
Defendant's Exhibit Greener & Staite's English
Patent No. 11,076 of 1846 ...
523 471-476
Defendant's Exhibit Staite's English Patent
No. 12,212 of 1848.........
Defendant's Exhibit Shepard's English Patent
No. 13,302 of 1850.....
523
477-510
524 511-526
Defendant's Exhibit Slater & Watson English
Patent No. 212 of 1852....
524
527-545
Defendant's Exhibit Roberts' English Patent
No. 14,198 of 1852......
524
546-566
Defendant's Exhibit Binks' English Patent No.
119 of 1853....
524
567-578
Defendant's Exhibit Way's English Patent No.
2547 of 1856..
524
579-585
Defendant's Exhibit Harrison's English Patent
No. 588 of 1857.......
524
586-603
Defendant's Exhibit Burleigh & Danchell's
English Patent No. 3164 of 1857...............
Defendant's Exhibit Way's English Patent No.
2841 of 1857.....
524
604-609
524
610-619
Defendant's Exhibit Konn's English Patent No.
3809 of 1872........
524
620-627
......
Defendant's Exhibit Konn's English Patent
No. 91 of 1873...........
524
628-634
Defendant's Exhibit Kosloff's English Patent
No. 441 of 1875.....
524
635-649
Defendant's Exhibit Jensen's (Konn's) English
Patent No. 970 of 1875........
525
650-656
Defendant's Exhibit Werdermann's English
Patent No. 4805 of 1876...
.............
525
657-662
Defendant's Exhibit English Patent No. 4905
of 1876 ...
525
663-494
Defendant's Exhibit Gardner & Blossom's Pa-
tent of June 29, 1858.......
525
390-392
Defendant's Exhibit Kosloff Patent of August
17, 1875....
525
396-399
Defendant's Exhibit Woodward's Patent of
August 29, 1876.....
525
393-395
Defendant's Exhibit Le Molt Patent of 1849...
525
157-159
Defendant's Exhibit Gauduin Patents of 1876
and 1877
568
144-150
IX
EXHIBITS, SPECIMENS AND APPARATUS.
Offered.
Vol. I.
Printed..
Vol. II.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Defendant's Exhibit Lodyguine French Patent
1171 of Complainant's Record.....
Edison's First Incandescent Lamp.
(Not printed).
177
Edison's Commercial Incandescent Electric
Lamp..
182
Edison's Exhibit No. 15, Portion of Lamp.....
310
Edison's Exhibit No. 16, Carbonized Blotting
Paper......
317
Edison's Exhibit No. 17, Pressed and Carbon-
ized Blotting Paper
317
Edison's Exhibit No. 18, Cemented and
Pressed Blotting Paper.....
317
Edison's Exhibit No. 19, Blotting Paper,
Cemented and Carbonized Without Pressure
Edison's Exhibit No. 20, Blotting Paper,
Cemented and Carbonized with Pressure………..
Edison's Exhibit No. 21, Carbonized Tissue
Paper....
317
317
318
Edison's Exhibit No. 22, Carbonized Bristol
Board.......
318
Defendant's Exhibit Wilson Rock Elm
Specimen, March 19, 1889 ...
595
Defendant's Exhlbit Wilson Maple Specimen,
March 21, 1889....
617
Defendant's Exhibit Specimen of Lignite, April
24, 1889—offered, p. 1331 of Complainant's
Record......
Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer & Man Electric
Co.'s Lamp No. 1-offered p. 875 Complt.'s
Rec..........
Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer & Mnn Electric
'Co.'s Lamp No. 2-offered p. 875 Complt.'s
Rec.........
Defendant's Exhibit Experimental Lamp, pro-
duced by Man-offered p. 1331 Complt.'s
Rec........
STIPULATIONS AND CONSENTS.
Offered.
Printed.
Vol. I.
Vol. II.
PAGE.
PAGE.
As to Herald article of Dec. 21, 1879....
Consent as to proof of publication, etc., of
14
said Herald article.....
15
X.
Offered.
Printed.
Vol. I.
PAGE.
Vol. II.
PAGE.
19
54
"Consent to Physician examining Geo. W.
Sawyer...........
Consent that Notary Farnham sign Geo. W.
Sawyer's deposition....
As to use of Keating's deposition in the suit
pending in the Southern District of New
York....
As to Edison's deposition in the Interference..
As to objections to Edison's deposition in
Interference Case based on Patent Office
practice.......
61
163
1
164
301
525
526
As to Government printed copies of patents.... 241 & 256
As to Batchelor's deposition in Interference....
As to use of copies of publications offered
that they have the same force and effect as
if originals were offered......
Admissions that publications offered were
published at their respective dates………………………………….
As to copy Minutes of the Board of Trustees
of the Electric Dynamic Light Co. of the
Meeting held March 20, 1879, offered in
evidence for the defendant..............
As to John H. Kitchen's appointment as
Special Examiner.
Admission as to Exhibit Sawyer's Book..........
Admissions as to Herald articles..
645
1
13
13
...
Interference Depositions, Exhibits and Stipula-
tion offered...
10-17
Offers of Sharp's Statement and Scientific
American articles..
15
NOTICES, ORDERS, CERTIFICATES, ETC.
Order Appointing John H. Kitchen, Esq.,
Examiner ...
Notice of Examination of Geo. W. Sawyer.
Notice of Examination of Geo. W. Sawyer.....
Notice of Examination of witnesses on behalf
of defendant......
•
22 6 5
77
8
Order Appointing Wm. H. Farnham, Special
Examiner...
3
Notice of Examination before Examiner
Notary Farnham's Certificate
Kitchen.
....
Examiner Kitchen's Certificate.
Examiner Farnham's Certificate.....
9
4
173-174
UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT,
WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA.
1
THE CONSOLIDATED ELECTRIC LIGHT
COMPANY
AGAINST
THE MCKEESPORT LIGHT COMPANY.
In Equity.
Letters Patent,
No. 317,676.
2.
It is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between
the respective parties to the above-entitled suit that
John H. Kitchen, Esq., one of the Standing Examiners
of the Circuit Court of the United States
for the Southern District of
of New York, be
appointed Special Examiner in the above suit to
take the proofs on behalf of the defendant there-
in, and that such proofs may be taken in the City of
New York and that the proofs so taken before the said
John H. Kitchen, Esq., and in the City of New York,
shall have the same force and effect as though taken be-
fore one of the Standing Examiners of the Circuit Court
of the United States for the Western District of Penn-
sylvania, and
It is further agreed and stipulated that an order in
conformity with this stipulation may be entered by the
defendant in the above-entitled suit at any time with-
out notice.
Dated July 20th, 1888.
MAGNUS PFLAUM,
Solicitor for Defendant.
THOMAS B. KERR,
By W. BAKEWELL & SONS,
Solicitors for Plaintiff.
3
4
2
.5
UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT,
WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA.
THE CONSOLIDATED ELECTRIC LIGHT
COMPANY
6
AGAINST
THE MCKEESPORT LIGHT COMPANY.
No. 5, May T.,
1888.
In Equity.
Letters Patent,
No. 317,676.
7
8
له
On reading and filing the annexed stipulation entered
into between the solicitors for the respective parties to
the above-entitled suit;
It is ordered that John H. Kitchen, Esq., one of the
Standing Examiners of the Circuit Court of the United
States, for the Southern District of New York, be and
he hereby is appointed Special Examiner in the above
suit to take the proofs on behalf of the defendant
therein, and
It is further ordered that such proofs may be taken
in the City of New York, and with the same force and
effect as though taken before one of the Standing Ex-
aminers of the Circuit Court of the United States for
the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Dated July 28th, 1888.
Certified from the Record
this 28th July, 1888.
H. D. GAMBLE,
BY THE COURT.
[SEAL.]
Clerk.
3
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED
STATES
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA.
ך
CONSOLIDATED ELECTRIC LIGHT COM-
PANY
VS.
MCKEESPORT LIGHT COMPANY.
No. 5, May Term,
1888.
In Equity.
9
10
Upon presentation to the Court of the stipulation
hereto attached, entered into by the respective solic-
itors for complainant and defendant,
It is ordered, that Wm. T. Farnham, a Notary Pub-
lic, in the City of New York, State of New York, be
and he hereby is appointed Special Examiner in the
above suit to take proofs on behalf of the defendant
therein under the order of this Court dated the 18th
day of February, 1889, and during any extensions of
time given the defendant by such order, and that the
proofs so taken before the said Wm. T. Farnham shall
have the same force and effect as though taken before
one of the Standing Examiners of the Circuit Court of
the United States for the Western District of Pennsyl-
vania. This order of appointment is made nunc pro
tunc.
Dated Feby. 23, 1889.
11
12
By the Court.
From the record.
SEAL.]
Witness my hand and seal of said Court
this 23d day of Feby., 1889.
H. D. GAMBLE,
Clerk.
4
13
I, WILLIAM T. FARNHAM, a notary public in and for
the County of New York, in the State of New York, do
hereby certify that the annexed deposition of George
W. Sawyer was taken before me in the cause now pend-
ing undetermined in the Circuit Court of the United
States for the Western District of Pennsylvania on the
equity side of said court, wherein The Consolidated
Electric Light Company is complainant and McKees-
port Light Company is defendant, on the part of the
defendant; that said deposition was taken under the
14 notices hereto annexed at the time and place therein
named and was continued from day to day as appears
in said deposition, until concluded; that the parties to
the cause named in the caption of said notices were
present at the taking of said deposition, the said com-
plainant by its counsel Amos Broadnax and Thomas
B. Kerr and by Albon Man and the said defendant by
its counsel Richard N. Dyer and Walter K. Griffin, as
therein appears; that before deposing said Sawyer was
by me first duly cautioned and sworn to tell the truth,
15 the whole truth and nothing but the truth in said cause
above named; that said deposition was reduced to
writing by Mary F. Seymour and William C. Huson, who
acted as amanuenses for me by consent of said counsel :
that the signature of the witness to the deposition was
waived by consent of counsel present for the respective
parties and it was consented between said counsel at
the close of said deposition that I subscribe the same
with the name of the witness; that I did so sub-
scribe the witness' name to the deposition; that the
16 notice under which said deposition was taken was due
and reasonable notice and was given by the party
taking it to the solicitors for the complainant and
stated the name of the witness, the time and place of
taking the deposition and the reasons for taking it de
bene esse; that said witness lived at the time of taking
his deposition at the City of New York, a place distant
more than one hundred miles from the place of trial of
the cause above named; that said witness was very in-
firm at the time of taking his deposition and has since
died, his death occurring February 25th, 1889, about
5
2:30 o'clock A. M., as appears to me by a certificate 17
thereof hereto annexed of the Health Department of
the City of New York; that said witness was examined
on the direct examination by Walter K. Griffin, Esq., on
behalf of the defendants, and was cross-examined by
Amos Broadnax, Esq., on behalf of the complainants.
I have retained the said deposition in my possession
for the purpose of forwarding the same to the United
States Circuit Court for the Western District of
Pennsylvania, the Court for which the same was taken.
That I am not of counsel for either of the parties to 18
the cause or interested directly or indirectly in the event
of the cause.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand
and seal this 29th day of March, 1889.
WILLIAM T. FARNHAM,
[L. S.]
Notary Public,
County and State of New York.
19
20
6
21
UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT,
WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA.
THE CONSOLIDATED ELECTRIC LIGHT
COMPANY
In Equity.
No. 5. May Term,
1888.
AGAINST
22
THE MCKEESPORT LIGHT COMPANY.
23
24
TO AMOS BROADNAX, ESQ., and LEONARD E. CURTIS, ESQ.,
Of Counsel for Complainants:
GENTLEMEN-Take notice, that on Wednesday, Feb-
ruary 20th, 1889, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon I shall
proceed to take (de bene esse) the testimony of George
W. Sawyer, as a witness for the above defendant, be-
fore William T. Farnham, Notary Public, at the Mitchel
House, corner of Broadway and Forty-second street, in
the City of New York, according to the statutes in such
case made and provided, said George W. Sawyer being
a resident of the City of New York, living at a greater
distance from the place of trial than one hundred miles,
and being infirm. The examination will be continued
from day to day until completed. You are invited to
be present at the time and place named to cross-
examine the said witness.
Dated New York, February 19th, 1889.
RICHD. N. DYER,
Of Counsel for Defendant.
Service of a copy of the above acknowledged Febru-
ary 19, 1889).
LEONARD E. CURTIS,
Of Counsel for Compl't.
AMOS BROADNAX,
Of Counsel with Complainant.
7
UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT,
WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA.
THE CONSOLIDATED ELECTRIC LIGHT
COMPANY
AGAINST
THE MOKEESPORT LIGHT COMPANY.
25
In Equity.
No. 5. May Term,
1888.
26
TO THOS. B. KERR, ESQ., Solicitor for Complainant :
SIR-Take notice, that on Wednesday, February
20th, 1889; at 11 o'clock in the forenoon, I shall pro-
ceed to take (de bene esse) the testimony of George
W. Sawyer, as a witness for the above defendant, 27
before William T. Farnham, Esq., Notary Public, at
the Mitchel House, corner of Broadway and Forty-
second street, in the City of New York, according to
the statutes in such case made and provided, said
George W. Sawyer being a resident of the City of New
York, living at a greater distance from the place of
trial than one hundred miles, and being infirm. The
examination will be continued from day to day until
completed. You are invited to be present at the time
and place named to cross-examine the said witness.
Dated New York, February 20th, 1889.
RICHD. N. DYER.
Service acknowledged February 20th, 1889, at 10:20
28
o'clock A. M.
THOMAS B. KERR,
Solicitor for Compl't.
8
29
UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT,
WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA.
THE CONSOLIDATED ELECTRIC LIGHT
COMPANY
30
AGAINST
THE MCKEESPORT LIGHT COMPANY.
In Equity.
No. 5, May
Term, 1888.
On Letters Pat-
ent 317,676.
31
32
TO THOMAS B. KERR, ESQ., 32 Nassau Street, New
York City, N. Y.:
Take notice, that on Saturday the 23d of Febru-
ury, 1889, at the office of Messrs. Dyer & Seely, No. 40
Wall street, in the City of New York, at 11 o'clock in
the forenoon of that day, counsel for defendant will
proceed to put in defendant's testimony and proofs un-
der the order of the Court, herein dated February 18th,
1889, and will continue from time to time by adjourn-
ment until they have finished putting in such proofs and
testimony as they may wish to adduce under said order.
Complainant's counsel are invited to be present.
RICHD. N. DYER,
Of Counsel for the Defendant.
Dated New York, February 21st, 1889.
Receipt of copy acknowledged Thursday, February
21, 1889, 4:25 P. M.
T. B. KERR,
Complt.'s Solicitor.
9
UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT,
WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA.
THE CONSOLIDATED ELECTRIC LIGHT
COMPANY
AGAINST
THE MCKEESPORT LIGHT COMPANY.
33.
In Equity.
34
SIR-You will please take notice that the defendant
in the above-entitled cause desires the evidence of the
witnesses hereinafter named to be taken orally under
the Sixty-seventh Rule of the Supreme Court as
amended. And you will further take notice that on the
9th day of March, 1889, at the office of John H.
Kitchen, Esq., No. 50 Pine street, New York City, a 35
Special Examiner duly appointed in the above-entitled
suit to take proves on behalf of the defendant therein,
at 10 o'clock in the forenoon; said defendant will at
such time and place proceed to take the testimony of
Albon Man, Amos Broadnax, Jacob Hays, Hugh Mc-
Cullough, Lawrence Myers, J. P. Kernochan, Mr, Wil-
liam Hockhausen and others, as witnesses in behalf of
defendant. Such examination will proceed as directed
by said Examiner, and you are hereby invited to attend
and cross-examine.
Dated March 8, 1889.
RICHD. N. DYER,
Of Counsel for Deft.
36
TO THOS. B. KERR, ESQ.,
Sol. for Complt.
10
37
-38
39
40
NEW YORK, March 21st, 1889.
Met pursuant to adjournment.
Present-Same counsel as before.
Pursuant to stipulation between counsel for the re-
spective parties dated March 14th, 1889, the defend-
ant offers and files in evidence, in behalf of the defend-
ant, the following depositions and exhibits from the
interference record of Sawyer and Man vs. Edison,
to wit:
I. Depositions of Martin N. Force, Edward H. John-
son, two depositions of John Kruesi, depositions
of Francis R. Upton, Stephen D. Field, T. B.
Stillman, William Sawyer, James A. Russell,
James D. Potter and James E. O'Keefe.
II. The following exhibits, of which the following is
a list, are offered and filed in evidence, to wit:
(1) Edison Exhibit No. 1, sketch referred to in an-
swer 16 of Edison.
(2) Edison Exhibit No. 3, referred to in answer 26
of Edison.
(3) First incandescent lamp, referred to in answer
27 of Edison.
(4) Edison Exhibit No. 4, referred to in answer 29
of Edison.
(5) Edison's Exhibit No. 5, referred to in answer
29 of Edison.
(6) Edison's commercial incandesent electric lamp,
referred to in answer 33 of Edison.
(7) Edison's Exhibit No. 6, referred to in answer
39 of Edison.
(8) Edison's Exhibit No. 7, referred to in answer
42 of Edison.
(9) Edison's Exhibit No. 8, referred to in answer
60 of Edison.
(10) Edison's Exhibit No. 9, put in by Sawyer and
Man, x-Q. 173 of Edison.
11
•
(11) Batch of patents put in on Edison's behalf 41
after x-Q. 373, as follows, viz.:
Letters patent of Thomas A. Edison No. 224,-
339, dated Feby. 10th, 1880; 227,227, dated
May 4th, 1880; 227,228, dated May 4th, 1880 ;
227,229, dated May 4th, 1880; 223,898, dated
January 27th, 1880; also specification of Eng-
lish patent of Thomas A. Edison, No. 2402 June
17th, 1879; also Letters Patent 205,144 of Saw-
yer & Man dated June 18th, 1878; 210,152
of Sawer & Man, dated November 19th, 1878; 42
210,809 of Sawyer & Man dated December
10th, 1878; 219,771 of Wm. E. Sawyer, dated
Sept. 16th, 1879; 211,262 of Sawyer & Man
dated January 7th, 1879; 229,335 of Sawyer
& Man dated June 29th, 1880; 227,118 of
Albon Man dated May 4th, 1880.
(12) Edison Exhibits No. 10, Upton article in
Scribner's.
(13) Edison's Exhibit 11, referred to in Upton's
answer 31.
43
(14) Edison's Exhibit 12, referred to in Kruesi's
answer 47.
(15) Edison's Exhibit 13, referred to in Edison's
answer 379.
(16) Edison's Exhibit 14, referred to in Batchelor's
answer 7.
(17) Edison's Exhibit 15, referred to in Batchelor's
answer 28.
(18) Edison Exhibit Nos. 23 and 24 referred to in
Stillman's answer 14.
(19) Edison's Exhibit No. 25, referred to in Still-
man's answer 16, being a copy of Edison's Ex-
hibit 23 published in N. Y. "Sun," January 5th,
1880.
III. Also all other exhibits referred to in the depo-
positions of Edison, Batchellor, Force, Johnson,
Kruesi, Upton, Stillman, Sawyer, Russell, Potter,
Field and O'Keefe.
44
12
45 IV. The defendant further offers in evidence the fol-
lowing stipulation entered into between counsel
for the parties to the said interference on the 11th
day of October, 1882, of which the following is a
copy, the defendants "N. Y. Herald and Sawyer
Book Stipulation." The following is the stipu-
tion referred to, viz. :
"IN INTERFERENCE.
46
SAWYER AND MAN
VS.
EDISON.
Paper Carbons for
Incandescent
Electric Lamps.
47
48
Present-GEORGE W. DYER, Counsel for Edison, and
AMOS BROADNAX, counsel for Sawyer and Man.
Parties met, pursuant to agreement, at the office of
Amos Broadnax, at No. 10 Pine street, 11th October,
1882.
Counsel for Edison, in behalf of Edison, puts in tes-
timony a book entitled Electric Lighting by Incandes-
cence, by William Edward Sawyer, published by D.
Van Nostrand, of New York, 1881. The same is
marked Edison Exhibit "Sawyer Book."
Book objected to by counsel for Sawyer and Man as
incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial, and not evi-
dence in any sense.
Counsel for Edison also puts in evidence copy of the
New York "Herald" of December 24, 1879, and the
same is marked Edison Exhibit "Herald, December 24,
1879."
Also copy of the New York" Herald" of January 5,
1880; the same is marked Edison Exhibit " Herald,
January 5, 1880."
Also copy of New York "Herald" of January 6,
1880; the same is marked Edison Exhibit "Herald,
January 6, 1880," 11th October, 1882. J. E. B.
•
13
Counsel for Sawyer & Man enters the same objection. 49
to the said papers that he entered to said book.
50
Counsel for Sawyer & Man admits that the book
marked Edison Exhibit Sawyer Book, was written and
published by William E. Sawyer, one of the parties to
this interference, at the date set down in said book, and
that letters signed W. E. Sawyer in the "New York
Herald" of December, 1879), and January 5 and 6,
1880, were written and published by William E. Sawyer,
one of the parties to this interference, at the rates
shown in said newspapers; but counsel for Sawyer &
Man, nevertheless, reserves his right to urge all legal
objections against the said book and said articles
in said newspapers, excepting the fact that the book
and said articles in said newspapers were written and
published by William E. Sawyer; and counsel for
Sawyer & Man reserves especially the right to show
that William E. Sawyer is not now and never has been
a party in interest to this interference; and that at the
time he wrote the letters in the newspapers put in evi-
dence he did not own the whole or any part of the in- 51
vention in controversy, excepting as a mere stockholder
in the Electro-Dynamic Light Company; and that at
the time he wrote the book in question he had no
interest whatever in the inventions; that he was openly
hostile to the owners of said inventions, patents and the
other patents granted to said Sawyer & Man; that one
of his avowed purposes in writing said book was to
destroy and injure the patents and inventions thereto-
fore made and obtained by William E. Sawyer and
Albon Man, both jointly and severally, meaning so
many of them as were then owned by the Electro-
Dynamic Light Company, and that the statements in
said books in many particulars are false and malicious.
And counsel for Sawyer & Man gives notice to counsel
for Edison that as he understands the decision of the
Commissioner he may put in rebutting testimony, not
only to the book and the newspaper articles, but also
to the testimony-in-chief put in on behalf of Mr. Edi-
son, and that if the counsel for Mr. Edison has a dif-
ferent understanding of the Commissioner's decision,
52
14
53
then he gives notice that he will move the Commis-
sioner immediately. or as soon as he can prepare
the
necessary papers for leave to put in such testimony and
request counsel for Edison to state upon the record
whether he agrees with counsel for Sawyer & Man as
to his right to put in such rebutting testimony under
the decision of the Commissioner in opening his de-
cision.
Counsel for Edison accepts the notice above given,
and states that he does not know what construction
54 will be given to the order of the Commissioner in re-
opening the case.
Counsel for Edison further gives notice that he here
closes his testimony.
[SEAL.]
J. EDGAR BULL,
Notary Public,
N. Y. Co., N. Y.
It is stipulated between counsel that Defendant's Ex-
hibit, "Batchellor Note Book No 52," offered in evi-
55 dence, March 7th, 1889, before question 171 of the
deposition of the witness Batchellor be retained in the
custody of Mr. Dyer, one of the counsel for the de-
fendant, and that a copy of said book is to be marked
in evidence in lieu of the original and with the
same force and effect, defendant's counsel agreeing to
produce the original at the hearing or at any reasonable
time if requested by complainant's counsel.
Adjourned to 3 P. M. at Mr. Dyer's office, 40 Wall
street.
56
15
Met pursuant to adjournment.
MARCH 23d, 1889. 57
Counsel for defendant now produces the book which
was marked for identification "Defendant's Exhibit A,
Feby. 20, 1889," after answer 3 of the deposition of the
witness, George W. Sawyer, aud tenders it to the coun-
sel for the complainant for examination if desired,
stating that it is not the purpose of the defendent
now to offer that book or any part of it in evidence.
Counsel for defendant further states that the book was
shown for identification to the witness, George W.
Sawyer because it was believed to contain good sec-
ondary evidence of matters which have since been
sufficiently proven by the best evidence, namely, by the
original minutes, contained in the original minute book
of the Electro Dynamic Light Company, of a meeting
and transactions of the Board of Trustees of said Elec-
tro Dynamic Light Company, held March 20th, 1879.
58
Counsel for defendant, in accordance with the request 59
made by counsel for complainant, as appears of record on
the cross-examination of the witness Sharp, hereby offers
in evidence the sworn statement of the witness Sharp,
referred to during his cross-examination, and the same
is marked "Defendant's Exhibit Sharp's Statement."
Counsel for defendant also offers in evidence the
following publications in the "Scientific American,"
viz.:
An article entitled "Another New Electric Light,"
published in the "Scientific American" for November 60
16th, 1878, at page 304, and the same is marked
"Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer-Man Scientific American
Article No. 1."
An article entitled "The Sawyer-Man Electric Lamp,
published in the "Scientific American" for December
7th, 1878, at pages 351, 354 and 355, and the same is
marked "Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer-Man Scientiffe
American Article, No. 2."
Two articles entitled respectively "The Sawyer-Man
Electric Light" and "A New Form of Carbon," pub-
16
61 lished in the "Scientific American" for March 8th,
1879, at page 145, and the same are marked respectively
"Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer-Man Scientific American
Article No. 3," and "Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer-Man
Scientific American Article No. 4."
Counsel for complainant waives proof of publica-
tion and objects to the exhibits as incompetent.
62
63
64
17
•
Defendant's Exhibit "Interference Stipu- 65
lation," John H. Kitchen, Examiner.
The complainant, by its counsel, hereby stipulates
and consents that the defendant may introduce and file
in evidence, at or before the closing of its proofs in
this suit, and as a part of said proofs, the deposition
of any witness examined in the interference (Sawyer &
Man vs. Edison), with the right on the part of either
party to recall any such witness for further examina-
tion or cross-examination, and also that defendant may 66
introduce and file in evidence in this suit any exhibits
contained in said interference record. Such deposi-
tions of witnesses to have same force and effect as if
the witnesses had been regularly called, sworn and ex-
amined herein, and such exhibits to have same force
and effect as originals properly proven, introduced and
filed in this suit, subject to objection as to competency
and materiality.
This stipulation to be without prejudice to the claim
of the complainant that it has already well and suffi-
ciently introduced the entire interference record in
evidence, and that the same is now a legal part of the
complainant's case herein.
Dated Mar. 14, 1889.
THOMAS B. KERR,
For Complt.
67
H. D. DONNELLY,
For Deft.
68
18
69
Defendant's Exhibit "Arnoux-Hoch-
hausen" Letter, J. H. K., Ex.
ARNOUX & HOCHHAUSEN,
Electric Experts,
DYNAMO ELECTRIC MACHINES,
For Electric Lights,
Electrotyping, Gold, Silver, Nickel, Brass and Copper
Plating,
2 and 4 Howard Street,
Corner Centre Street,
*70
71
MR. CHAS. A. CHEEVER:
NEW YORK, Jany. 9, 1880.
DR. SIR-The Horseshoe Lamp which has found its
way into your possession, was put in ours on the 22d
Dec. last.
We at once recognized it as a lamp which we had
seen at the corner of Walker & Elm streets prior to 1st
May last. We saw several styles of carbon burners
there about the same time. One object of the experi-
ments made, was to obviate the shadows cast by the
carbon holder, & this amongst others was devised.
Should you desire legal attestation of these facts
with dates, by advising with our attorneys, we will put
them in possession of the same so that they will be
able to draw the necessary papers. We refer you to
Mess. Knox & Woodward.
Yours very truly,
ARNOUX & HOCHHAUSEN.
"72
19
Defendant's Exhibit
Exhibit Brodnax-Cheever 73:
Letter, J. H. K., Ex.
CHARLES A. CHEEVER.
P. O. Box 3592.
5 TRIBUNE BUILDING.
NEW YORK, Jany. 8th, 1888.
DEAR SIR-In reply to your question I have to say
that some time in November, 1878, I saw in operation.
an electric lamp at 94 Walker street in the City of New
York. The alleged invention of William E. Sawyer & 74
Albon Man fitted with a U shaped carbon. I saw the
lamp in successful operation there a number of times.
It was in all respects the same as the lamp you show
me and which is marked A. M. & B.
Very truly yours, &c.,
AMOS BROADNAX,
97 Broadway, N. Y.
CHAS. A. CHEEVER,
Tribune Building.
75
76
20
77 CONSOLIDATED CO.
VS.
MCKEESPORT Co.
Defendant's Exhibit Man-Cheever Letter,
April 4, 1889. W. T. F., S. E.
3 MERCER ST., N. Y., Dec. 12th, 1880.
CHAS. A. CHEEVER, ESQ. :
DEAR SIR—I have received your two notes of 11th
78 inst., enclosing letter from the Patent Office advising
Messrs. Baldwin, Hopkins & Peyton of substitution of
Mr. Broadnax as attorney in carbon arch matter. You
are quite right in supposing that I had nothing what-
ever to do with the matter, and that I should if acting
in it have taken all measures to avoid the least dis-
courtesy to Mr. Baldwin, who has in all things con-
ducted himself in the matter not only courteously, but
efficiently & to my entire satisfaction. You will also
permit me to disclaim on the part of the Electro-Dy-
79 namic Light Co. and its officers, not only any inten-
tional discourtesy, but also to express to Mr. Baldwin
through you the thanks of the company for his efficient
and able management of the matter. The fact is, I
suppose, that the whole subject matter has been left to
Mr. Broadnax, the attorney. You will, I think, agree
with me that Mr. Broaduax is a gentleman who would
not intentionally be discourteous to any one. I shall
submit your letter to him and I am sure he will be able
to make satisfactory explanation; possibly his letters
to Mr. Baldwin may have miscarried or he may have
failed to see him as he is now in Washington, and some
urgency in getting hold of the details of the matter
which he could not do in the Patent Office without fil-
ing the power of attorney to himself may have driven
him to file it before communication with Mr. Baldwin.
Of these things I cannot know, but of the desire of a
portion of the officers of the company to keep Mr.
Baldwin in the case I do not know, and that the matter
of keeping him retained has not yet been acted upon by
the company, and that Mr. Broadnax knew this and is
80
21
not only of himself and naturally opposed to any dis- 81
courteous action in any case, but would be especially
careful to avoid even the appearance of giving offense
under these circumstances. I re-enclose the notice of
the department to Baldwin dated Dec'r 9th. I shall
see you as soon as possible after our meeting of to-
morrow.
Very respectfully yours,
ALBON MAN.
As I told you the object of the substitution was to
have all patent matters under one supervision.
82
ALBON MAN.
83
84
22
85 Defendants' Exhibit B, "Herald" Article
of Jany. 5, 1880. W. T. F., S. E.
Exhibit B.
[From the "Herald" of January 5, 1880.]
No. 78 Walker Street,
New York, January 4, 1880.
To the Editor of the "Herald":
Notwithstanding the assertion that one of Mr. Edi-
86 son's electric lamps has been running for 240 hours I
still assert, and am prepared to back up my assertion,
that Mr. Edison cannot run one of his lamps up to the
light of a single gas-jet (to be more definite, let us call
it 12-candle power) for more than three hours. To be
still more definite I offer to Mr. Edison at No. 226 W.
54th street, in this city, an opportunity to prove what
he says.
87
88
From the private residence in that street wires are
run a circuit of a thousand feet. Mr. Edison shall have
every facility; he shall use my wires; he shall have my
dynamo machine or other generator of electricity he
may prefer, and all I ask is that the power of his light
shall be measured by a photometer; that once in place
it shall not be interfered with; and that a committee of
gentlemen, preferably nominated by the editors of the
New York press, shall be present to certify to the facts
of the test.
Furthermore, I will place one of my lamps side by
side with Mr. Edison's; it shall run at a power of 25
candles; it shall outlast the entire forty lamps at Men-
lo Park, run at the power of 25 candles; my lamp to
stand as it is put up, and Mr. Edison to put up a fur-
ther lamp as fast as the preceding lamp shall have
burned out. I am anxious for this test, and if Mr. Ed-
ison has really one of his horse-shoe lamps 240 hours
he will not refuse to accept my offer, for he will be
treated with the utmost courtesy and shall have every-
thing his own way. I adhere in every particular to my
original challenge to Mr. Edison.
Respectfully,
W. E. SAWYER.
23
89
CONSOLIDATED E. L. Co.
VS.
MCKEESPORT L. C.o
Defendant's Exhibit C, Herald of Jany 6,
1880. W. T. F., S. E.
Exhibit C.
[From the "Herald" of January 6, 1880.]
MR. SAWYER'S EXHIBITORIUM.
To the Editor of the Herald:
Your remarks this morning were both interesting and
to the point. A great newspaper as the Herald un-
doubtedly is, should be impartial. I don't know much
about the newspaper business, but I know that much.
In all the time I have been working at this problem of
electric lighting, I have been working simply and
solely with a view to a genuine scientific success. I
have made no money out of it. Instead of selling out
I have increased my original interest by $19,000; have
bought my own stock from those to whom I made a
gift of it, at 50 per cent. of its par value. I think I
know enough about this business not to make a very
great mistake, and am not risking my reputation by
any wild challenges.
The Herald is in error in implying that this is my
residence, and that in consequence, this is a kind of a
family matter. I hunted New York over to find some
one who would permit me to use his house for a pub-
lic exhibition. As may be imagined, it was not an easy
thing to do. Allow me to correct. My residence is
No. 261 W. 42nd street; my office is No. 78 Walker
street, my shop is No. 141 Elm street, the exhibitorium
is No. 226 W. 54th street.
W. E. SAWYER.
90
91
92
24
93 Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer-Man Scientific
American Article No. 1.
94
95
[Scientific American, November 16th, 1878.]
ANOTHER NEW ELECTRIC LIGHT.
During the past week the Electro-Dynamic Light
Company of New York have exhibited an electric light
which is, to say the least, very promising. The appa-
ratus employed was the Sawyer-Man electric lamp, the
joint invention of William E. Sawyer, a well-known and
successful electrical inventor of this city, and Albon
Man, of Brooklyn. As we hope soon to lay before our
readers a complete description of the the lamp, with
illustrations of its mechanism, we will merely remark
in this connection that the lamp is enclosed in a her-
metically sealed globe of glass, filled with nitrogen, and
appears to differ from the common mode of exhibiting
the electric light in non-supporters of combustion,
mainly in the addition of a slender pencil of carbon,
which completes the circuit between what would other-
wise be the two carbon poles, and by its incandescence
furnishes light in the place of the ordinary voltaic arc.
An essential feature of the invention is an ingenious
device for dividing the current, and for maintaining a
constant uniform resistance in the circuit, whether the
lamps are on or off. The light exhibited was steady
and brilliant.
96
25
*
Defendant's Exhibit Sawyer. Man Scientific 97
American Article No. 3.
[Scientific American, March 8th, 1879.]
THE SAWYER-MAN ELECTRIC LIGHT.
99
It will be remembered that in our issue of December
7th, 1878, we gave illustrations of this novel and prom-
ising form of electrical apparatus. Since that date the
inventors have been busy with endeavors to perfect 98
the invention, and, on the evening of February 20, a
public exhibition of the light was given in this City by
the Dynamo-Electric Light Co. Several improvements
in details of construction have been made, but no radi-
cal changes. The chief improvement is in the bearing
of the upper carbon holder, to allow for expansion;
the lamp has also been made slightly taller. The light
exhibited was soft, pure and steady, and susceptible of
perfect regulation. Any lamp in the circuit could be
turned up or down, from a dull glow to brilliant incan-
descence, without affecting the rest. An important
improvement has also been made in the switch.
The dynamo machine used was about half the size
of the one previously employed; there were more lights
in the circuit, and the illumination was more brilliant
and satisfactory. Comparison was made with gas light,
and also with the voltaic arc, clearly demonstrating the
superiority of light by electric incandescence for ordi-
nary uses.
The carbons used in the Sawyer-Man lamp
are now proved to be comparatively indestructible. 100
If, however, the lamp should be broken or otherwise in-
jured by accident, it can be as easily and cheaply re-
moved and repaired as an ordinary gas burner. As
regards economy, tests upon a large scale have not yet
been feasible. With the power at command, the indi-
cations are that the production of light by this system
will range between one-fifth and one-half the cost of
gas.
26
101 Defendants' Exhibit Sawyer-Man Scientific
American Article No. 4.
[Scientific American, March 8th, 1879.]
A NEW FORM OF CARBON.
In describing the Sawyer-Man Electric Light, last
December, mention was made of the peculiar carbons
employed, the manner of their production being a se-
cret which Mr. Sawyer did not choose at that time to
102 disclose.
103
We have now been favored with an exhibition of the
process, and a very pretty experiment it makes. The
carbons in question are about half an inch long, with
the diameter of one-sixteenth of an inch. Their color
is steel-gray, and the surface is hard as steel; within
the carbon is tolerably soft.
In his earlier experiments, Mr. Sawyer employed as the
source of incandescence, slender pencils of gas retort
carbon in an atmosphere of illuminating gas. The car-
bons were slowly destroyed, but at the same time
they took on a superficial deposit, evidently of carbon,
but unlike in lustre and hardness any carbon that Mr.
Sawyer had seen. Inferring that a more rapid deposit
would be made in a denser hydro-carbon, Mr. Sawyer
experimented with a great variety of such liquids, find-
ing Olive oil most satisfactory. His method is simply
to heat the carbon to an extremely high temperature,
by passing through it an electric current, while it is
immersed in the oil. The best results are obtained by
104 the use of a pencil of willow carbon, upon which an in-
tensely hard deposit of carbon rapidly forms, as the
hydrocarbon is decomposed by the heated pencil.
27
Consolidated vs. McKeesport, Defendants' 105
Exhibit Morton Sanitary Engineer,
Letter April 24, 1889. W. T. F.,
S. E.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SANITARY ENGINEER :
Having a sincere respect for Mr. Edison as an en-
thusiastic and ingenious investigator, I am sorry to see
his name used by writers who evidently are quite ignor-
ant of the subjects about which they treat in a way
that will inseparably connect it with discreditable (be. 106-
cause false) claims, evidently made in the interest of
financial speculators.
No one can more thoroughly appreciate than I do the
originality of conception, the indefatigable patience and
immense labor which have been involved in the series
of experiments, of which a sketch has been given in the
"New York Herald" of Sunday, the 21st; but when I
see the conclusion of these, which every one acquainted
with the subject will recognize as a conspicuous failure,
trumpeted as a wonderful success, I have only left be- 107
fore me the two alternative conclusions-that the writer
of such matter must either be very ignorant and the
victim of deceit or a conscious accomplice in what is
nothing less than a fraud upon the public.
Such writing as this, in fact, has the melancholy re-
sult of placing Mr. Edison and his electric light in the
same category with Mr. Keely and his "water motor,"
Mr. Payne and his "electric engine," Mr. Garey and
his "magnetic motor," and others of the same class.
Against this I protest in behalf of true science and 108
for the sake of Mr. Edison himself, who has done and
is doing too much really good work to have his record
defaced and his name discredited in the interests of any
stock company or individual financiers.
HENRY MORTON.
28
}
109 STEVENS' INSTITUFE OF TECHNOLOGY,
December 22d, 1879.
{
P. S.-When I say that the achievements described
by the "Herald" of Sunday, the 21st, constitute "a
conscious failure," I do not, of course, mean that Mr.
Edison has not now, as he had a year ago, a lot of elec-
tric lamps running at Menlo Park; but that his year's
work, starting out with the most confident assertion of
an accomplished success, only awaiting granting of pat-
ents to be made public, has ended in landing him in an
110 old method repeatedly tried and abandoned by others,
and which this description furnishes no reason to be-
lieve has received any important improvement in Mr.
Edison's hands.
111
112
29
Consolidated vs. McKeesport, Defendant's 113
Exhibit Morton Sanitary Engineer
Interview April 26, 1889.
W. T. F.. S. E.
A SCIENTIFIC VIEW OF IT.
[From the "New York Times" of December 28th.]
Prof. Henry Morton, the president of the Stevens
Institute of Technology, who is well known for his
researches in physics, and whose experiments were a 114
source of unfeigned pleasure and astonishment to Prof.
Tyndall, recently sent a communication to the “Sani-
tary Engineer" protesting against the trumpeting of
the result of Edison's experiments in electric lighting
as a "wonderful success," when "every one acquainted
with the subject" will recognize it as a "conspicuous
failure." To this was added the statement that Edison
"has done and is doing too much really good work to
have his record defaced and his name discredited in
the interests of any stock company or individual finan- 115
ciers." Edison, to whose attention this letter was
called, was reported in a newspaper yesterday morning,
as inviting Prof. Morton or any other electrician to
visit the Menlo Park laboratory and see the light in
practical operation. In conversation with a Times
reporter yesterday Prof. Morton said that for several
reasons he did not think he would accept Mr. Edison's
kind invitation. "What is needed to be learned,"
said the Professor, "is the durability of these new
lamps of Mr. Edison's and the actual economy in the 116
conversion of power into light by his arrangement.
For example, according to the statement in the 'Sur,'
Mr. Edison places his present lamps and machines as
yielding him what is equivalent to 10 gas burners for
every horse-power. Now, my own experience with the
best dynamo-electric machines, such as those of Sie-
mens, Weston, Brush and Maxim, using the ordinary
carbon poles, show that we may obtain a light of from
1,200 to 1,600 candles per horse power. Assuming a
gas burner to be equal to from 12 to 16 candles, this
30
}
117 would be about 100 burners per horse power. As
compared, therefore, with the electric light obtained
between carbon poles, Mr. Edison gets only 10 per
cent., showing, therefore, precisely that enormous loss
in the division of the light which has been alluded to
before as one of the standing difficulties in the way of
the practical application of such a system as Mr. Edi-
son is working upon. This is taking simply his ap-
parently rough estimate. For any definite and certain
conclusions prolonged and careful experiments, en-
118 tirely under the control of the investigator, are abso-
lutely necessary."
As regards the durability of Prof. Edison's new
lamps, Prof. Morton was not at all sanguine. "Lamps,"
said he, "in all essential respects identical with
these described by Mr. Edison, have been in
constant experimental use for several years
past, with one invariable result, namely, that
while the carbon would operate successfully for periods
varying from a few hours to several days, it has been
119 found utterly impossible to render them reliably per-
manent. It is, therefore, in my estimation, here also
necessary that experiments of some length, likewwise
under the entire control of the investigator, should be
made in order that a decisive conclusion may be
reached. With reference to the confident assertions
of success which reach me from various quarters, I
must fall back upon my experience of a little over a
year ago. Every one remembers how, at that time,
Mr. Edison read some remarks of mine by the light of
120 his then brilliantly-glowing electric light, and pointed
to it as a shining refutation. In turning over some old
letters a few days since I came across one from a friend
of mine, who is a scientific man of high standing, and
was at that time on very intimate terms with Mr.
Edison. This letter is dated October 1878, and in
it I am assured that Mr. Edison's lamp is a perfect suc-
cess, capable of replacing a gas-burner, and that when
I see it I shall, no doubt, be charmed with its sim-
plicity and efficiency. When I reflect that this pre-
vious complete success has been since abandoned by
31
Mr. Edison, I feel that a little caution is needed in ac- 121
cepting the enthusiastic conclusions of his friends,
even when they are illuminated by the shining electric
lamps which occasion them."
"Can you tell me, Professor," asked the reporter,
"what are some of the chief difficulties in the way of
the success of Mr. Edison's light ?"
"Well," Prof. Morton replied, "the first difficulty of
all is the production of a lamp which shall be thor-
oughly reliable, and neither complicated or expensive.
All attempts up to the present lamp in this direction 122
are acknowledged to be failures, and, as I have pointed
out, there does not seem to be any novelty, such as
would authorize us to hope for a better success in the
present one. The next difficulty is in the economical
production of small lights by electricity. This is what
is commonly meant by the phrase, 'Dividing the elec-
tric light.' Up to the present time, and including Mr.
Edison's latest experiments, it appears that this in-
volves an immense loss of efficiency. Next comes the
difficulty of distributing on any large scale the immense 123
electric currents which would be needed, and to pro-
vide for their equal action at different points under
varying conditions of the number of lights used. In
reference to this, as far as I judge from the reports, Mr.
Edison has been running not over 50 lights in all,
while his 80 horse-power engine ought to supply 800
lights. The small number actually in use does not,
therefore, develop this problem in any practical way."
"The question of measuring the current," added the
Professor, as the reporter turned to leave, "the loss 124
involved from the necessity of running the machinery
without a moment's intermission during the entire time
that any light is needed-in other words, the absence
of any storing capacity in electricity-and various
other matters of detail, while less important than the three
principal difficulties which I have given you, are,
nevertheless, very serious difficulties in the direction of
a successful practical application of electricity for gen-
eral illumination."
32
125
[New York Tribune, Nov. 25th, 1880.]
ELECTRIC LAMPS IN DAILY USE.
As easily regulated as Gas.
The nature of the new incandescent light-interest
shown in it by scientific men-points in which it differs
from other lights.
Professor Henry Morton, of the Stevens Institute,
126 Hoboken, read a paper at the recent meeting of the
National Academy of Sciences on the measurement of
new forms of electric lamps operating by incandescence,
in which he gave the results of a number of experiments
made with the new Maxim lamp. These results were
unexpected by those members of the Academy who are
specially interested in electric lights. Professor Wolcott
Gibbs, of Cambridge, expressed his astonishment with-
out reserve, and said that no one had dreamed that the
light of incandescence could compete with the light of
127 the arc. Professor George F. Parker, of Philadelphia,
who has taken an active interest in the subject from the
beginning of Mr. Edison's experiments, said that the
statements of Professor Morton certainly marked a year
of great progress in electric lighting.
The paper by Professor Morton and the comments it
called forth have attracted public attention in no small
degree to the electric lamp operating by incandescence,
and to the claims that are made for it. Numbers of
people daily visit the Equitable Building, in Broadway,
128 and examine the lights there. The basement hall is
lighted by one or two large arc lamps of about 4,000
candle power each. The public has become so familiar
with lamps of this nature that they no longer attract
attention. The novelty is the small incandescent lamp,
no larger than a gas jet, of which about sixty are kept
burning day and night in the rooms and vaults of the
Mercantile Safe Deposit Company. The handsomely
furnished new reading room of this company is lighted
by a number of these lamps arranged like gas jets.
Some are placed upon the walls and some are clustered
33
in a chandelier. In order not to dazzle the eyes of 129
readers the brilliancy of the lights in this room is re-
duced, and it is therefore only in the vaults that the
lamp shines with its full strength. The light flickers.
somewhat, but this defect is probably due to some im-
perfection in the regulator, which controls the dynamo
machines furnishing the electric current. The flickering
is not at all marked, and one must look twice to detect
it, so that the failure to secure perfect steadiness is not
regarded as a serious drawback to the incandescent
lamp. The great security vaults of the company, the 130
storage vaults and the rooms, including the large offices
and halls, are furnished with the electric light. The
larger areas are lighted with the arc lamps, while the
incandescent lamps make the smaller rooms as bright
as if flooded with sunshine. The electric current is
furnished from a single Maxim machine, deriving its
power from the engines in the Equitable Building. This
machine is controlled by à regulator which determines
the force of the electric current required. The lamps.
are so constructed that they can be turned on and off 131
at will, as gas is managed, with the advantage that the
lamps light themselves. There is no waste, because
when lamps are turned off the regulator causes the ma-
chine to furnish a current of proportionately less
strength to the remaining lamps. The lamps now used
at the Equitable Building have been burning day
and night for three weeks, without the failure of a
lamp or any perceptible change in the light of a lamp.
132
1
AN EXPLANATION BY PROFESSOR MORTON.
A " Tribune" reporter received from Professor Mor-
ton a few days since a clear explanation of the pecul-
iarities of the Maxim lamp. "This incandescent lamp,"
said he, "'differs from other electric lamps in the re-
spect that it starts with a filament or conductor of
carbon made in any way. This filament is placed in a
glass globe from which the air has been exhausted, and
replaced by the vapor of gasoline. If there is any weak
34
133 point or thin part in the carbon filament, when the
current is passed through it. this point or part will be-
come hotter than the rest, and will decompose the gaso-
line so as to deposit carbon in the form known as coal
gas carbon upon that particular spot. When this spot
has been built up to an equal conductivity with the
rest of the filament, the current from the machine is
increased with the effect of seeking out the next weakest
point or thinnest part, and repeating the process just
described. In this way the filament becomes glazed
134 with gas carbon. The gasoline is then withdrawn from
the globe, and the lamp is ready for use.
"The incandescent lamp differs from the Edison
lamp in this regard: Mr. Edison makes a carbon fila-
ment and this filament must be perfectly uniform at the
start. If any one point happens to be a worse con-
ductor than the rest of the carbon, this point becomes
more highly heated than any other point, and if the
whole filament is run up to the necessary intensity to
give a good light, this point is carried beyond its endur-
135 ance and vaporizes. As Mr. Edison himself says, it
bursts and disappears, and the lamp is destroyed. He
has no means of remedying this except by extreme care
in selecting material so as to make his filament abso-
lutely uniform; he has no method for correction.
"Another important feature in the Maxim lamp is in
the nature of this glazing, as it may be called, or plat-
ing of gas carbon-a material which has long been
known for its remarkable resisting powers. It is not
only incombustible, but it is mechanically strong in a
136 notable degree. In attempting to cut it, the best files
and steel saws are soon ruined. Lumps of it may be
put into a cupola furnance and they will come out
practically unchanged. This would seem, therefore, to
be a peculiarly fit material to stand the severe strain to
which it is subjected in these electric lamps.
“In determining the economy and efficiency of these
and other lamps, it is required to know three things:
The amount of light they give as compared with the
standard candle, which consumes two grains of sper-
maceti per minute; the amount of electric current
35
flowing through the lamp, and the amount of resistauce 137
to the electric current present in the lamp. In order to
obtain this knowledge the lamp is placed in the instru-
ment, known as the Photometer, where the light it
gives is accurately measured by a comparison with that
of one or two standard candles, and at the same time
by appropriate electric instruments, the amount of the
current and the resistance in the lamp are measured.
These quantities being known, the power expended by
the electric current in overcoming the resistance of the
lamp can be calculated by a simple formula. And 138-
this is an accurate measure of the work done
or the valuable energy expended in the lamp.
The candle power is, of course, a measure of the
light produced, and that lamp is the most econom-
ical which for a given amount of work done or energy
expended in it will give us the most light. The work
done is expressed in foot pounds per minute, whether
it be an electric current or any other form of energy.
Thus, a current of 34 webers passing through a resist-
ance of 5 ohms would do a work in one minute of 139
about 2,700 foot pounds. A horse-power, as every-
body knows, is equal to 33,000 foot pounds per minute.
Therefore, this amount of work is about one-eleventh
of a horse-power. The lamp in which this amount of
force was being developed or converted into light gave
at that time a light of 12 candles; and as evidently 11
such lamps might have been operated by a current
developing eleven times the energy of the one used,
they would have together produced the light of eleven
times twelve candles, or 132 candles, and we would 140
then say the efficiency of this lamp was 132 candles per
horse-power of electric current. The exact amount of
mechanical force in a steam-engine or the like required.
to produce an electric current of one-horse power
would vary, of course, with the particular dynamo
electric machine employed and with other conditions,
and would, of course, always be notably more than the
electric current itself represented."
((
What, in a word, would you say the Maxim lamp
has accomplished ? "
36
141
"The system of Maxim is the first one in which has
been practically solved the problem of producing a
moderately small life with a correspondingly small
electric current; or, in other words, of utilizing the
small portions of a divided current. There is nothing
new, of course, in the idea of dividing the electric cur-
rent; the practised novelty is in the construction of a
lamp that enables us to utilize the portions of the cur-
rent when it has been divided. What I mean may
be
made plain by an illustration. Let it be supposed that
142 at one time gas was so little understood that it could
not be used except when passed through a burner of
not less than 100 candle power, and then let it be sup-
posed that somebody discovered a means by which gas
became luminous when used as it now is. The person
who, under this supposition, brought gas into general
use would have accomplished with gas what the incan-
descent lamp has done in electric lighting.'
""
143
144
37
•
IN THE MATTER OF THE LITIGATION NOW PENDING BE- 145
TWEEN SAWYER & MAN AND THE EDISON ELEC-
TRIC LIGHT COMPANY.
WILLIAM SHARP, being duly sworn, testified as
follows:
BY MR. TOMLINSON: Q. Please state when you first
met Mr. Albon Man, or Mr. Wm. E. Sawyer?
A. I knew Mr. Man for some time prior to the ex-
periments of Sawyer & Man on electric lighting; Mr.
Sawyer I met for the first time at the shop of Arnoux & 146
Hockhausen, No. 2 Howard street.
Q. Please state in detail what was the first work
done by you for either Mr. Sawyer or Mr. Man relating
in any way to electric lighting?
A. I was living in Brooklyn and had a lathe and
some tools at my house and did work there. The first
work that I did for either Sawyer or Man was done at
my house in Brooklyn. Mr. Man brought me some
glass globes and some blocks of gas retort carbon, and
stated to me that he desired the carbon filed down and 147
a lamp made. I don't now remember in detail just the
character of the lamp. I think I made two lamps, but
not more than two. I got pieces of metal and made
them in the proper size and shape; as nearly as I can
now recollect, the lamp contained a globe of glass about
six inches long, and about three or four inches in diam-
eter. I made the supports for the carbon of the lamp
and they were inserted through the neck of the lamp
globe into the lamp and fastened there by nuts and
paper washers. I worked the blocks of carbon down 148
until I had got two pieces of carbon, one of about the
size and shape shown in No. 1 of the drawing marked
"A," the other a strip of carbon of about the size and
shape shown in No. 2 of the drawing marked “A.” The
circular carbon was, I think, an experiment, and I don't
think it was ever put in the lamp. The carbon worked
down to the shape shown in No. 2, was the size and
general shape of the carbon I put in the lamp. These
lamps were so made that the carbon could be replaced.
I gave the lamps to Mr. Man. Mr. Man, while I was
38
149) working on these two lamps, at my house, came at least
half a dozen times to my house to instruct me in the
work, and occasionally helped me do the work. I should
think I was working on these lamps about a month. I
have no knowledge whether while I was making
these lamps at my house, anybody else was making
lamps for them. I did not know that it was a
lamp that I was working on
was working on until I went to
Mr. Man's office to get my money for it, when he asked
me if I knew what I had been making and I told him
150 no; he then told me that it was an electric lamp. I
am quite confident that I made but two lamps and two
pieces of carbon. The carbon was gas retort carbon
which I worked on, as I have said. About a month
after I had delivered this lamp, I saw it for the first
time in Sawyer's place, at No. 2 Howard street; I saw
it lit at intervals, during a month or two, and I under-
stood that occasionally they would light it and show it.
I did not understand that they burned it steadily.
They would merely run it to incandescence for a few
151 minutes at a time, and it was their custom to replace
the carbon.
152
Q. When next did you work for Sawyer and Man?
A. I entered their employ while they were at No. 2
Howard street, and remained with them after they were
at Elm and Walker streets, leaving them, as nearly as I
can now recollect, about May, 1879.
Q. During this time were you at their laboratories or
shops during the working hours of each day?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. During this period were you familiar with the
work that was done at these laboratories?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And with the various experiments that were con-
ducted?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was any attempt made to conceal from you what
was being done, or did you have free access through
the laboratory, and were you generally familiar with all
that was done while you were in their employ?
A. I had the privilege of seeing anything that was
39
going on and am generally familiar with what was done. 153
I am not an electrician but am an expert mechanic and
was largely employed on mechanical work.
Q. What was the general nature of the work in which
you were engaged?
A. Chiefly on the mechanical parts of the lamps that
were made; I also worked in forming the carbons to
the desired size.
Q. During the time that you were employed by
them, what was the general type of lamp on which they
were experimenting, or making, as nearly as you now 151
remember?
A. The lamp contained a glass globe about eight
inches long by about two inches in diameter. The base
of the globe, by nuts and washers, was fastened to glass
plates; the glass plate and the globe were clamped
together by metal rings. The interior part of the lamp
was fastened mechanically to the base of the lamp in
different ways. The base of the lamp was then sur-
rounded with melted sealing-wax; after this was done
the base was placed in a metallic shell and filled with 155
bees-wax. The interior of the lamp contained a short
pencil of carbon; a disk of soapstone or metal separ-
ated the illuminating part of the interior from radiators
such as are shown in figure 1 of Letters Patent 205,144.
The shape and character of these radiators, however,
differed; some being serpentine and some of other
shapes.
•
Q. From the time that you first were regularly em-
ployed by them until the time you left them, which, as
nearly as you can recollect, as I understand you, was
from September, 1878, to May, 1879, how many com-
pleted lamps in all were made by them?
A. I should say a couple of dozen; I am sure that
not more than fifty were made.
Q. What was the character of carbon usually em-
ployed in these lamps as the incandescent conductor?
A. Usually pencils made from gas retort carbon.
Q. What was the shape and dimensions of these
pencils?
A. Straight pencils, about half an inch in length,
156
40
157 varying in diameter from three sixty-fourths to one-six-
teenth of an inch.
Q. Were these lamps so constructed that they could
be taken apart and new pencils of carbon inserted?
A. They were.
Q. Do you know, and if so, state whether it was their
habit to take their lamps apart and replace the pencils
which were consumed by new pencils of carbon?
A. I do know that it was their habit so to do.
Q. What is the longest period during which you have
158 known one of their lamps to remain at continual incan-
descence?
159
A. Not over an hour; certainly not over two.
Q. Do you ever remember to have been told of a
lamp remaining incandescent for over that time?
A. No; I do not remember.
Q. If any lamp had remained incandescent for two
or three days at a time, or for a week or two, do you
not think you would have been likely to have known of
it, or have heard of it?
A. I do.
Q. Did you ever know or hear of a lamp remaining
at continual incandescence for as long as a day?
A. I never did.
Q. If one had burned as long as that, would you not
have been apt to have known or heard of it?
A. I think I should.
Q. During the entire time that you were there did
they make any lamp which you would consider a prac-
tical lamp? I mean by that, one that could be made
160 and sold commercially, and actually used for purposes
of illumination?
A. No, sir; I think their lamps were merely experi-
ments.
Q. Did you ever know of their making any test of
the life of their lamps, or keeping any records as to
how long the lamps would burn?
A. No; I don't know anything about that.
Q. Did you ever know of their doing any carboniza-
tion while they were at Howard, or at Elm and Walker
streets? By carbonization I mean taking some mate-
41
rial such as wood, or paper in its natural state, and 161
making it into carbon by the heat of the furnace ?
A. No.
Q. If this had been done to any extent, or if carbons
thus made had been used to any extent, would you not
have been apt to have known of it?
A. I would.
Q. Then, as I understand you, the carbons which
were used, so far as your knowledge goes, were car-
bons purchased by them and reduced mechanically to
the desired size?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you ever know or hear of their carbonizing
paper wood or other substances?
A. I never did.
Q. Did you ever know or hear of their using, or try-
ing in their lamps, carbons made from paper?
A. No, sir.
Q. If this had been done would you have been apt
to have known of it?
A. I would, probably.
Q. Did you ever know or hear of their carbonizing
any fibrous or textile material?
A. I never did.
Q. If they had done so, would you have been apt to
have known of it?
A. I think I would.
Q. Do you know of their using or trying any carbons
other than gas retort carbon, and if so, please state the
fact as you understand it?
162:
163
A. I remember their getting what were called willow 164
charcoal; these were what is generally known as artist's
crayon's. They were filed down to the desired size.
These crayons were always treated by putting a shell of
carbon on the outside. The willow crayons are the only
kind of carbon, other than gas retort carbon, which I
ever knew them to try or use. I remember some car-
bons called French carbons, such as are used in arc
lights, but these I understand to be gas retort carbons.
Q. In their laboratories did they have extensive ap-
paratus for the conduct of experiments?
42
165
A. They had pretty fair tools, but very little chemi-
cal apparatus, as I understand it. The shop more re-
sembled a mechanic's workshop.
Q. Do you know whether they had an air pump of
any kind?
A. I never saw one, and I don't think they had one.
I think that for a short time they had some sort of ap-
paratus for taking the air out of the globes with water ;
but they used to send their lamps out. Toward the last
they had Mr. Stillman came up to the shop; they then
166 had some apparatus to charge the globes with gas.
167
168
Q. Did you ever know of their using in any of their
lamps an incandescent conductor as long as two or
three inches and as fine as a horsehair?
A. No, sir.
Q. If they had ever used such a conductor while you
were with them, would you have known of it?
A. I certainly would.
Q. Did you ever know, or hear, of their experimenting
in any way with such a conductor?
A. No, sir; I never did.
Q. Had they ever done so, would you have been apt
to have known or seen or heard of it?
A. I certainly would.
Q. If they had had any apparatus for the obtaining
of a high vacuum, would you have been apt to have
known of it?
A. I think I would.
Q. Did you ever know of their having such an appa-
ratus ?
A. I never did.
Q. Who, beside yourself, worked at the shops of
Sawyer and Man?
A. Principally-Mr. Meyers, young George Sawyer,
William E. Sawyer and William Sawyer, Sr.
Q. Did you ever hear of a Mr. Keating?
A. I believe Keating did some work for them before
I went with them. I have heard of him and seen
him.
Q. Did you ever know of the interior of their lamp
being enclosed in a globe entirely of glass?
43
A. I never did.
Q. Afterwards did you work with Mr. William E.
Sawyer when he was in Ansonia ?
A. I did.
Q. Did you assist him in his experiments there?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know of any lamps being made with a
circular carbon, such as shown in the drawing of
Patent 317,676, while you were in New York?
169
A. Yes, I did work, myself, on a lamp containing
such a carbon. I don't think over two such lamps were 170
made. I think the round carbon was too bothersome.
They made many more of the other kind of lamp.
Q. You say you worked with Mr. Sawyer after his
separation from Mann, at Ansonia ?
A. I did.
Q. What kind of lamp was he then at work upon?
A. The feeder lamp.
Q. Do you know whether he considered that type of
lamp better than the lamps he had made in New
York?
171
A. I believe he did. I think he considered it a
better style of lamp..
Q. Did you ever know of his making a lamp at
Ansonia that could be considered practical?
A. I never did.
Q. In the lamps made in New York, were they
troubled with blackening of the globe of the lamp?
A. They were; the globe would always blacken if
they burned them long enough.
Q. When the globe would blacken, was it their habit 172
to take the lamp apart, clean the globe and put in a
new carbon ?
A. It was.
Q. When was the first you ever heard of paper
carbon being tried by Sawyer, or anybody with whom
you were connected ?
A. Sometime after Sawyer had left Ansonia I knew
of Mr. William Wallace, Sr., trying to carbonize a
piece of paper, but I don't think it was ever put in a
lamp, as far as I know. He tried to carbonize it, I
44
}
173 think, between two pieces of iron. I believe he was
led to this by the publication of Edison's experiments.
WILLIAM SHARP.
Subscribed and Sworn to before me
this 17th day of June, 1886.
'}
JOHN C. TOMLINSON,
Notary Public, N. Y. Co.
The above statement was made by Mr. Sharp in the
presence of Mr. James A. Russell and Martin R.
174 Winchell and Mr. J. C. Tomlinson, the witness being
interrogated by Mr. Tomlinson, and questions and
answers being taken by Mr. Winchell in shorthand.
175
176
45
Collected Works of Sir Humphrey Davy, 177
Vol. II. London, 1839, Pages 211 to
213 inclusive.
AN ACCOUNT OF SOME EXPERIMENTS OF GALVANIC ELEO-
TRICITY MADE IN THE THEATRE OF THE ROYAL
INSTITUTION.
The apparatus employed in these experiments was
composed of 150 series of plates of copper and zinc of
four inches square and 50 of silver and zinc of the 178
same size. The metals were carefully cemented into
four boxes of wood in regular order after the manner
adopted by Mr. Cruickshank and the fluid made use of
was water combined with about 6 part of its weight
in nitric acid.
1
The shock taken from the batteries by the moistened
hands was not so powerful, but that it could be re-
received without any permanently disagreeable effects.
Charges were readily communicated by means of them
to connected jars and to a battery, but in this case the 179
effects produced by the electricity were much less
distinguished than in the case of immediate applica-
tion.
When the circuit in the batteries was completed by
mean of small knobs of brass the spark perceived was
of a dazzling brightness and in apparent diameter at
least one-eighth of an inch. It was perceived only
at the moment of the test of the metals and it was ac-
companied by a noise or snap.
When instead of the metals pieces of well-burned 180
charcoal were employed the spark was still larger and
of a vivid whiteness and evident combustion was pro-
duced, the charcoal remained red-hot for some time
after the contact and threw off bright coruscations.
Four inches of steel wire of an inch in diameter
on being placed in the circuit became intensely white-hot
at the point of connection and burned with great vivid-
ness, being at the same time red throughout the whole
of their extent.
Tin, Lead and Zinc in thin shavings were fused and
46
181 burned at their points of contact in the circuit with a
vivid light and with a loud hissing noise. Zinc gave a
blue flame, tin a purplish and lead a yellow flame at
the circumference.
When copper leaf was employed it instantly inflamed
at the edges with a green light and vivid sparks and
became red hot throughout the whole of its diameter
when it did not exceed four inches.
Silver leaf gave a vivid light, white in the centre and
green towards the outline with red sparks or corusca-
182 tions. Platinum in thin slips when made to complete
the circuit became white hot and entered into fusion
and gave scintillations at the edges, but whether any
part was converted into oxide could not be accurately
determined.
When gold leaf, attached by gum water to white
paper was burned by the spark the light was of a bright
yellow and the noise comparatively loud; the gold was
converted into an oxide of a purplish brown color
which firmly adhered to the paper and by regulating
183 the course of the spark by means of the communicating
wire letters and figures were traced by the fusion which
appeared somewhat transparent when exposed to the
light.
When the galvano-electric spark was taken by means
of pieces of charcoal barely covered with cotton, the
cotton was readily inflamed; whether in its simple
state or sprinkled over with resin or sulphur.
Fulminating murcury and gun pipe were deflagrated
by means of the communication of charcoal; and
134 hydrogen and the compound inflamable gases were
readily made to burn when simply in contact with the
atmosphere and detonated when mixed with oxygen.
A few only of these results have any claim to
originality. On the phenomena of the combustion of
bodies by galvanism we have been already furnished
with many striking experiments by our own country
and by the German and French philosophers. And
after the path is once discovered, in researches of this
kind, to pursue it requires but little ability or exertion.
47
An account of common facts under new circumstances 185
particularly when they are accompanied by striking
phenomena can, however, never be wholly useless and
it sometimes gives a novel interest to the subject and
tends to awaken curiosity.
186
817
188
48
189 Collected Works of Sir Humphrey Davy,
London, 1839, Vol. II., beginning at
190
191
192
page 214, under the title :
ACCOUNT OF SOME EXPERIMENTS MADE IN THE LABORA-
TORY OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION RELATING TO THE
AGENCIES OF GALVANIC ELECTRICITY IN PRODUCING
HEAT AND IN EFFECTING CHANGES IN DIFFERENT
FLUID SUBSTANCES-
particularly pages 216-18-19-20.
*
*
*
*
*
3. When two small pieces of well burned charcoal or
a piece of charcoal and a wire were made to complete
the circuit in water vivid sparks were perceived, gas
was given out very plentifully and the points of the
charcoal appeared red hot in the fluid for some time
after the contact was made, and as long as this ap-
pearance existed elastic fluid was generated with the
noise of ebullition. The sensible phenomena were
nearly the same with the volatile and fixed oils, ether
and alcohol; and by means of charcoal the sparks could
be produced in concentrated and sulphuric and nitric
acids, which are among the best of the less perfect con-
ductors.
The gases produced from different fluids by the
galvano-electric spark were examined, and as the re-
sults were in most cases what might have been ex-
pected from theory, the analysis of them was not made
with very minute attention.
When water was acted upon by sparks taken from
two pieces of charcoal the elastic products evolved
were about one-eighth of carbonic acid, one-eighth of
oxygen and the remainder an inflammable gas, which
required a little more than half its volume of oxygen
for its combustion. With gold and charcoal, the gold
being on the zinc side, the gas produced appeared to
be chiefly a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen, for it
diminished by the electric spark.
ΤΟ
The gas disengaged from alcohol, the spark being
taken by gold connected with the zinc end and char-
coal, was a mixture of nearly two parts of oxygen and
49
eleven parts of inflammable gas which appeared to be 193
light hydro-carbonate.
Ether in the same method of operating gave four
parts of oxygen and twelve parts of inflammable gas.
From sulphuric acid oxygen and hydrogen were pro-
duced very rapidly, the oxygen being more than suffi-
cient for the saturation of the hydrogen by combus-
tion, and the acid became blue.
The gas from nitric acid detonated with great vio-
lence by the electric spark and the residuum was oxy-
gen mixed with a little nitrogen.
194
The products from the acids there is every reason to
believe were evolved chiefly in consequence of the
decomposition of the water they contained. And in
operating upon these substances as well as upon pure
water, a portion of the elastic fluid must have been
produced at the time of the slightest transmission of
the electricity during the momentary interruption of
contact. The apparent ignition of the charcoal in the
different fluids depended probably in some measure
upon its being surrounded at the moment of contact 195
by globules of glass which prevented the heat produced
at the points of it from being carried off by the fluid.
When the spark was taken by means of iron wire
in phosphorus rendered fluid by heat under a stratum
of water, permanent gas was produced from it, but in a
quantity too small to be examined after a process that
continued an hour. I purpose to repeat the experiment
with conductors of dry charcoal.
*
*
*
*
*
*
5. As the great quantity of electricity by it circulate 196
through perfect conductors by means of the larger ap-
paratus increases their affinity for oxygen more, per-
haps, than any known agent, and as charcoal by means
of it can be rendered white hot and kept in constant
combustion in oxygen gas or atmospherical air, I thought
that trying the effects of the electrical ignition of this
substance upon muriatic acid gas confined over mercury.
This experiment was made by means of a small glass
tube containing a slip of platina hermetically sealed
into it and having a piece of charcoal attached to its
50
197 lower extremity; a communication was effected by
means of iron wires and the charcoal was made white
hot by the successive contacts continued for nearly two
hours. At the end of this time the muriatic acid gas
had diminished a very little in volume; much white
matter had formed upon the charcoal, which was not
sensibly consumed. When the gas was examined 3/4
of it were instantly absorbed by water and the remain-
der proved to be inflammable. The process was re-
peated three times; and when the spark was most vivid
198 a white cloud was always perceived at the moment of
its production. I am inclined to attribute this
phenomenon and other phenomena to the depo-
sition of the water held in solution in the gas by
the charcoal and the mercury adhering to it; and the
white matter was probably muriate of mercury. The
acid gases are rapidly absorbed by charcoal, and this
substance, when well made, will take up more than
thirty times its volume of muriatic acid gas; so that in
the process of ignition a part of the water and of the
199 acid must have been acted upon in a very condensed
state.
The want of success in this experiment, the results of
which are very similar to those obtained by Mr. Wm.
Henry in his trials with common electricity, prevented
me from carrying on the process upon fluoric acid gas
as I had at first intended. Many of the compounds of
gases that are decomposed by heated charcoal might
probably, however, be classed in a very simple manner
by means of the ignition of that substance by galvanic
200 electricity; and this mode of operating may be conven-
iently applied for ascertaining the relations of the affin-
ities of charcoal for the constituent parts of compoud
gases at very high temperatures.
APPARATUS FOR TAKING THE GALVANIC-ELECTRICAL
SPARK IN FLUIDS AND AERIFORM SUBSTANCES.
Fig. 1 represents the apparatus for taking the spark
in fluids. A is a tube graduated to grain measure; C
+
51
is a platina wire hermetically sealed into the tube and 201
having a piece of charcoal attached to its top; B is a
movable platina wire having charcoal at its top; the
effect is produced by making a contact between the
pieces of charcoal. In cases when the fluids are very
imperfect conductors the wires may be used without
the charcoal.
Fig. 2 represents the apparatus for taking the spark
in gases; it is used over mercury. A and B are the
connecting platina wires to which the charcoal is fasts
ened, and C is the graduated tube in which the gas i- 202:
acted upon.
203
204
52
205 Collected works of Sir Humphrey Davy,
Vol. IV., London, 1840, pp. 109,
110, 111, 112, 221, 231, 232.
*
*
X
*
*
Let two platina wires from the extremities of a bat-
tery composed of plates of a foot square be plunged
into water, the quantity of gas disengaged from the
wires will be nearly the same as from an equal number
of plates of an inch square; let the fingers of each hand,
206 moistened with water, be applied to the two extremities
of the battery a shock will be perceived, nearly the
same as if there had been no connection between the
wires and the water. Whilst the circuit exists through
the human body and through water let a wire attached
to a thin slip of charcoal be made to connect the two
poles of the battery, the charcoal will become vividly
ignited.
*
*
X
*
*
The first distinct experiment upon the igniting
207 powers of large plates was performed by MM. Four-
croy, Vauquelin and Theuard. But the greatest com-
bination ever constructed for exhibiting the effects of
extensive surface was made by Mr. Children; it consists
of twenty double plates, four feet by two, of which the
whole surfaces are exposed in a wooden trough, in cells
covered with cement, to the action of diluted acids.
This battery when in full action had no more effect
on water or on the human body than one containing
an equal number of small plates; but when the circuit.
208 was made through metallic wires the phenomena were
of the most brilliant kind. A platina wire of of an
inch in thickness and 18 inches long placed in the cir-
cuit between bars of copper instantly became red hot,
then white hot; the brilliancy of the light was soon
insupportable to the eye, and in a few seconds the
metal fell fused into globules. The other metals were
easily fused or dissipated in vapor by this power.
Points of charcoal ignited by it produced a light so
vivid that even the sunshine compared with it appeared
feeble.
53
*
X-
*
*
*
209
·
27. The most powerful combination that exists in
each number of alternations is combined with extent of
surface is that that constructed by the subscriptions of
a few zealous cultivators and patrons of science in the
laboratory of the Royal Institution. It consists of two
hundred instruments connected together in regular
order, each composed of ten double plates arranged in
cells of porcelain, and containing in each plate thirty-
two square inches; so that the whole number of double
plates is 2,000, and the whole surface is 128,000 square 210
inches. This battery, when the cells were filled with
60 parts of water mixed with one part of nitric acid
and one part of sulphuric acid, afforded a series of
brilliant and impressive effects. When pieces of char-
coal about an inch long and one-sixth of an inch in di-
ameter were brought near each other (within the
thirtieth or fortieth part of an inch) a bright spark was
produced, and more than half the volume of charcoal
became ignited to whiteness, and by withdrawing the
points from each other a constant discharge took place 211
through the heated air in a space equal at least to four
inches, producing a most brilliant ascending arch of
light, broad and conical in form in the middle. When
any substance was introduced into this arch it instantly
became ignited; platina melted as readily in it as wax
in the flame of a common candle; quartz, the sapphire,
magnesia, lime, all entered into fusion; fragments of
diamond and points of charcoal and plumbago rapidly
disappeared and seemed to evaporate in it even when
the connection was made in a receiver exhausted by 212
the air pump; but there was no evidence of their hav-
ing previously undergone fusion.
When the communication between the points posi-
tively or negatively electrified was made in air rarified
in the receiver of the air pump the distance at which
the discharge took place increased as the exhaustion
was made, and when the atmosphere in the vessel sup-
ported only of an inch of mercury in the barometrical
gauge the sparks passed through a space of nearly half
an inch, and by withdrawing the points from each other
54
213 the discharge was made through six or seven inches,
producing a most beautiful coruscation of purple light,
the charcoal became intensely ignited and some platina
wire attached to it fused with brilliant scintilla-
tions and fell in large globules upon the plate
of the pump.
All the phenomena of chemical
decomposition were produced with intense rapidity by
this combination. When the points of charcoal were
brought near each other in non-conducting fluids such
as oils, ether and oxymuriatic compounds brilliant
214 sparks occurred and elastic matter was rapidly gener-
ated; and such was the intensity of the electricity that
sparks were produced even in good imperfect conduc-
tors such as nitric and sulphuric acids.
V. OF CARBON OR CHARCOAL AND THE DIAMOND.
1. The name carbon signifies the pure inflammable
part of charcoal, lampblack and other similar sub-
stances. The purest known form in which it can be
215 obtained is by passing oils or spirit of wine through
ignited tubes. It even appears as an impalpable black
powder; it has no taste or smell; it is a conductor of
electricity; it is more than twice as heavy as water.
For the common purposes of experiments the charcoal
of light wood, such as the alder, that has been exposed
to boiling water and afterwards ignited to whiteness is
sufficiently pure. Such charcoal, however, rapidly at-
tracts moisture from the atmosphere so as to increase
in weight from 12 to 14 per cent. and when dry absorbs
216 several times its volume of any gas to which it may be
exposed and it must therefore be employed immediately
after ignition and whilst yet warm.
Carbon whether coherent in charcoal or in powder is
infusable by any heat that has hitherto been applied.
I have exposed it to the powers of intense ignition of
different voltaic batteries-that of Mr. Children men-
tioned on page 109, one of forty double plates of 18 inches
square and the battery of 2,000 double plates of four
inches both in vacuo and in compressed gases on which
it had no power of chemical action. A little hydrogen
55
was given off from it and it slowly volatized in these 217
experiments and the part remaining was much harder
than before, so as in one case to scratch glass, and the
lustre was greater, but its other properties were
unaltered, and there was no appearance of fusion. Its
capacity for heat, according to Dr. Crawford, is to that
of water as .2631 to 1.
*
Page 231.
*
*
*
*
*
*
25
12. Plumbago or black lead and. anthracite or stone
coal are both tolerably pure forms of the carbonaceous 218
element. In plumbago the carbon is united either
chemically or mechanically to about of iron; in an-
thracite with small quantities of earthy matter. In the
anthracite of Kilkenny in Ireland, the texture is often
fibrous and the substance has all the characters of well-
burned charcoal. In flaming coal the carbonaceous ele-
ment is united to bitumen.
13. Few substances are more important in civilized
life than the different forms of carbon; in their various
uses they are essential to the comforts and well being 219
of society and are necessary in almost all the useful arts.
and manufactures.
The inflammable gases produced by the distillation
of pit coal have already been successfully used in man-
ufactories for the purposes of affording light, and the
application is at once safe and economical.
In nature the carbonaceous element is still active in
an important series of operations; it is evolved in fer-
mentation and combustion in carbonic acid; it is sepa-
rated from oxygen in the organs of plants, is a principal 220
element in animal structure and is found in different
forms in almost all products of organized beings.
56
221 Collected works of Sir Humphrey Davy
Vol. V., London, 1840, pp. 172, 173.
222
X
*
*
*
*
When small pieces of charcoal from the willow that
had been intensely ignited are acted upon by voltaic
electricity in a Torricellian vacuum every precaution be-
ing taken to exclude moisture from the mercury and
the charcoal, the results were very different from those
occurring in the case of plumbago.
When plumbago was used after the first spark which
generally passed through a distance of about of an
inch there was no continuation of light without a con-
tact or an approach to the same distance; but from the
charcoal a flame seemed to issue of a most brilliant
purple and formed as it were a conducting chain of
light of nearly an inch in length at the same time that
elastic matter was rapidly formed some of which was
permanent. After many unsuccessful trials I at length
succeeded in collecting the quantity of elastic fluid
223 given out by half a grain of charcoal; the process had
been continued nearly half an hour. The quantity of
gas amounted to nearly an eighth of a cubical inch; it
was inflammable to the electric spark with oxygen gas
and four measures of it absorbed three measures of
oxygen and produced one measure and a half of car-
bonic acid. The charcoal in this experiment had be-
come harder at the point and its lustre where it had
been heated to whiteness approached to that of the
plumbago.
224
*
*
Pp. 220, 221, 222.
*
*
*
III. FURTHER INQUIRIES RESPECTING CARBONACEOUS
MATTER.
On the idea which I have stated that they may con-
sist of the carbonaceous matter combined with a little
oxygen I exposed charcoal intensely ignited by voltaic
electricity to nitrogen, conceiving it possible that if this
body was an oxide containing oxygen very intimately
-57
combined it might part with it in small proportions to 225
carbonaceous matter and give an important result.
The charcoal which had been made with great care
was preserved for a quarter of an hour in a state of igni-
tion in which platina instantly fused. It did not appear
to charge in its visible properties; but a small quantity
of black sublimate which proved to be nothing more
than finely divided carbonaceous matter collected in an
arborescent state upon the platina wire to which the
charcoal was attached. The gas had increased in volume
; but this was owing to the evolution of carburetted 226
inflammable gas from the charcoal; the nitrogen was
unchanged in quantity and as far as my examination
could go, in quality. The points of the charcoal where
the heat had been intense were rather harder than be-
fore the experiment.
I have mentioned that charcoal even when strongly
ignited is incapable of decomposing corrosive sublimate.
When charcoal in a state of ignition is brought in con-
tact with oxymuriatic acid gas the combustion in-
stantly ceases. I electrified two pieces of charcoal in 227
a globe filled with oxymuriatic acid gas which had
been introduced after exhaustion of the globe. They
were preserved after nearly an hour in intense ignition by
the same means that had been employed in the experi-
ment on nitrogen. At first white fumes arose probably
principally from the formation of common muriatic
acid gas by the action of the hydrogen of charcoal upon
the oxymuriatic acid and the combination of the gas so
produced with aqueous vapor in the globe; but this
effect soon ceased. At the end of the process oxy-
muriatic acid gas was found unaltered in its properties,
copper leaf burned in it with a vivid light. The char-
coal did not perceptibly differ from the charcoal that
had been exposed to nitrogen. My view in making
this experiment was to ascertain whether some
combination of carbonaceous matter with oxygen might
not be formed in the process, and I hoped likewise to
be able to free charcoal entirely from combined hydro-
gen and from alkaline and earthy matter supposing they
existed in it not fully combined with oxygen. That
228
58
229 hydrogen must have separated in the experiment it is
not possible to doubt, and on evaporating the deposit
on the sides of the globe, which was in very minute
quantity and acted like concentrated muriatic acid, it
left a perceptible and saline residuum.
P. 275.
V. SOME CONSIDERATIONS OF THEORY ILLUSTRATED BY
NEW FACTS.
230
*
X-
*
*
*
X-
1;
Muriatic acid gas, as I have shown and as is further
proved by the researches of MM. Gay Lassac and
Thenard is a compound of a body unknown in a sep-
arate state and water. The water, I believe, cannot be
decompounded unless a new combination is formed
thus it is not changed by charcoal ignited in the gas by
voltaic electricity; but it is decompounded by all the
metals; in these cases hydrogen is elicited in a manner
similar to that in which one metal is precipitated by
231 another; the oxygen being found in the new com-
pound.
VII. RESEARCHES ON THE OXYMURIATIC ACID, ITS NA-
TURE AND COMBINATIONS, AND ON THE ELEMENTS OF THE
MURIATIC ACID; WITH SOME EXPERIMENTS ON SULPHUR
AND PHOSPHORUS MADE IN THE LABORATORY OF THE ROYAL
INSTITUTION.
P. 285.
In the second volume of the Memoirs d'Arcueil, MM.
Gay Lassac and Thenard have detailed an extensive
232 series of facts upon muriatic acid and oxymuriatic acid.
Some of their experiments are similar to those I have
detailed in the paper just referred to; others are pe-
culiarly their own and of a very curious kind; their
general conclusion is that muriatic acid gas contains
about of its weight of water; and that oxymuriatic
acid is not decomposable by any substance but hydro-
gen or such as can form triple combinations with it.
One of the most singular facts that I have observed on
this subject, and which I have before referred to, is
59
that charcoal, even when ignited to whiteness in oxy- 233
muriatic or muriatic acid gases by the voltaic battery,
effects no change in them; if it has been previously
freed from hydrogen and moisture by intense ignition
in vacuo.
234
235
236
60
237 Watt's Dictionary of Chemistry, Vol. 1,
London, 1863, pp. 759 and 760.
CARBON.
Wood Charcoal. Wood consists of carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen, the two latter being in the proportion to
form water. When heated in the open air it burns
completely away with the exception of a small quan-
tity of white ash; but if the supply of air is limited
238 only the more volatile ingredients burn away and a
greater part of the carbon remains behind. This is the
principle of the process of charcoal burning as it is
practiced in countries where wood is abundant, on the
Harz mountains in Germany for instance. A number
of billets of wood are built up vertically in two or three
rows into a large conical heap which is covered over
with turf or moistened charcoal ash, holes being left at
the bottom for air to get in. A hollow space is also
left in the middle of the heap to serve as a flue for the
239 gaseous matters which are evolved. The heap is set on
fire by throwing burning pieces of wood into the cen-
tral opening near the top of which, however, a kind of
grate made of billets of wood is placed to prevent the
burning fuel from falling at once to the bottom. The
combustion then proceeds gradually from the top to
the bottom and from the centre to the outside of the
heap; and as the central portions burn away fresh
wood is continually thrown in at the top so as to keep
the heat quite full. The appearance of the smoke
240 shows how the combustion is proceeding; when it is
going on properly the smoke is thick and white; if it
becomes thin and especially if the blue flame appears
it is a sign that the wood is burning away too fast ; the
combustion must then be checked by partially stopping
up the holes at the bottom or by heaping fresh ashes
on the top and sides, and pressing them down well so
as to diminish the draft. As soon as the combustion
is completed the heap is completely covered with turf
or ashes and left to cool for two or three days. It is
then taken to pieces and the portions still hot are
61
cooled by throwing water or sand upon them. The 241
quantity of charcoal thus obtained varies with the
manner in which the combustion is conducted. 100
parts of wood yield on the average from 61 to 65 parts
by measure or 24 parts by weight of charcoal. When
the burning is very carefully conducted the quantity
may amount to 70 per cent. by measure.
In England a large quantity of charcoal is obtained
in the dry distillation of wood for the preparation of
acetic acid. For this purpose the wood is heated to
redness in cast iron cylinders whereupon a number of 242
volatile products are given off, including a large quan-
tity of tarry matter and inflammable spirit called wood
spirit or wood naphtha and acetic acid; and in the re-
torts there remains a quantity of charcoal.
For the manufacture of gunpowder charcoal is some-
times prepared by subjecting wood in iron cylinders to
the action of overheated steam (Violette, Ann. Ch.
Phys. (3) XXIII., 475).
Wood charcoal is more or less compact according to
the kind of wood from which it is formed. The lighter 243
woods such as willow yield a very porous charcoal, hav-
ing comparatively little power of conducting heat and
electricity; boxwood on the contrary yields a very
compact charcoal which is a good conductor of heat
and electricity, and is admirably adapted for exhibit-
ing a voltaic light. The density and conducting power
of charcoal are greatly increased by exposing it in close
vessels to a very high temperature. Charcoal retains
the form and to a considerable extent the external
structure of the wood so that a horizontal section ex- 244
hibits distinctly the concentric rings and the traces of
the medullary rays. When burned it leaves from 1 to
5 per cent. of ash. According to Berthier 1,000 parts
of lime wood leave 50 parts of ash; of oak, 25; birch
10; fir 8; hornbeam 26; beach 30.
62
245 Watt's Dictionary of Chemistry, London,
1875. Second Supplement.
P. 255.
CARBON.
Carbon Allotropic Modifications: Despretz found
several years ago that all kinds of carbon heated in the
electric arc of a battery of 500 to 600 Bunsen's elements
soften and are ultimately converted into graphite. Ac-
cording to Bettendorf (Arch. Pharm., 2, CXLIV., 79),
246 gas coke may be thus transformed by a battery of only
24 elements. When wood (of box, ash, hornbeam,
elder, lilac or cork) or flax, hemp, cotton, paper or silk
is placed in a porcelain tube, vapor of carbon sulphide
passed over it at or during temperatures till all the air
is driven out and the tube then slowly and gradually
heated to redness for about an hour, the organic sub-
stance is found, after cooling, to be converted into a
kind of coke, having the ring of steel, silver, &c., and a
great power of conducting heat and electricity. When
247 heated it gradually becomes incandescent throughout
its whole mass, without taking fire at any particular
part, and cools down as soon as the source of heat is re-
moved; it might perhaps be used to form the carbon cyl-
inders of Bunsen's battery. It exhibits metallic lustre
on its surface, is denser than wood-charcoal, and does not
sensibly absorb gases. A kind of carbon which is a
good conductor of heat and electricity, and does not
absorb gases, is likewise obtained by strongly heating
wood in a crucible filled with charcoal powder. Wood-
248 spirit, hydro-carbons, &c., likewise act like carbon sul-
phide in converting wood into elastic and conducting
carbon. The wood-spirit suffers decomposition at the
same time, whereby the interior of the tube be-
comes coated with silver white threads of carbon
about a centimeter long (Sidot. Compt., Rend. LXX.,
605).
63
"Mechanic's Magazine,” Vol. 44, pp. 312- 249
316, London, 1846.
KING'S PATENT ELECTRIC LIGHT (Letters Patent for
Scotland, dated November 26, 1845; specification en-
rolled March 25, 1846).
The nature of this invention (a communication from
abroad) is described generally as consisting in "the ap-
plication of continuous metallic and carbon conductors
intensely heated by the passage of a current of elec-
tricity to the purposes of illumination. The follow- 250
ang details would be nearly in the words of the pat-
entee:
Metallic Conductors.-The metal most advantageous
for the purpose is that which while it requires very high
temperature for its fusion has but a feeble affinity for
oxygen and offers a great resistance to the passage of
an electric current. Platinum, though not so unfusible
is iridium, has but little affinity for oxygen and offers a
great resistance to the passage of the current; and as
it is abundant and easily worked into the required form 251
it is deemed preferable to any other metal. The pla-
tinum should be worked into those exceedingly thin
sheets known by the name of leaf platinum. This may
be accomplished by the ordinary process of the gold-
beater; but a more accurate method is to place a piece
of platinum foil between two thick plates of rolled cop-
per and reduce the whole to a thin sheet by rolling,
when on separating the copper pieces the platinum leaf
will be found of uniform thickness in every part. In
this way it may be obtained so thin that on holding it 252
before a printed page the letters can be distinguished
through it. A strip is to be cut from one of those sheets
of a width proportionate to the quantity of the current
which with Daniel's cells 20 inches high and three
inches in diameter is about of an inch and of a length
proportionate to the intensity which, of course, varies
with the number of cells. Great care must be taken to
cut the platinum strips of an equal width throughout,
and with a clean edge, and if this is not carefully at-
tended to the strip will be unequally heated and will
64
1
253 be fused in one part before the other parts have ob-
tained a sufficiently high temperature to produce a bril-
liant light. Platinum strip is now to be suspended be-
tween two forceps in an instrument made for the pur-
pose, one form of which is shown in Section in the
engraving annexed and marked No. 1; A is a square
brass bar fixed into the wooden stand C, having a bind-
ing screw F attached to its lower end. The two arms
ED are attached to sockets which slide on this bar so
as to admit of their being placed at different distances
254 from each other. They are both bent at right angles,
as seen in the figure, and terminated by bright forceps
tipped with platinum. These forceps are closed by the
milled screws HI; the arm C has a rod N with a screw
cut on it, passing through it, and by means of the two
nuts BB working on this rod the arm may be adjusted
to any required height and the distance between the
forceps thus regulated. The rod passes through
the stand and is attached to the binding
screw G. The socket K is lined with ivory
255 or some other non-conducting substance so as to pre-
vent any metallic connection between the arm E and
the bar; S is the strip of platinum leaf which is first
clamped in the upper forceps; the arm E is now ad-
justed to any required height and the lower forceps are
closed so as to clamp the lower end of the strip of plat-
inum. It may now be included in the battery circuit by
attaching one of the wires to the binding screw at F
and the other to that at G. The current should be one
of considerable intensity and the distance between the
256 forceps should be sufficient to prevent the platinum
being fused. The distance can be lessened by raising
the arm E and shortening the strip of platinum until it
attains the highest temperature it will bear without
fusing; or the same object may be attained by increas-
ing the intensity of the current. The glass shade R
which serves to screen the platinum from currents of
air, dust, &c., may then may be placed over the appara-
tus as seen in figure 1.
Carbon Conductors. When carbon is used, it becomes
necessary on account of the affinity this substance has
65
for oxygen at high temperature to exclude from it air 257
and moisture. To accomplish this in the most perfect
manner it should be enclosed in a torricellian vacuum.
One form of the apparatus for this purpose is shown in
section in the figure No. 2; a, is a glass tube similar to
those used for barometers except that it has its upper
end enlarged into a cyndrical bulb and a stout platinum
wire sealed in at the top. A small cup for holding
mercury is fixed on the top of this wire whose lower
end screws in the iron piece d, to this piece the forceps
fare attached and it is connected with a similar piece 258
at h by a porcelain rod i. The forceps are attached to
h, and clamped to the lower end of the carbon piece c
which is its upper end, held by this at f; n is a copper
wire which is fixed into the piece at h and extends to
the bottom of the tube; the tube is filled with mercury
in the same manner as a barometer, the usual precau-
tions being taken to expel the air; its length independ-
ent of the bulb should be about thirty inches so that
when it is inserted in a cup of mercury a vacuum will
be formed in the bulb. The instrument is included in 259
the battery circuit by connecting one of the wires from
the battery with the cup fixed on the wire e and the
other with the wire which passes into the mercury in
the cup at the bottom of the tube. The circuit is thus
completed by the column of mercury, and when it is
depressed in the tube by the formation of vapor of the
mercury in the bulb the action is preserved by the cop-
per wire n; that form of carbon on the interior of coal
gas retorts which have long been used is well suited for
this purpose and it may be worked into the form of 260
either small pencils or thin plates by the aid of the saw
and file. As carbon will bear a very high temperature.
without fusion or volatilization a much more intense
light can be produced by this means than by platinum.
When an intermittent light for light houses is required
it may be obtained by breaking the circuit at intervals
by clockwork; to effect this one of the wires
from the battery is connected with a spring which is
made to press on the circumference of a metallic wheel
fixed on one of the arbors of the clock having certain
66
261 portions of its surface cut away so as to break and close
the circuit at any required intervals. When the ap-
paratus is suitably sealed it may be applied to sub-
marine lighting and also to the lumination of places
where it is necessary to guard against the inflammation
of highly combustible or explosive compounds; as in
powder magazines, mines, &c. When a current is of
sufficient intensity two or more lights may be made in
the same circuit, care being taken to regulate the power
by increasing or diminishing the number of cells-if a
262 voltaic battery is the source of electricity, or the num-
ber of armatures of a magneto-electric machine be
used so that the united resistance of the strips of
platinum or carbon shall be sufficient to prevent the
passage of such a quantity of electricity as would
destroy them.
263
Claim. "The application of continuous metallic and
carbon conductors intensely heated by the passage of a
suitably regulated current of electricity to the purposes
of illumination as before mentioned."
NOTE BY THE EDITOR.
We fear that the project of lighting by electricity-
now a very favored one with ingenious speculators and
well deserving, doubtless, of every encouragement-is
now likely to be much advanced by the present scheme.
Both platinum and carbon have been before proposed
to be employed as the illuminating bodies or media and
both found objectionable the former as yielding too
264 feeble a light, and the latter a light which though
brilliant is uncertain and, at best, of short duration.
We subjoin two paragraphs from our common-place
book which may suffice to show not only the want of
novelty in Mr. King's imported invention but the point
at which the labors of men of science in this department
have arrived.
"1845, November 8, M. de la Rive is stated in the
Moniteur Industriel to have succeeded in obtaining a
brilliant light for lighting mines by the galvanic bat-
tery. His pile is composed of several concentric
67
cylinders of copper or platina separated by porous 265
cylinders and forming a series of four or five couples.
An amalgam of liquid zinc or potassium the positive
metal; and a solution of sulphate of copper for copper
cylinders and chloruret of platina for platina ones.
The difficulties in maintaining a constant light have
been overcome by employing small, hollow cylinders of
coke similar to those used in Bunsen's pile but smaller
and arranged like the wicks of a lamp and rings or
discs of metal around these. The electric current
passes between the two.
The current must be made to 266
pass from the coke cylinder that the particles of carbon
which are carried off may fall again by their own weight.
The whole is placed in a glass globe which must be her-
metically sealed. There is no occasion to form a vacuum
in it as the small portion of oxygen is soon absorbed ;
but it must be carefully excluded from the outer atmos-
phere. The pile is fitted with two metallic wires-
one connecting with the cylinder of charcoal and the
other with the metallic conductor.”
1845, December 7. Professor Groves soon after the 267
publication of his nitric acid battery was struck by the
facility and constancy with which the voltaic arc could
be obtained by that combination as compared with any
previous one and made many attempts to reduce it to
practical form for the purposes of illumination with,
however, only limited success; charcoal as in M. de la
Rive's experiment formed the terminals of the voltaic
pile. Sometimes he could keep a constant light for
four or five hours but it was never sure; from some un-
seen defect in the charcoal it would become suddenly 268
extinct; the glass also became dull from carbon vapor
which settled upon it; it was costly and not sufficiently
portable. There were difficulties which he could not
overcome and he proceeded to experimentalize on an-
other method which struck him as likely to be more
applicable to lighting mines; he substituted the vol-
taic ignition of a platinum wire for the disruptive dis-
charge in place of the charcoal arrangement. The
light from the platinum is doubtless inferior to the
carbon yet it is too intense for the naked eye to sup-
68
269 port and employ sufficient for the miner to work by.
His plan was to ignite a coil of platinum wire as near
the point of fusion as practicable in a closed vessel of
atmospheric air or other gas and by the light of which
he states he has experimented and read for hours and
the apparatus he used was as follows: at each end of a
coil of platinum wire is affixed a copper wire of con-
venient length the lower ends of which are to be well
varnished and inserted either through the bottom of a
glass vessel or bent up along its sides and connected to
270 each end of a nitric acid battery; water is then poured
into the vessel and another glass inverted over the coil
and its supports which the water thus hermetically
seals and an ignited wire now gives a steady light with-
out an alteration or inconvenience as long as the
battery continues constant-the length of time being
of course dependent on the quantity of electrolyte in
the battery cells. The spirals of the coil should ap-
proximate as near as possible as each aids by its heat
that of its neighbor and it should be as long as the
271 battery is capable of igniting to a full incandescence.
The helix form offers the advantages that the cooling
effects being lessened a much longer wire can be ig-
nited by the same battery; by this increased length of
wire the battery fuel is economized while a greater
light is afforded; by the increased heat the resistance
is still further increased and the consumption still
further diminished; so that contrary to the usual result
the increment of consumption decreases with the exal-
tation of effect produced. The very
272 of enclosing the coil in a glass
necessity
recipient
also augments the heat, the light and the
resistance. In experiment on the effect of different
gases on radiant heat he found by filling the vessel
with hydrogen, the coil was not even visible in the
dark; an increase of volume by expansion took place
from 35 to 43; in carbonic acid cherry red by daylight
increased from 35 to 43; in oxygen by daylight 35 to
45; nitrogen the same; and atmospheric air the same
as in oxygen. These appear important and satisfactory
results but actual practice on a larger scale can alone
test their efficiency."
69
[The Mining Journal], p. 348.
KING'S PATENT ELECTRICAL LIGHT.
SIR: In your last number are some remarks ap-
pended to the specification of Mr. King's patent for an
electrical light where it appears to me you have over-
looked the distinctive feature of this arrangement.
273
All the early attempts that have been made to effect
this important and interesting object were founded on
the well-known experiment of producing an arch of 274
flame between two charcoal points forming the termi-
nation of the conducting wires of a battery; but they
have failed in consequence of the difficulty of rendering
the light permanent; for it is found that the substance
of one of the points is carried away and deposited on
the other which ultimately destroys the essential con-
ditions of success, besides which the light frequently
ceases without any apparent cause so that it cannot be
depended upon with any degree of certainty even for a
few minutes.
Mr. Starr (the inventor of this patented arrangement)
has overcome the difficulty by using continuous me-
tallic and carbon conductors sufficiently thin to be in-
tensely heated by the passage of electricity through
them. This every electrician will allow, differs essen-
tially from the disruptive discharge taking place through
the air as in the experiment with the charcoal points
which was performed by Sir Humphrey Davy, and of
which M. de la Rive's arrangement is only a slight mod-
ification.
The experiment of Professor Grove is without doubt
the same in principle as that claimed by the patentee,
the only difference (when the platinum is used) being
in the form of the conductor which, however, affects
the result as regards the quantity of the light produced
very considerably. The experiment of Professor Grove
was first made public on December 1st, 1845; but Mr.
King's patent was sealed for England November 4th of
the same year; so that the priority is unquestionable,
as is also the novelty of the principle of obtaining light
275
276
70
277 for the useful purposes from intensely heated contin-
uous conductors. The claim is not for a new substance
for producing the electrical light but for a new method.
Carbon has long been used for the terminal points be-
tween which the light passes, but its application as a
conductor itself to be rendered luminous by the passage
of the electricity through it is unquestionably new.
Respecting the utility of the invention it would at pres-
ent be premature to offer any remarks, as it must be
tried on a scale of magnitude similar to that which will
278 be required for its ultimate application in order to
fairly test it. This will very shortly be done as Mr.
Starr is at present engaged in fitting up apparatus
which will fully demonstrate it.
I may, however, observe that the light produced by
the platinum in this arrangement is by no means favor-
able, for it exceeds in power any light at present used.
That from the carbon is still more brilliant than the
platinum and is not in the least degree uncertain; nor
is there any reason to believe from the experiments
279 already made that any change will take place in its sub-
stance, however long it may continue in operation. I
hope shortly to be able to communicate definitely the
results of these experiments and of others which are
about to be made, as they will be found very interest-
ing not only on account of their useful application but
as affording very beautiful illustrations of the laws of
electrical action and eliciting some new and important
facts.
280
Yours respectfully,
WILLIAM WILLIAMS.
1 Francis-Street Regents Square, May 1st, 1846.
+
71
Defendant's Exhibit Philosophical Trans- 281
actions, Paper No. 1, W. T. F., Spec.
Exr.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY
OF LONDON FOR THE YEAR 1809, VOLUME 9.
Part I., Printed by W. Bulmer & Co., Cleveland Road,
St. James, London, England, Pages 32 to
38 inclusive.
II. An account of some experiments performed with a
view to ascertain the most advantageous method of con-
structing a voltaic apparatus for the purposes of chem-
ical research by John George Children, Esq., F. R. S.
Read November 24, 1808.
282
The late interesting discoveries by Mr. Davy having
shown the high importance of the voltaic battery as an
instrument of chemical analysis, it became a desirable
object to ascertain that mode of constructing it by which
the greatest effect may be produced with the least waste 283
of power and expense.
For this purpose I made a battery on the new method
with plates of copper and zinc connected together with
leaden straps soldered on the top of each pair of plates;
which are 20 in number, and each plate four feet high
by two feet wide. The sum of all the surfaces being
92,160 square inches, exclusive of the single plate at
each end of the battery. The trough is made of wood
with wooden partitions well covered with cement to
render them perfectly tight so that no water can flow 284
from one cell to another. The battery was charged with
a mixture of three parts fuming nitrous and one part
sulphuric acid diluted with thirty parts of water and
the quantity used was 120 gallons.
In the presence and with the kind assistance of
Messrs. Davy, Allen and Pepys the following experi-
ments were made:
Experiment 1. 18 inches of platina wire of one-thirtieth
of an inch were completely fused in about twenty sec-
onds.
72
•
285
286
Exp. 2. Three feet of the same wire were heated to a
bright red, visible by strong daylight.
Exp. 3. Four feet of the same wire were rendered
very hot, but not perceptibly red by daylight. In the
dark it would probably have bright red throughout.
Exp. 4. Charcoal burnt with intense brilliancy.
Exp. 5. On iron wire of about one-seventieth of an
inch diameter the effect was strikingly feeble. It
barely fused ten inches and had not power to ignite ten
feet.
Exp. 6. Imperfect conductors were next submitted to
the action of the battery and barytes mixed with the
red oxide of mercury and made into a paste with pipe
clay and water was placed in a circuit, but neither on
this nor on any other similar substance was the slight-
est effect produced.
Exp. 7. The gold leaves of the electrometer were not
affected.
Exp. 8. When the cuticle was dry no shock was given
by this battery, and even though the skin was wet it
287 was scarcely perceptible.
Before I offer any observations on the inferences to
be drawn from these experiments I shall mention some
others performed for the sake of comparison with the
foregoing with an apparatus very different in size and
number of plates from the one just described.
This second battery was precisely the Couronne des
Tasses of Sig. Volta, consisting of 200 pairs of plates,
each about two inches square, placed in half pots of
common Queensware, and made active by some of the
288 liquor used in exciting the large battery to which was
added a fresh portion of sulphuric acid equal to about
a quarter of a pint to a gallon.
To state as shortly as possible the effects produced
by this battery:
Experiment 1. It decomposed potash and barytes
readily.
Exp. 2. It produced the metallization of ammonia
with great facility.
Exp. 3. It ignited charcoal vividly.
73
Exp. 4. It caused considerable divergence of the gold 289
leaves of the electro-meter.
Exp. 5. It gave a vivid spark after being in action
three hours. At the expiration of twenty-four hours it
retained sufficient power to metallize ammonia and con-
tinued with gradually decreasing energy to produce the
same effect till the end of forty-one hours, when it
seemed nearly exhausted.
From the results of the foregoing experiments which
though simple and not numerous, I trust are satisfac-
tory, we see Mr. Davy's theory of the mode of action 290
of the voltaic battery confirmed. He says (in his paper
on some chemical agencies of electricity, Section 9,
after having shown the effect of induction to increase
the electricity of the opposite plates): "The intensity
increases with the number and the quantity with the
extent of the series."
That this is so, the effects produced on the platina
and iron wires in the first and fifth experiments with
the large battery and the subsequent experiments on
imperfect conductors with the small apparatus suffi- 291
ciently proved. The platina wire being a perfect con-
ductor and not liable to be oxydated presents no ob-
stacle to the free passage of the electricities through it,
which, from the immense quantities given out from so
large a surface evolved on their mutual annihilation
heat sufficient to raise the temperature of the platina
to the point of fusion.
With the iron wire of one seventieth of an inch di-
ameter, the effect is very different, which is explained by
the low state of the intensity of the electricity (suffi- 292
ciently proved by its not causing any divergence of the
gold leaves of the electro-meter), which being opposed
in its passage by the thin coat of the oxide formed on
the iron wire at the moment the circuit is completed, a
very small portion only of it is transmitted through the
wire. To the same want of intensity is to be attributed
the total inability of the large battery to decompose
the barytes and its general weak action on bodies
which are not perfect conductors. The small battery
on the contrary exerts great power on imperfect con-
74
293 ductors, decomposing them readily, although its whole
surface is more than thirty times less than that of the
great battery; but in point of number of plates it con-
sists of nearly ten times as many as the large
one. The long continued action of the small bat-
tery proves the utility of having the cells of sufficient
capacity to hold a large quantity of liquor by which
much trouble of emptying and filling the troughs is
avoided, and the action kept up without intermission
for a long space of time, a circumstance in many ex-
294 periments of material consequence. Besides this ad-
vantage with very large combinations a certain distance
between each pair of plates is absolutely necessary to
prevent spontaneous discharges which will otherwise
ensue accompanied with vivid flashes of electric light
as I have experienced with a battery of 1,250 four-inch
plates on the new construction. And here I beg leave
to mention an experiment which though not directly in
point cannot be considered as foreign to the subject of
this paper. It has been urged as one proof of the non-
295 identity of the common electricity and that given out
by the voltaic apparatus that in the latter there is no
striking distance. That objection, however, must cease.
I took a small receiver open at one end, through per-
torations in the opposite sides of which were placed two
wires with platina points well polished. One was
fixed by cement to the glass, the other was movable by
means of a fine screw through a collar of leathers, and
the distances between the points was ascertained by a
small micrometer attached. This receiver was inverted
296 over well-dried potash, over mercury, and suffered to
stand a couple of days to deprive the air it contained
as thoroughly as possible of moisture. The 1,250 plates
being excited precisely to the same degree as the great
battery mentioned in the beginning of this communica-
tion, and the little receiver placed in the circuit, I as-
certain its striking distance to be one-fiftieth of an
inch. That I might be certain that the air in the ap-
paratus had not become a conductor by increase of
temperature, I repeated the experiment several times
with fresh cool air and always with the same result;
75
but perhaps it will be objected that the striking dis- 297
tance was so small as not to afford a satisfactory
refutation of the argument alluded to when it is con-
sidered to how very great a distance comparatively the
spark of the common electrical machine can pass
through air. The answer to this is obvious. Increase
the number of the plates and the striking distance will
increase, for we see throughout the intensity propor-
tioned to the number, and it probably may be carried
to such an extent as even to pass through a thicker
plate of air than the common spark. The great simi- 298
larity of the appearance of the electric light of this bat-
tery in vacuo and that of the common machine might
also be urged as an additional proof of the identity of
their nature.
The effect of this large combination on imperfect
conductors was, as may be supposed, very great. Of
the same platina wire of which the four feet plates
fused eighteen inches, this battery melted but half an
inch, though had the effect been in the ratio of their
surfaces it should have fused nearly fourteen inches.
299
The absolute effect of a voltaic apparatus, therefore,
seems to be in the compound ratio of the number and
size of the plates, the intensity of the electricity being
at the former, the quantity given out as the latter; con-
sequently regard must be had in its construction to the
purposes for which it is designed. For experiments on
perfect conductors very large plates are to be preferred,
a small number of wicks will probably be sufficient; but
where the resistance of imperfect conductors is to be
overcome, the combination must be great, but the size 300
of the plates may be small, but if quantity and inten-
sity be both required, then a large number of large
plates will be necessary. For general purposes four
inches square will be found to be the most convenient
size.
Of the two methods usually employed, that of having
the copper and zinc plates joined together only in one
point and movable is much better than the old plan of
soldering them together through the whole surfaces and
cementing them into the troughs, as by the new con-
76
301 struction the apparatus can be more easily cleaned and
repaired and double quantity of surface is obtained.
For the partitions in the trough glass seems the sub-
stance best adapted to secure a perfect insulation; but
the best of all will be troughs made entirely of Wedge-
wood's ware, an idea I believe first suggested by Dr.
Babington.
302
303
304
77
Defendants' Exhibit Philosophical Trans- 305
action Paper No. 2, W. T. F.
Spec. Exr.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF
LONDON FOR THE YEAR 1815.
Volume 15, Part I. Printed by W. Bulmer & Co.,
Cleveland Road, St. James, London, England.
Pages 363 to 374, inclusive.
XX. An Account of some Experiments with a large 306
Voltaic Battery by J. G. CHILDREN, ESQ., F. R. S.
Read June 15, 1815.
In 1809 I presented to the Society a short account
of some experiments performed with a voltaic battery
of unusually large plates, which has been honored by
publication in the Philosophical Transactions for that
year. Since that period I have constructed another of
still larger dimensions, the effects of which form the
subject of the present communication. The copper
and zinc plates of this apparatus are connected to- 307
gether in the usual order by leaden straps; they are six
feet long by two feet eight inches broad, each plate pre-
senting thirty-two square feet of surface. All the plates
are attached to a strong wooden frame suspended by
ropes and pulleys, which, being balanced by counter-
poises is easily lowered and lifted so as to immerse the
plates in the acid or raise them out of it at pleasure.
The first trials of the power of this instrument were
made in July, 1813, in the presence of several philo-
sophical friends, but the effects then fell very short of 308
my expectations, arising, as I afterwards found, from
a defect in the construction, which has been since
remedied and another copper plate added to each
member of the series, so that every cell now contains
one zinc and two copper plates, and each surface of
zinc is opposed to a surface of copper. This was
done at the suggestion of Dr. Wollaston and has very
considerably increased the power of the battery.
From some comparative experiments which I made
with a small apparatus the increase in quantity of
78
309 electricity thus effected is at least one-half. The cells.
of the battery are twenty-one in number and their
united capacities amount to nine hundred and forty-five
gallons. To each pole of the battery a lead pipe about
three-quarters of an inch in diameter is attached by
solder and the opposite end of each pipe immersed in
a basin of mercury (a separate basin for each pipe), by
means of which the circuit is completed and a perfect
contact ensured. The first experiments I shall men-
tion were made on the comparative facility with which
310 different metals are ignited when placed in the elec-
trical circuit. For this purpose in each experiment
two wires of dissimilar metals were taken of equal
diameter and length; one end of each was in contact
with one of the basins of mercury communicating with
the poles of the battery, and the other end bent to an
angle and the wires connected continuously by hooking
them together. The length of each wire was eight
inches and the diameter one-thirtieth of an inch. The
battery was moderately excited by a charge of one
311 part acid diluted with forty parts of water.
312
Exp. 1. A platina and a gold wire being thus con-
nected and introduced into the electrical circuit, the
platina was instantly ignited, the gold remained un-
affected.
Exp. 2. A similar arrangement of gold and silver
wire. The gold was ignited, the silver not.
Exp. 3. The same with gold and copper. No percep-
tible difference in the state of ignition; both metals
were heated red.
Exp. 4. Gold and iron. The iron was ignited; the
gold unchanged.
Exp. 5. Platina and iron. The iron ignited instantly
at the point of contact next the pole of the battery.
Then the platina became ignited through its whole ex-
tent. After this the iron became more intensely heated
than the platina and the ignition of the latter decreased.
Exp. 6. Platina and zinc. The platina was ignited.
The zinc was not, but melted at the point of contact.
In a subsequent experiment the zinc did not melt, but
the platina ignited as before.
79
Exp. 7. Zinc and iron. The iron was ignited; the 313
zinc bore the heat without fusing.
Exp. 8. Lead and platina. The lead fused at the
point of contact.
Exp. 9. Tin and platina. The tin fused at the point
of contact. No ignition of either wire took place in the
last two experiments.
Exp. 10. Zinc and silver. The zinc was ignited
before it melted. The silver was not ignited.
The results in every case were the same to whichever
pole of the battery either wire was presented. I varied 314
these experiments by introducing several alternations
of different wires continuously connected into the cir-
cuit and obtained in every instance analogous results.
Thus :
Exp. 11. Alternations of platina and silver three times
repeated; all the platina wires were ignited and none of
the silver.
Exp. 12. One zinc wire between two platina; both
the platina wires were ignited, the zinc not.
Exp. 13. One iron between two platina. Both the 315
latter first ignited; then the iron, which soon became
most heated and fused.
It is unnecessary to enter into a farther detail of
these experiments; it will be sufficient to say generally
that when wires of several different metals were intro-
duced at once into a circuit the order of their ignition
was precisely that of the former experiments. In one
experiment with copper and gold, the copper was de-
cidedly most heated.
I feel some difficulty in attempting an explanation of 316
the preceding phenomena, and offer the following con-
jecture with diffidence. When a perfect communication
is established between the poles of the battery, the
electricity circulates without producing any visible
effect; but if it meet with resistance in its passage it
manifests itself by chemical action by the evolu-
tion of heat or both. Thus, if a bar of metal
be connected with one pole of the battery and its extrem-
ity immersed in a basin of mercury connected with the
other pole, at the instant the surfaces come in contact
80
317 heat and light are evolved, which cease as soon as the
bar, if it be of sufficient size, is fairly
plunged beneath the surface of the quick-
silver. If the circuit be completed by two
pieces of charcoal, the evolution of heat and light is
permanent as long as their surfaces remain in contact,
because that contact can never be so perfect as to op-
pose no resistances to the electricity; whereas, in the
case of the bar of metal and the mercury it soon be-
came complete and the current is then uninterrupted.
318 Resistance, therefore, appears to occasion the develop-
ment of heat (whatever may be the ultimate cause of
the phenomenon), and as this must be inversely as the
conducting power when any two of the wires connected
continuously are placed in the circuit, that which is the
worst conductor must be most heated, and thus platina
having the lowest conducting power is ignited before
all the rest; and silver which conducts best is not
heated red when connected with any of the other
metals. Should it be objected that if the electricity
319 meet with greater resistance in one body than in the
other, equal quantities cannot be transmitted in equal
times by the two substances (a circumstance essential
to electrical action), I answer that a body may be pro-
pelled through two media of different densities with
equal velocity if the propelling forces be proportionate
to the resistances; and it is a necessary consequence
that whatever effect the passage of the body was capa-
ble of producing in the least resisting medium it will
produce it in a still greater degree in the most resist-
520 ing; and if that effect be heat the greatest portion will
be developed in the latter instance. In the case in
question, indeed, there is but one propelling force; but
as it is sufficient to overcome the greater resistances
the energy is unshaken. That the ignition of the wire
is generally first perceptible at the point of contact next
the pole of the battery (to whichever pole it be pre-
sented), is in favor of the hypothesis. I once thought
the phenomenon might be owing to the joint effect of
difference of conducting power and inequality of the
different metals for heat; but the experiments of Craw-
81
ford, Leslie, Dalton, Irvine and others, militate against 321
that idea; for, according to them, the capacities of the
iron and platina exceed those of all the other metals,
whereas on the supposition alluded to they ought to be
inferior. From the foregoing results the order of the
conducting powers of the metals tried is silver, zinc,
gold, copper, iron and platina. Tin and lead fuse so
immediately at the point of contact that they cannot be
placed. Between gold and copper the difference is tri-
fling; and with regard to platina and iron their rela-
tions to each other in this circumstance seem to be 322:
affected by elevations of temperature. It may be ob-
served that the order of the above metals as conductors
of electricity nearly follows that of their powers to con-
duct heat.
In an experiment in which equal lengths of two pla-
tina wires of unequal diameter (the larger being one-
thirtieth the smaller one-fiftieth of an inch), were placed
together in the circuit parallel to each other, the thicker
wire was ignited because it conveyed more electricity
without proportional increase of cooling surface. When 323
connected continuously the order of ignition was re-
versed. These two results were foreseen by Dr. Wol-
laston who suggested the experiments.
The experiments which I now proceed to mention
were made with the battery in a high state of excita-
tion; and I consider them as representing nearly the
maximum of effect which it is capable of producing.
As the quantity of acid was increased from time to time
and that previously added often almost spent before
fresh was put in, it is not easy to say exactly what 324
proportion it bore to the water; perhaps the largest
may be stated to be about one-twentieth. On this as
on former occasions, I found a mixture of nitrous and
sulphuric acids to produce the most powerful and per-
manent effects.
Exp. 1. Five feet six inches of platina wire, of
an inch in diameter, were heated red throughout visible
in full daylight.
100
Exp. 2. Eight feet six inches of platina wire, of
an inch in diameter, were heated red.
82
325
-326
Exp. 3. A bar of platina one-sixth of an inch square
and two and a quarter inches long was also heated red
and fused at the end, and,
Exp. 4. A round bar of the same metal 7% of an
inch in diameter and two and one-quarter inches in
length was heated bright red throughout.
Exp. 5. Fine points of box-wood charcoal intensely
ignited in chlorine neither suffered any change nor pro-
duced any in the gas. The result was similar when
heated in azote.
I next tried the power of the battery to fuse several
refractory substances. The subject of experiment was
placed in a small cavity made in a piece of well-burnt
box-wood charcoal floating on the surface of the mer-
cury in one of the basins above mentioned and the cir-
cuit completed by another piece of charcoal communi-
cating by stout copper wire with the other basin.
Exp. 1. Oxide of tungsten, which (as well as all the
other metallic oxides operated on) had been previously
intensely ignited in a charcoal crucible in a powerful
327 furnace fused and was partially reduced. The metal
grayish white, heavy, brilliant and very brittle.
Exp. 2. Oxide of tantalum. A very small portion
fused. The grains have a reddish yellow color and are
extremely brittle.
Exp. 3. Oxide of uranium; fused but not reduced.
Exp. 4. Oxide of titanium; fused, not reduced, when
intensely heated it burned, throwing off brilliant sparks
like iron.
Exp. 5. Oxide of cerium; fused, and when intensely
-328 heated it burnt with a large vivid white flame, and was
partly volatilized, but not reduced. The fused oxide
on exposure for a few hours in the air fell into a light
brown powder containing numerous shining particles
of a silvery lustre interspersed amongst it, and exhaled
an odor similar to that of phosphuretted hydrogen.
Exp. 6. Oxide of molybuena; readily fused and re-
duced. The metal is very brittle, of a steel gray color,
and soon becomes coated with a thin coat of purple
oxide.
83
Exp. 7. Compound ore of iridium and osmium; fused 329
into a globule.
Exp. 8. Pure iridium; fnsed into an imperfect glob-
ule not quite free from small cavities and weighing 7.1
grains. The metal is white, very brilliant, and in its
present state its specific gravity is 18.68 which must be
much too low on account of porous state of the globule.
In the minutes of the experiments in July, 1813, mention
is made of the fusion of a small portion of pure iridium
into a globule weighing of a grain which had been
previously submitted to the action of a battery of 2,000 330-
plates of four inches square without melting.
Exp. 9. Ruby and sapphire were not fused.
Exp. 10. Blue spinel ran unto a slag.
Exp. 11. Gadolinite fused into a globule.
Exp. 12. Magnesia was agglutinated.
Exp. 13. Zircon from Norway was imperfectly fused.
Exp. 14. Quartz, silex, and plumbago were not
affected.
In the year 1796, M. Clouet, converted iron into steel
by cementation with the diamond with the view of con- 331
firming the nature of that substance and of ascertaining
the exact state in which the carbon exists in steel.
Clouet had also previously formed steel by cementation
with carbonate of lime. Mr. Mushet repeated this ex-
periment, using instead of the carbonate caustic lime,
and obtained also what he considered to be cast steel;
whence he concluded that the carbon necessary to con-
vert the iron into steel had not been furnished as Clouet
supposed by decomposition of the carbonic acid, but
that it had found its way from the ignited gases of the 332
furnace to the iron. This result occasioned suspicions.
of the accuracy of the deductions from the experiment
with the diamond; and Mr. Moshet accordingly at the
suggestion of the editor of the Philosophical Magazine
repeated the experiment made at the Polytechnic School
only keeping out the diamond. The results (for he made
several experiments) uniformly gave him good cast
steel, whence he concludes that we are still without any
satisfactory or conclusive proof of the steelification of
iron solely by means of the diamond; and adds that he
84
333 doubts whether the diamond afforded even one particle
of carbon to the iron. The details of both Clouet's and
Mushet's experiments may be found in the fifth volume
of the Philosophical Magazine. Sir George M'Kenzie
repeated both Clouet's experiments, and those of Mr.
Mushet and obtained results confirming the conclusions
of the French chemists. The labors of this gentleman,
indeed, seems sufficiently conclusive; but if a doubt
should remain, it occurred to Mr. Pepys that the battery
would afford an experimentum crucis on the subject:
334 and his ingenuity readily suggested a mode of making
it every way unobjectionable. He bent a wire of pure
soft iron so as to form an angle in the middle in which
part he divided it longitudinally by a fine saw. In the
opening so formed he placed diamond powder securing
it in its situation by two finer wires laid above and be-
low it and kept from shifting by another small wire
bound firmly and closely around them. All the wires
were of pure soft iron and the part containing the
diamond powder was enveloped by thin leaves of talc.
335 Thus arranged the apparatus was placed in the electri-
cal circuit when it soon became red hot and was kept
so for six minutes. The ignition was so far from in-
tense that few who witnessed the experiment expected,
I believe, any decisive result. On opening the wire,
however, Mr. Pepys found that the whole of the
diamond had disappeared; the interior surface of the
iron had fused into numerous cavities notwithstanding the
very moderate heat to which it had been exposed; and
all that part which had been in contact with the diamond
336 was converted into perfect blistered steel. A portion of
it being heated red und plunged into water became
so hard as to resist the file and to scratch glass. This
result is conclusive, for as the contact of any carbona-
ceous substance except the included diamond was effect-
ually guarded against, to that alone can the change
produced in the iron be referred. This experiment will
also probably be deemed fatal to the opinion of those
mineraleogists (if they do still maintain that opinion),
who class the diamond with substances of siliceous
genus.
85
When dry caustic potash was exposed to the intense 337
heat between the two pieces of charcoal, it fused and
appeared to decompose, throwing off a large volume of
the peculiar purple red color that attends the combus-
tion of potassium. When moist caustic potash was
placed in the circuit the water only was decomposed.
I endeavored to ascertain if there be any difference
in the degree of heat produced at either pole of the bat-
tery by placing two small earthenware cups, each con-
taining an equal weight of mercury in the circuit and
connected together by a platina wire of such size and 338
length as to be kept constantly ignited. The mercury
in the cup connected with the zinc end of the battery
attained in twenty minutes the temperature of 120°;
that in the other cup, 112º.
The battery, even in its most active state, communi-
cated no charge to the Leyden foil.
I give the following experiment, the last with which
I shall occupy the time of the Society without com-
ment.
1
I separated all the zinc from the copper plates by 339
dividing the leaden straps that united them; and then
by means of other leaden straps I connected all the
zinc plates together as one plate, and all the copper
plates in the same manner; thus reducing the whole
battery to only two plates, each presenting a surface of
1,344 square feet, reckoning the copper surface as oniy
equal to the zinc. When the plates thus arranged were
suspended quite out of contact with the acid a com-
munication was made between the two metallic surfaces
by means of a platina wire of an inch diamater 340
and about of an inch long with every possible atten-
tion to ensure a perfect contact; but, although the ex-
periment was made in the dark, not the slightest ap-
pearance of ignition was perceptible in the minute wire
by which these extensive surfaces were connected. It
is known, I believe, to almost every member of this So-
ciety that Dr. Wollaston has shown with the delicate
apparatus invented by him that the platina wire of the
same dimensions as that just mentioned is instantly ig-
nited by a single pair of plates one inch square on being
3
1
5 0 0 0
86
341 immersed in a diluted acid. The ratio of the areas of
the plates of the respective batteries is 1 to 48,384.
When the plates of the larger battery in the usual order
of arrangement were immersed in mere pump water pre-
vious to any acid having been put into the cells, they
ignited one-fourth of an inch of platina wire, ʊ of an
inch diameter, and fused the end of it into a perfect
globule.
342
343
344
87
Defendants' Exhibit Philosophical trans- 345
actions, Paper No. 3. W. T. F.,
Spec. Exr.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY
OF LONDON.
Volume 20, published in London in 1820, under Section
2, Page 21, Title Comparative Experiments on the
Illuminating and Heating Powers of Olefiant Coal
and Oil Gases and on some General Properties of
Radiant Matter, at pages 26 and 27.
346
10. There are certain substances, the chemical re-
lations of which are singularly affected by the influence
of direct solar rays. Among these the mixture of
chlorine and hydrogen is most remarkable: If kept in
common daylight but out of direct sunshine, the gases
do not act upon each other; but the moment the
mixture is placed in the sunshine the muriatic acid
begins to be formed. I therefore hoped that this prop-
erty might be applicable in certain photometrical 347
experiments. I exposed a mixture of equal volumes of
chlorine and hydrogen in a tube inverted over water
capable of holding about four cubical inches and blown
into a thin bulb at its upper extremity to the brilliant
effects produced by a large olefiant gas flame; it was
exposed for 15', but underwent no other change than
a slight increase of bulk, acting as an air thermometer.
11. It now occurred to me to try how far any effect
would be produced by the more intense light of the
voltaic battery, and I placed the tube containing the 348
mixed gases in a darkened room within about an inch
of the charcoal points connected with an apparatus of
100 pairs of plates highly charged; upon making the
contact the effect of the light upon the mixed gases was
very remarkable; fumes of muriatic vapor were
instantly produced, the water rose in the tube in con-
sequence of the production of muriatic acid and in
about five minutes the absorption was entire; but the
most curious circumstances was that in two instances
an explosion of the gases took place the moment they
felt the impulse of the electric light.
88
349 Defendant's Exhibit Philosophical Trans-
actions, Paper No. 4, W. T. F.. Spec. Exr.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF
LONDON FOR THE YEAR 1821.
Part I., Volume 21, pages 425 to 439, inclusive.
XXIX. Farther researches on the Magnetic Phe-
nomena produced by electricity; with some new experi-
350 ments on the properties of electrified bodies in their
relations to conducting powers and temperature by Sir
Humphrey Davy, Bart., F. R. S.
Read July 5, 1821.
I. In my letter to Dr. Wollaston on the new facts
discovered by M. Oersted, which the society has done
me the honor to publish, I mentioned that I was not
able to render a bar of steel magnetic by transmitting
the electrical discharge across it through a tube filled
with sulphuric acid; and I have likewise mentioned
351 that the electrical discharge passed across a piece of
steel through air rendered it less magnetic than when
passed through a metallic wire; and I attributed the
first circumstance to the sulphuric acid being too bad
a conductor to transmit a sufficient quantity of elec-
tricity for the effect; and the second to the electricity
passing through the air in a more diffused state than
other metals.
To gain some distinct knowledge on the relations of
the different conductors to the magnetism produced by
352 electricity, I instituted a series of experiments which led
to very decisive results, and confirmed my first views.
II. I found that the magnetic phenomena were pre-
cisely the same whether the electricity was small in
quantity and passing through good conductors of con-
siderable magnitude; or whether the conductors were
so imperfect as to convey only a small quantity of elec-
tricity; and in both cases they were neither attractive
of each other nor of iron filings, and not affected by the
magnet; and the only proof of their being magnetic
89
was their occasioning a certain small deviation of the 53
magnetized needle.
Thus, a large piece of charcoal placed in the circuit
of a very powerful battery being a very bad conductor
compared with the metals, would not affect the compass
needle at all unless it had a very large contact with the
metallic part of the circuit; and if a small wire was
made to touch it in the circuit, only in a few points
that wire did not gain the power of attracting iron
filings; though when it was made to touch a surface of
platinum foil coiled around the end of the charcoal a 354
slight effect of this kind was produced. And in a simi-
lar manner fused hydrate of potassa, one of the best of
the imperfect conductors, could never be made to exert
any attractive force on iron filings; nor could the
smallest filaments of cotton moistened by a solution of
hydrate of potassa placed in the circuit be made to
move by the magnet; nor did steel needles floating on
cork on an electrized solution of this kind placed in the
voltaic circuit gain any polarity; and the only proof of
the magnetic powers of electricity passing through such 355
a fluid was afforded by its effect upon the magnetized
needle when the metallic surfaces plunged in the fluid
were of considerable extent. That the mobility of the
parts of fluids did not interfere with their magnetic
powers as developed by electricity, I prove by electri-
fying mercury and Newton's metal fused in small tubes.
These tubes, placed in a proper voltaic circuit, attract-
ed iron filings and gave magnetic power to needles;
nor did any agitation of the mercury or metal within
either in consequence of mechanical motion or heat, 356
alter or suspend their polarity.
III. Imperfect conducting fluids do not give polarity
to steel when electricity is passed through them; but
electricity passed through air produces this effect.
Reasoning on this phenomenon and on the extreme
mobility of the particles of air, I concluded, as M.
Arrago had likewise done, from other considerations
that the voltaic current in air would be affected by the
magnet. I failed in my first trial, which I have referred
to in a note to my former paper, and in other trials
90
357 made since, by using too weak a magnet; but I have
lately had complete success; and the experiment ex-
hibits a very striking phenomenon.
Mr. Pepys having had the goodness to charge the
great battery of the London Institution consisting of
2,000 double plates of zinc and copper, with a mixture
of 1,168 parts of water, 108 parts of nitrous acid and
25 parts of sulphuric acid, the poles were connected by
charcoal so as to make an arc or column of electrical
light varying in length from one to four inches accord-
-358 ing to the state of rarefication of the atmosphere in
which it was produced; and a powerful magnet being
presented to this arc or column having its pole at a
very acute angle to it, the arc or column was attracted
or repelled with a rotary motion, or made to revolve by
placing the poles in different positions according to the
same law as the electrified cylinders of platinum de-
scribed in my last paper, being repelled when the nega-
tive pole was on the right hand by the north pole of the
magnet, and attracted by the south pole and vice versa.
It was proved by several experiments that the motion
depended entirely upon the magnetism and not upon
the electrical inductive power of the magnet, for masses
of soft iron or of other metals produced no effect.
359
The electrical arc or column of flame was more easily
affected by the magnet, and its motion was more rapid
when it passed through dense than through rarefied air;
and in this case the conducting medium or chain of aeri-
form particles was much shorter.
I tried to gain similar results with currents of com-
360 mon electricity sent through flame and in vacuo. They
were always affected by the magnet; but it was not
pos-
sible to obtain so decided a result as with voltaic elec-
tricity, because the magnet itself became electrical by
induction and that whether it was insulated or connected
with the ground.
(Foot note: I made several experiments on the effects
of currents of electricity simultaneously passing through
air in different states of rarefication in the same and
different directions, both from the Voltaic and common
electrometers; but I could not establish the fact of
91
their magnetic attractions or repulsions with regard to 36h
each other, which probably was owing to the impossi-
bility of bringing them sufficiently near.)
IV. Metals, it is well known, readily transmit large
quantities of electricity, and the obvious limit to the
quantity which they are capable of transmitting seems
to be their fusibility or volatilization by the heat which
electricity produces in its passage through bodies.
Now, I had found in several experiments that the in-
tensity of this heat was connected with the nature of
the medium by which the body was surrounded; thus, 362
a wire of platinum which was readily fused by trans-
mitting the charge from a voltaic battery in the ex-
hausted receiver of an air pump, acquired in air a much
lower degree of temperature. Reasoning on this cir-
cumstance, it occurred to me that by placing wires in a
medium much denser than air, such as ether, alcohol,
oils or water, I might enable them to transmit a much
higher charge of electricity than they could convey
without being destroyed in air, and thus not only gain
some new results as to the magnetic state of such wires, 363
but likewise perhaps determine the actual limits to the
powers of different bodies to conduct electricity and
the relations of these powers.
A wire of platinum of three inches in length was
fused in air by being made to transmit the electricity of
two batteries of ten zinc plates of four inches, with
double copper strongly charged; a similar wire was
placed in sulphuric ether and the charge transmitted
through it. It became surrounded by globules of gas,
but no other change took place, and in this situation it 364
bore the discharge from twelve batteries of the same
kind exhibiting the same phenomena. When only about
an inch of it was treated by this high power in ether it
made the ether boil and became white hot under the
globules of vapor, and then rapidly decomposed the
ether, but it did not fuse. When oil or water was sub-
stituted for the ether, the length of the wire remaining
the same, it was partially covered with small globules
of gas, but did not become red hot.
Though, on trying the magnetic powers of this wire
92
365'in water, they were found to be very great, and the
quantity of iron filings that it attracted was such as to
form a cylinder round it of nearly the tenth of an inch
in diameter.
To ascertain whether short lengths of fine wire, pre-
vented from fusing by being kept cool, transmitted the
whole electricity of powerful voltaic batteries, I made
a second independent circuit from the ends of the
battery with silver wires in water, so that the electrical
decomposition of the water indicated a residuum of
366 electricity in the battery. Operating in this way, I
found that an inch of wire of platinum of one two hun-
dred and twentieth, kept cool by water, left a great
residual charge of electricity in a combination of twelve
batteries of the same kind as those above mentioned,
and after making several trials I found that it was
barely adequate to discharge six batteries.
V. Having determined that there was a limit to the
quantity of electricity which wires were capable of
transmitting, it became easy to institute experiments on
367 the different conducting powers of different metallic
substances, and on the relation of this power to the
temperature, mass, surface or length of the conducting
power and to the conditions of electro-magnetic action.
These experiments were made as nearly as possible
under the same circumstances, the same connecting
copper wires being used in all cases, their diameter
being more than of an inch and the contact being
always preserved perfect; and parts of the same solu-
tions of acid and water were employed in the different
368 batteries and the same silver wires and broken circuit
with water were employed in the different trials, and
when no globules of gas were observed upon the nega-
tive silver wire of the second circuit it was concluded
that the metallic conducting chain or the primary cir-
cuit was adequate to the discharge of the combination.
To describe more minutely all the precautions observed
would be tedious to those persons who are accustomed
to experiments with the voltaic apparatus, and unintel-
ligible to others; and, after all, in researches of this
nature it is impossible to gain more than approxima-
93
tions to true results, for the gases disengaged upon the 369
plates the different distances of the connecting plates
and the slight difference of time in making the connec-
tions all interfere with their perfect accuracy.
The most remarkable general result that I obtained
by these researches and which I shall mention first, as
it influences all the others, was that the conducting
power of metallic bodies varied with the temperature and
was lower in some inverse ratio as the temperature was
higher.
220
Thus, a wire of platinum of 2 and 3 inches in 370
length when kept cool by oil discharged the electricity
of two batteries or of twenty double plates; but when
suffered to be heated by exposure in the air, it barely
discharged one battery.
Whether the heat was occasioned by the electricity
or applied to it from some other source, the effect was
the same. Thus, a wire of platinum of such length and
diameter as to discharge a combination without being
considerably heated, when the flame of a spirit lamp
was applied to is so as to make a part of it red hot, lost 371
its power of discharging the whole electricity of the bat-
tery as was shown by the disengagement of abundance
of gas in the secondary circuit, which disengagement
ceased as soon as the source of heat was withdrawn.
There are several modes of exhibiting this fact so as
to produce effects which, until they are witnessed, must
almost appear impossible. Thus, let a fine wire of
platinum of four or five inches in length be placed in a
voltaic circuit so that the electricity passing through it
may heat the whole of it to redness and let the flame of 372
a spirit lamp be applied to it so as to heat that part to
whiteness, the rest of the wire will instantly become
cooled below the point of visible ignition. For the
converse of the experiment let a piece of ice or stream
of cold air be applied to a part of the wire, the other
parts will immediately become much hotter, and from a
red will rise to a white heat. The quantity of elec-
tricity that can pass through that part of the wire sub-
mitted to the changes of temperature is so much
smaller when it is hot than when it is cold that the
94
373 absolute temperature of the whole wire is diminished
by heating a part of it, and vice versa increased by
cooling a part of it.
In comparing the conducting powers of different
metals, I found much greater difference than I had ex-
pected. Thus, six inches of silver wire of one two
hundred and twentieth discharged the whole of the
electricity of 65 pair of plates of zinc and double copper
made active by a mixture of about one part of nitric
acid of commerce, and 15 parts of water. Six inches
374 of copper wire of the same diameter discharged the
electricity of 56 pairs of the same combination, six
inches of tin of the same diameter carried off that of
12 only, the same quantity of wire of platinum that of
11, and of iron that of 9. Six inches of wire of lead of
¿ʊ seemed equal in their conducting powers to the
same length of copper wire of. All the wires were
kept as cool as possible by immersion in a basin of
200
water.
(Foot Note: Water is so bad a conductor that in ex-
375 periments of this kind its effects may be neglected al-
together; and these effects were equal in all the experi-
ments.)
I made a number of experiments of the same kind,
but the results were never precisely alike, though they
sometimes approached very near to each other. When
the batteries were highly charged so that the intensity
of the electricity was higher, the differences were less
between the best and worst conductors, and they were
greater when the charge was extremely feeble. Thus,
376 with a fresh charge of about one part of nitric acid, and
nine parts of water wires of of silver and platinum
of 5 inches long discharged respectively, the electricity
of thirty and seven double plates.
Finding that when different portions of the same
wire plunged in a non-conducting fluid were connected
with different parts of the same battery equally charged,
their conducting powers appeared in the inverse ratio
of their lengths; so when 6 inches of wire of platinum
of discharged the electricity of ten double plates,
3 inches discharged that of 20, 1 inch, that of forty,
220
95
and 1 inch that of sixty; it occurred to me that the 377
conducting powers of the different metals might be
more easily compared in this way, as it would be possi-
ble to make the contacts in less time than when the
batteries were charged, and, consequently, with less
variation in the charge.
Operating in this way, I ascertained that in discharg-
ing the electricity of 60 pairs of plates, 1 inch of
platinum was equal, to about 6 inches of silver, to 51
inches of copper, to four of gold, to 3.8 of lead, to about
9
10
10
of palladium, and of iron, all the metals being in 378
a cooling fluid medium.
I found, as might have been expected, that the con-
ducting power of a wire for electricity in batteries of
the size and number of plates just described, was nearly
directly as the mass; thus, when a certain length of
wire or platinum discharged one battery,
(Foot Note: A foot of this wire weighed 1.13 grains.
A foot of the other 6.7 grains).
the same length of wire of six times the weight
discharged 6 batteries; and the effect was exactly the 379
same, provided the wires were kept cool, whether
the mass was a single wire or composed of
six of the smaller wires in contact with each
other. This result alone showed that surface had no
relation to conducting power, at least for electricity of
this kind, and it was more distinctly proved by a direct
experiment; equal lengths and equal weights of wire of
platinum, one round and one flattened by being passed
transversely through rollers so as to have six or seven
times the surface, were compared as to conducting 380
powers. The flattened wire was the best conductor in
air, from its greater cooling powers, but in water no
difference could be perceived between them.
VI. I tried to make a comparison between the con-
ducting powers of fluid menstrua and charcoal and
those of metals. Six inches of platinum foil 1 inches
broad were placed in a vessel which could be filled with
any saline solution, and a similar piece of platinum
placed opposite at an inch distant; the whole was then
made part of a voltaic circuit, which had likewise an
96
381 other termination by silver wires in water, and a solu-
tion of salts added till gas ceased to be liberated from
the negative silver wire. In several trials of this kind
it was found that the whole of the surface of six inches,
even with the strongest solutions of common salt, was
insufficient to carry off the electricity even of two pairs
of plates only, whereas an inch of wire of platinum of
(as has been stated) carried off all the electricity of
sixty pair of plates. The gas liberated upon the sur-
face of metals when they are placed in fluid renders it
382 impossible to gain accurate results, but the conducting
power of the best fluid conductors, it seems probable
from this experiment, must be some hundreds of thous-
and times less than those of the worst metallic conduc-
tors.
3
1
10
A piece of well burnt compact boxwood charcoal was
placed in the circuit, being of an inch wide by
thick, and connected with large surfaces of platinum.
It was found that 1 inch and carried off the same
quantity of electricity as 6 inches of wire of platinum
383 of 20.
2
T
VII. I made some experiments with the hope of as-
certaining the exact change of ratio of the conducting
powers dependent upon the change of the intensity and
quantity of electricity, but I did not succeed in gaining
any other than the general result, that the higher the
intensity of the electricity the less difficulty it had in
passing through bad conductors, and several remarkable
phenomena depend upon this circumstance.
Thus in a battery where the quantity of the electric-
384 ity is very great and the intensity very low, such as one
composed of plates of zinc, zinc and copper are arranged
as to act only as single plates of from 20 to 30 feet of
surface each and charged by a weak mixture of acid
and water. Charcoal made to touch only in a few points
is almost as much an insulating body as water and can-
not be ignited, nor can wires of platinum be heated
when their diameter is less than of an inch and their
length 3 or 4 feet, and a foot of platinum wire of 3' is
scarcely heated by such a battery, whilst the same
length of silver wire of the same diameter is made red
80
97
hot, and the same lengths of thicker wires of platinum 385
or iron are intensely heated.
The heat produced where electricity of considerable
intensity is passed through conductors must always in-
terfere with the exact knowledge of the changes of their
conducting powers, as is proved by the following
experiment. A battery of twenty pair of plates of zinc
and copper plates ten inches by six was very highly
charged with a mixture of nitric acid and water, so as
to exhibit a considerable intensity of electrical action,
and the relative conducting powers of silver and 386
platinum in air and water ascertained by means of it.
In air six inches of wire of platinum of discharged
only four double plates, whilst six inches of silver wire of
the same diameter discharged the whole combination;
the platinum was strongly ignited in this experiment,
whilst the silver was scarcely warm to the touch. On
cooling the platinum wire by placing it in water, it was
found to discharge ten double plates. When the in-
tensity of the electricity is very high, however, even the
cooling powers of fluid media are of little avail; thus, I 387
find that fine wire of platinum was fused by the dis-
charge of a common electrical battery under water; so
that the conducting power must always be diminished
by the heat generated in a greater proportion as the
intensity of the electricity is higher.
It might at first be supposed that when a conductor
placed in the circuit left a residum of electricity in any
battery increase of the power of the battery or of its
surface could not enable it to carry through any
additional quantity. This, however, is far from being 388
the case.
When saline solutions were placed in the circuit of a
battery of twenty plates, though they discharged a very
small quantity only of the electricity when the troughs
were only one-quarter full, yet their chemical decom-
position exhibited the fact of a much larger quantity
passing through them when the cells were filled with
fluid.
And a similar circumstance occurred with respect to
a wire of platinum, of such a length as to leave a con-
•
98
389 siderable residuum in a battery when only half its
surface was used; yet, when the whole surface was
employed it became much hotter and nevertheless left a
still more considerable residuum.
VIII. I found long ago that in increasing the number
of alternations of similar plates, the quantity of electricity
seemed to increase as the number, at least as far as it
could be judged of by the effects of heat upon wires;
but only within certain limits, beyond which the
number appeared to diminish rather than increase in
390 quantity. Thus, the 2,000 double plates of the London
Institution when arranged as one battery would not
ignite so much wire as a single battery of ten plates
with double copper.
391
It is not easy to explain this result. Does the
intensity mark the rapidity of the motion of the
electricity, or merely its diminished attraction become
less in proportion as the circuit through which it passes
or in which it is generated contains a greater number of
alternations of bad conductors?
Mr. Children in his account of the experiments made
with his battery of large plates has ingeniously referred
the heat produced by the passage of electricity through
conductors to the resistance it meets with and has sup-
posed what proves to be the fact that the heat is in
some inverse ratio to the conducting power. The
greatest heat, however, is produced in air, where
there is reason to suppose the least resistance;
and as the presence of heat renders bodies worse con-
ductors another view may be taken-namely, that the
392 excitation of heat occasions the imperfection of
the conducting power.
But till the causes of heat and
of electricity are known, and of that peculiar constitu-
tion of matter which excites the one and transmits or
propagates the other, our reasoning on this subject
must be inconclusive.
I found that when equal portions of wires of the same
diameter, but of different metals, were connected to-
gether in the circuit of a powerful voltaic battery acting
as two surfaces, the metals were heated in the following
order: Iron most, then palladium, then platina, then
99
tin, then zinc, then gold, then lead, then copper, and 393
silver least of all. And from one experiment in which
similar wires of platinum and silver joined in the same
circuit were placed in equal portions of oil, it appeared
that the generation of heat was nearly inversely as their
conducting power. Thus the silver raised the tempera-
ture of the oil only 4º, whilst the platinum raised it 22º.
The same relations to heat seem to exist whatever is
the intensity of the electricity; thus, circuits of wire
placed under water and acted on by the common elec-
trical discharge were heated in the same order as by 394
the voltaic battery, as was shown by their relative
fusion; thus iron fusing before platinum, platinum be-
fore gold and so on.
If a chain be made of wire of platinum and silver, in
alternate links soldered together the silver wire being
four or five times the diameter of the platinum, and
placed in a powerful voltaic circuit, the silver links are
not sensibly heated, whilst those of the platinum be-
come intensely and equally ignited. This is an impor-
tant experiment for investigating the nature of heat. If 395
heat be supposed a substance, it cannot be imagined
to be expelled from the platinum, because an unlimited
quantity may be generated from the same platinum,
i. e., as long as the electricity is excited or as often as
it is renewed. Or if it be supposed to be identical with
or an element of electricity, it ought to bear some rela-
tion to its quantity, and might be expected to be the
same in every part of the chain or greatest in those
parts nearest the battery.
IX. The magnetism produced by electricity, though 396
with the same conductors, it increases with the heat, as
I mentioned in my last paper, yet with different con-
ductors I find it follows a very different law. Thus,
when a chain is made of different conducting wires and
they are placed in the same circuit, they all exhibit
equal magnetic powers and take up equal quantities of
iron filings, so that the magnetism seems directly as the
quantity of electricity which they transmit. And when
in a highly powerful voltaic battery, wires of the same
diameters and lengths, and of which the best conduct-
1
100
397 ing is incapable of wholly discharging the battery, are
made separately and successively to form the circuit,
they take up different quantities of iron filings in some
direct proportion to their conducting powers.
Thus, in one experiment two inches of wire of of
an inch being used, silver took up 32 grains, copper 24,
platinum 11, and iron 8.
398
399
400
101
Defendants' Exhibit Philosophical Trans- 401
actions. Paper No. 5. W. T. F.,
Spec. Exr.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF
LONDON, FOR THE YEAR 1839.
Part I., Vol. 39, Page 89. Fifth Letter on Voltaic
Combinations with some account of the Effects of
a large Constant Battery. Addressed to Michael
Faraday, Esq., D. C. L., F. R. S., Fullerian Prof. 402
Chem., Royal Institution, &c., &c., &c. By J.
Frederick Daniell, Esq., F. R. S., Prof. Chem. in
Kings College, London. Received April 11. Read
May 30, 1839.
MY DEAR FARADAY:
In my last letter to you which the Royal Society
have done me the honor to publish in the Philosophical
Transactions for 1838, I observed that the " principal
circumstance which might be supposed to limit the 403
power of an active combination within a conducting
sphere in any given electrolyte is the resistance of that
electrolyte which increases in a certain ratio to its
depth or thickness." The superficial measure of the
conducting sphere and the distance of the generating
metal or the depth and resistance of the electrolyte are
in fact varible conditions in a voltaic combination upon
which its efficiency depends; and their relations re-
quire further investigation before we shall be able to
determine what may be the proper proportions for the 404
economical application of the power to useful purposes.
I shall venture, therefore, to trouble you with results of
some further experiments upon the subject and upon
different combinations of the constant battery before I
proceed to communicate some observations upon
electrolysis which I trust you will find not without
interest and to which according to my plan my atten-
tion has been lately exclusively directed.
Looking for a moment upon the affinity which circu-
lates in the battery as a radiant force, it seemed de-
102
405 sirable to ascertain what would be the result of inter-
cepting the rays by the conducting surface nearer to
their centre than in the arrangements which have been
previously described as the relation of the generating
and conducting metals to each other might be thereby
more clearly ascertained.
For this purpose, I constructed a battery of ten
cylinders of copper 19 inches in length by 1 inches in
14
diameter. As the quantity of acid and sulphate of
copper which the cylinders could contain was too small
406 it was necessary to provide for the perpetual renovation
of the charge as the zinc became dissolved and the
copper precipitated. This was effected by connecting
all the membranes which held the acid and the zinc
rods at their lower end with a pipe terminating in a
stop-cock. Their upper ends were fixed in a cistern
from which they could be gradually supplied with fresh
acid as the saturated acid flowed out below. All the
exterior cells formed between the membranes and the
copper cylinders also terminated below in a common
407 reservoir, surrounding the former pipe by which their
exhausted contents could be drawn off as a fresh supply
of sulphate of copper was furnished from above by an
exterior cistern holding the solution. When the bat-
tery was in action a saturated solution of sulphate of
copper thus supplied from the top could be drawn off
almost colorless at the bottom; and it remained con-
stant for a considerable time.
The effect produced was 4 inches of mixed gases
per minute measured in the vollameter formerly de-
408 scribed.
I compared this result with that obtained from a
battery of ten cylinders 20 inches in length and 31
inches in diameter which gave in the same vollameter
11 cubic inches per minute. The surfaces of the con-
ducting cylinders were respectively 89.5 square inches
and 220 square inches; and the products of gases in
equal times were nearly in the same proportion as the
surfaces. The zinc rods were 1½ inches in diameter in
both cases.
I next proceeded to compare two small hemispheres
103
of copper with the large hemisphere of brass of 9½ 409
inches in diameter, formerly described. They were
fitted up as before as single circuits with a zinc ball of
1 inch diameter first placed in the membranes below
the surface of the solution of copper. The measure
made use of was the calorific galvanometer; the first
was 4 inches diameter and produced a permanent effect
of 45° upon the thermometer. The second of 2 inches
diameter produced an effect of 29°. The effect of the
large hemisphere was 90°. Here it will be observed
that the action was by no means proportioned to the 410
surfaces of the conducting hemispheres, but approxi-
mated more nearly to the simple ratios of their diame-
ters.
Hence, it would appear that the circulating force of
both a simple and compound voltaic circuit increased
with the surface of the conducting plate surrounding an
actual centre; but the experiments are not sufficient to
determine the law of the increase.
I now constructed a battery of ten larger cylinders of
four inches diameter, the arrangement in everything 411
being the same as before; I found that the action was
reduced to one-half the amount of mixed gases in the
vollameter per minute being only 5 cubic inches. The
experiments were repeated several times, and the ac-
tion maintained for several hours and always with con-
sistent results. This extraordinary and sudden decline
of force requires further investigation; and indeed the
only conclusion which we can at present draw from the
experiments which I have just detailed, but which is of
considerable practical importance, is that cylinders of 412
3 inches diameter form much more effective produc-
ing plates in a voltaic arrangement than cylinders of
either greater or less diameter. It must, however, be
borne in mind that this has only been proved by a
series of ten cells; for it is highly probable that the
limits of efficiency may change with the number of the
series.
The following experiments with the different combi-
nations which may be made with twenty cylinders
throw some light on the question of the influence of the
104
413 numbers of a series, the diameter of the numbers of
which is limited to 3 inches. The cylinders were 20
inches in height and the zinc rods were of an inch in
diameter. The electrolyte consisted of eight parts of
water and one part of oil of vitriol by `measure, and in
the exterior divisions of the cells was a saturated sul-
phate of copper. The temperature was about 65°; the
duration of each experiment was one minute.
FIRST SET OF EXPERIMENTS.
414 No. of cells...1
2
3
4 5 10
15
20
Cubic inches
of gas........0
Just vis-
ible
1급 ​317 6121
151
171
All cells
direct.
Cubic inches of gas...........17
Cubic inches of gas.......84
Cubic inches of gas........
SECOND SET OF EXPERIMEENTS.
1 inverted. 2 invert. 3 invert.
15
12
10
4 invert. 5 invert. 6 invert. 7 invert. 8 invert.
5
31
15/1
11
9 invert.
........Just visible.
415
THIRD SET OF EXPERIMENTS.
Number of double cells.......
5
10
Cubic inches of gas......
.11
20
FOURTH SET OF EXPERIMENTS.
Cubic inches of gas..
5 triple
cells.
5 quadruple
cells.
.14
15
...
When a series of 5 single cells was connected with a
416 series of 5 double cells and the same voltameter em-
ployed the amount of gas was 15 cubic inches. Each
double series alone gave 11 cubic inches.
From these experiments it appears that the most ad-
vantageous adjustment of active force and resistance is
in the series of ten single cells when they are of the
diameter of 3 inches, and that the largest amount of
work which can be derived from twenty such cells is
when they are arranged in two series of ten; for
105
Cells.
Cubic in.
Cells.
Cubic in.
10 give 12
5 give 6
2
4
20
25
20
24
Cells Cubic in. 417
4 give 37
20
5
199
20 in single series give 17 cubic inches. 10 double cells give 20
cubic inches.
Cells.
Cubic in.
5 double give 11
20
2
22
Cells.
Cubic in.
5 quadruple give 15%
20
152
418.
I now combined in a single series a battery of 70
cells of the same dimensions and charged in the same
manner for the purpose of observing chiefly the effects
of light and heat produced by the current, in a state
of high intensity and constant action. The interior
cells were formed of light porous earthenware and an-
swered their purpose perfectly, offering no more obstruc-
tion to the current than the membranes and being much
more convenient in use.
a
The quantity of decomposition per minute from 419
voltameter with the usual charge of dilute acid was
only 17 cubic inches; while with distilled water the
passage of a current was scarcely indicated by a few
bubbles of gas which arose from the electrodes.
In
The flame between charcoal points was of consider-
able volume and formed a continuous arch when the
points were separated to about three-quarters of an
inch. This striking distance did not appear to be in-
creased in the flask exhausted by the air pump. The
light and radiant heat were most intense and proved 420
highly injurious the eyes of many of the party who did
me the honor of assisting me in my experiments.
my own case, although protected by dark gray glasses
of double thickness, a high state of inflammation was
produced, which it required very active medical treat-
ment to subdue; and as you well know in others even
the application of leeches was found to be necessary.
The whole of my face was also scorched and inflamed
as if it had been exposed for many hours to a bright
mid-summer sun. When reflected from an imperfect
106
421 parabolic metallic mirror in a lantern the rays were
collected into a focus by a glass lens and readily burnt
422
a hole in paper at many feet from their source. The
heat was quite intolerable to the hand when held near
the lantern.
Paper steeped in nitrate of silver and afterwards
dried was speedily burnt brown in the light; and when
a piece of fine wire gauze was held before it the pattern
of the latter appeared in white lines corresponding to
the parts which it protected.
The phenomenon of the transfer of the charcoal from
one electrode to the other, which I believe was first re-
marked by Dr. Hare, was abundantly produced. The
transfer took place from the zincode (or positive pole,
or charcoal connected with the last copper cylinder of
the battery) to the platinode (the negative pole, or
charcoal connected with the last zinc rod of the
battery).
(Foot Note: I have so strongly felt the want of some
distinctive names for the two poles of the battery con-
423 sistent with the principles of nomenclature which you
have adopted, that I have ventured to propose those
mentioned above and have constantly used them in my
lectures. The anode and cathode have relations to the
surfaces of the electrolyte, and if we distinguish the
electrodes themselves as the anelectrode and the cath-
electrode confusion is apt to arise; I find practically
that students easily recollect that the zincode is that
electrode which in the regular battery would be con-
structed of zinc and the platinode of platinum.)
424
And in the former a sharp well-defined cup-like
cavity was produced and on the latter a corresponding
protuberance or nipple. The carbon of the latter
proved to be very hard and had the rough mammil-
lated structure of the carbon which is found coating
the interior of gas retorts. When a platinum rod was
substituted for the charcoal at the platinode the trans-
fer of the charcoal from the zincode still took place,
and the metal became coated with carbon which was
beautifully molded at its extremity. When this
arrangement was reversed and the zincode was formed
107.
of platinum, and the platinode of charcoal, particles of 425
platinum were transferred and the charcoal became
covered with distinct and numerous
fused metal.
globules of the
The transfer of matter of such dissimilar kinds in
this definite direction renders it probable that it is es-
sential to the disruptive discharge and is entirely
analogous to the transfer of matter which has been ob-
served by Fusineri in all cases of the Leyden discharge,
and of the discharge of atmospheric electricity by
lightning.
426
As connected with this subject, I may recall to your
recollection the attempts which were made to produce a
spark before contact and in which we reduced the re-
sistance between two platinum wires connecting the two
ends of the battery to the utmost possible degree with
success. Even when the wires were heated in the flame
of a blow pipe no passage was established. At the
suggestion of Sir John Herschel, I adjusted two brass
poles connected with the two ends of the battery within
a very minute distance of each other, and while in this 427
situation I passed a spark of a small Leyden jar be-
tween them and immediately the battery current was
established and the brass poles which were hollow were
burnt. Is it not probable that the Leyden discharge in
this case transferred the conducting matter which
was essential to the existence of the voltaic flame,
and which was afterwards supplied by its own energy ?
The arch of flame between the electrodes was found
to be attracted or repelled by the poles of a magnet ac-
cording as one or other pole was held above or below it, 428
as was first ascertained by Sir H. Davy; and the re-
pulsion was at times so great as to extinguish the flame.
When according to the suggestion of Mr. Gassiot the
flame was drawn from the pole of the magnet itself
included in the circuit it rotated in a very beautiful
manner.
(Foot Note: This modification of Sir H. Davy's ex-
periment was first made, as I am informed, by Mr.
Sturgeon.)
When the zincode was connected with the marked
108
429 pole and the platinode was held over it, the rotation
was from west to east, or in the contrary direction to
the motion of the hands of a watch; but when the ar-
rangement was reversed and the zincode was connected
with the unmarked pole, the rotation was reversed.
The flame was also made to rotate by the induction of
the magnetism of the earth upon a poker of iron held in
the direction of the dip.
The experiment was again varied by leading the cur-
rent through a spiral twisted round a horse-shoe bar
430 of soft iron, and causing the flame to rotate under the
influence of its own magnetic force.
The heating power of the battery was very great and
the greater intensity of the heat on the side of the
zincode than on that of the platinode extremely re-
markable. Mr. Gassiot first pointed out to me that
when two stout copper wires of of an inch in diameter
were connected with the extremities of the battery, and
held across each other so that the flame passed between
them, the wire at the zincode became red hot while the
.431 other remained comparatively cool. A bar of platinum
of an inch square freely melted and dropped in large
globules in the former situation, but showed no signs
of fusion at the platinode.
When the zincode was formed of hard carbon taken
from the gas retorts and a cavity ground in it, the most
infusible metals placed in it were melted in consider-
able quantities.
Pure rhodium immediately ran into a perfect globule
and burnt with scintillations and a blue light. The
432 native alloy of irridium and osmium as well as pure ir-
ridium were also completely melted. These metals
were kindly supplied to me for the experiments by Mr.
Johnson.
Titanium fused instartly and burnt with scintilla-
tions very much resembling those from iron.
The native ore of platinum was completely fused,
but the mass when cold proved to be very brittle.
After four hours constant action the power of the
battery was found to be undiminished and the amount
of the zinc consumed was very small.
109
In conclusion, I shall briefly describe the results of 433
some experiments on the evolution of the mixed gases
from water in a confined space and under constant
high pressures which I made from July to October,
1837, and which I intended to have further extended.
My objects were to ascertain first, in what manner
conduction would be carried on supposing that the tube
in which the electrodes were introduced were quite
filled with the electrolyte and there were no space for
the accumulation of the gases; secondly, whether de-
composition having been effected recombination would 434
take place at any given pressure; and thirdly, whether
any reaction on the current force of the battery would
arise from the additional mechanical force which it
would have to overcome.
The first apparatus which I made use of was a stout
glass tube into the lower end of which a platinum wire
was inserted to form an electrode. This end was her-
metically closed and the upper end drowned and fitted
with a platinum valve pressed upon by a lever which
could be loaded with weights to any required amount. 435
From this valve a wire projected into the tube to form
the other electrode. The tube was accurately filled
with the standard dilute acid and placed in the battery
circuit with a voltameter by which the rate of work and
the quantity of the gases disengaged could be ascer-
tained. The battery made use of consisted of ten large
cells with the usual charge. Before pressure was ap-
plied the rate of work was always ascertained with the
tube and voltameter in their places. I tried many ex-
periments with this arrangement; but it will only be 436
necessary to describe the general results.
The pressure was carried up to 98 lbs. upon a circu-
lar area of inch diameter, the apparatus appeared to be
quite tight for a long time and bubbles of gas evolved
from the two wires when the circuit was complete.
The liquid became hazy and bubbles of gas seemed to
line the tube. The stream of oxygen from the upper
wire was projected downward into the liquid as if with
considerable force. The liquid ultimately oozed out
between the edge of the tube and the valve, and the ex-
110
437 periment was stopped. When the pressure on the valve
was removed a puff of gas took place and the liquid
slowly effervesced for a considerable time but was not
projected with any violence. The compression tube
felt warm to the hand, but not very hot. The quantity
of gas which first escaped seemed to bear but a small
proportion to that which was indicated by the volta-
meter included in the circuit and the rate of decompo-
sition was not at all altered by the accumulation of the
elastic force.
438
To carry the experiment as far as the resistance of
the glass could conveniently admit of, I caused a com-
pression tube to be made of inch in thickness of the
capacity of 13 cubic inch. Two platinum plates were
sealed into its lower end; one cubic inch of standard
acid was poured into it, and it was then hermetically
sealed at the top. It was placed securely in the battery
circuit with a voltameter and the progress of the experi-
ment was watched from a safe distance.
The evolution of the gas which was measured at short
439 intervals took place with perfect regularity and did not
appear to be in the slightest degree affected by the
gradual increasing compression. In four and one-half
minutes, when 19 cubic inches had been collected, the
compression tube burst with a loud explosion and the
fragments which were very small were scattered all over
the laboratory.
Ισ
If we were to calculate that 19 cubic inches were com-
pressed into the of a cubic inch space unoccupied by
the liquid this would be a compression of 63 into 1,
440 and the pressure would amount to nearly 940 pounds
upon the square inch; but if were to reckon, as was
probably the case, that two cubic inches of the gases
were kept down by the solvent power of the liquid at
this high pressure, then the compression would have
amounted to 56 into 1, and the pressure to 840 pounds
upon the square inch.
It is probable that the means here pointed out might
be applied with advantage to the compression of some
of the gases whose liquefaction you have already af-
111
fected; and I purpose when my avocations will permit 441
to return to the experiments with this view.
I remain, my dear Faraday,
Your faithful friend,
J. F. DANIELL.
Kings College, London, April 9, 1839.
442
443
444
112
445 Defendants' Exhibit Philosophical Trans-
actions, Paper No. 6. W. T. F.,
Spec. Exr.
446
447
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY
OF LONDON, FOR THE YEAR 1832.
Part I, Volume 32, at page 292.
XIII. Experimental Researches in Voltaic Electricity
and Electro Magnetism by the Rev. William Ritchie,
L.L.D., F.R.S., Prof. of Natural and Experimental
Philosophy in the Royal Institution of Great Britain,
and Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy
in the University of London.
Read January 19, 1832.
PART III.
APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING PRINCIPLES TO FURTHER
DEVELOPMENTS IN VOLTAIC ELECTRICITY.
20. There are only three substances which can be
regarded as good conductors of voltaic electricity : viz. :
The metals, charcoal, and acidulated water. The
metals when employed as conductors seem to have
been the only substances whose deflecting energy on
the needle has been carefully examined. It appeared
to me worth an experiment to ascertain if charcoal
deflected the needle and that too with the same energy
metal conducting an equal quantity of voltaic elec-
448 tricity. This was ascertained with the following
arrangement. Exp. VIII. A piece of charcoal about
14 inches long was placed between two slips of copper
fixed perpendicularly in a piece of wood and an astatic
needle suspended by a fibre of silk brought over the
middle of the charcoal.
Fig. 6 will exhibit this arrangement.
[Here insert Fig. 6.]
1
113
C
In which A B is the charcoal e c' slips of wires w w' 449)
wires soldered to the copper slips. When the wires
were connected with an elementary or with a compound
battery the needle was deflected in the same manner
as by a metallic wire. When one of the slips of copper
was placed below the needle and at the same distance
as before the needle was equally deflected. The needle.
is therefore deflected by the quantity of electricity con-
ducted without any regard to the nature of the conduct-
ing substance.
Since charcoal, therefore, deflects the needle, it 450
might be made to rotate about a magnet agreeably to
the laws as established by the ingenious experiments
of Mr. Faraday. This was accomplished as follows :
Exp. IX. A thin slip of copper having a small cup
soldered on the middle and two short tubes on the end
to hold pieces of charcoal was placed on the point of
a needle on the pole of a horse-shoe magnet, the points
of charcoal being made to dip into the mercury con-
tained in the wooden cup as in the experiment for the
rotation of a wire. The charcoal was now made to 451
conduct voltaic electricity from a battery of a hundred
pair of plate when it revolved rapidly as a metallic wire
would have done in similar circumstances.
a
21. The French philosophers have introduced
distinction between the current of voltaic electricity
passing along a metallic conductor and that transmitted
by a liquid conductor which seems to me entirely ground-
less. This distinction may be given in the words of Mr.
Cumming in his translation of Demonferrand's Manuel of
Electro Dynamics: "In the present state of science, it 452
is perhaps expedient to consider electrical currents in
another point of view, namely, as being continuous or
discontinuous. The first are those which are trans-
mitted by perfect conductors, and whose intensity
varies insensibly in two consecutive instants, as in the
thermo electric or in the common galvanic circuits.
When the conductors are imperfect, the currents are
discontinuous. For bodies of this description permit
the electricity to accumulate for a certain time after
which the insulating force being overcome it passes
114
-453 with an explosion; and if the electro motive power con-
tinues to act there ensues a second accumulation and
explosion as before, and so on successively. The dis-
tinctive character of such currents is that they are in-
capable of producing a deviation in the magnetic
needle" (Cummings' Translations of Demonferrand's
Electro Dynamics, page 116).
From the manner in which this distinction is laid
down by the French writers, I had always taken it for
granted that a needle suspended above the liquid part
454 of a conductor of voltaic electricity was feebly deflected,
and should probably have remained in this belief had I
not entered on the present experimental investigation.
This assertion I put to the test of experiment as fol-
lows:
455
Exp. X. Having cemented a glass tube about an
inch in diameter and four inches long into two wooden
boxes A, B, as in Figure 7.
[Here insert Fig. 7.]
and filled the whole with water, I placed two plates of
copper cc', having copper wires soldered to each
opposite the ends of the glass tube T. The wire pro-
ceeding from c after extending about a foot upwards
was bent towards the left at D and then made to de-
scend at E, and pass parallel to the needle N, S, and
thence to the end of a battery. The other wire w was
456 connected with the other end of the battery. It is ob-
vious from this arrangement that the effects of the
electricity arranged in the cylinder of water and those
of the horizontal branch of the wire above the needle
would be to turn the needle in opposite directions.
When the branch G, H, was further from the needle
than the axis of the tube represented by the dotted
line the needle was deflected in obedience to the cylinder
of water; but when the wire was brought nearest the
needle it was deflected in the opposite direction.
When the wire was placed at the same distance from
115
the needle as the axis of the cylinder the needle re- 457
mained perfectly stationary. When a disc of zinc was
substituted for one of the copper plates and the wires.
connected so as to form an elementary battery the
needle was deflected with the same force by the column
of water as by the metallic part of the circuit. Hence,
it is obvious that a cylindrical column of water conduct-
ing voltaic electricity deflects the needle with the same
energy as a metallic wire passing along its axis and
forming a part of the same circuit.
22. To complete this part of the enquiry, I was 458
anxious to make a hollow column of water revolving
about the pole of a magnet. This was accomplished as
follows:
Exp. XI. Having procured two thin hollow cylinders
of wood, the one about two inches and a-half in diam-
eter, and the other about an inch and a-half, I cemented
the one within the other at the bottom. Two flat
rings of copper were then fixed parallel to each other
at the bottom and top of the cylindrical box, the space
between them being for the reception of the water or 459
diluted acid. This annular space was divided into two
compartments by thin slips of wood placed perpendicu-
larly to prevent the water revolving without carrying
the box along with it. Two small metallic points were
made to pass from the lower copper ring through the
bottom of the box for the purpose of dipping into a
cup for holding mercury. The opposite sides of the
upper ring were connected by a wire, to the middle of
which was soldered a metallic point to dip into a small
metallic cup for holding mercury at the top of the 460
magnet. The whole arrangement will be obvious from
the simple inspection of figure 8.
[Here insert Fig. 8.]
In which the cylinder C is seen in perspective with
the metallic point to dip into the mercury contained in
the wooden cup which is used for the common rotation
116
461 of a wire, and N, the magnet. The box is partly sus-
pended by an untwisted thread T, so that the metallic
point may not rest on the bottom of the cup on the top
of the magnet, but simply dip into the mercury.
When the wire w, from the cup on the top of the
magnet is connected with one end of a powerful bat-
tery and the wire from the wooden cup into which the
metallic point dips connected with the other, the water
in the box is rapidly decomposed, and the whole re-
volves about the pole of the magnet. By changing the
462 poles the box and its contents are made to turn round
in the opposite direction. I was now anxious to make
the hollow cylinder of water revolve whilst the vessel in
which it was contained remained stationary. This was
accomplished by the following arrangement.
Exp. XII. Two glass cylinders were cemented into
grooves in a circular piece of wood, through the centre
of which the magnet was made to pass, as in the pre-
ceding experiment. The circular rims of copper were
fixed as in the wooden cylinder, the breadth of the
463 upper ring being considerably less than that of the
lower. The inspection of figure 9 will render the whole
obvious.
[Here insert Fig. 9.]
In which A, B, is a section of the glass cylinders N
the magnet W, the wire connected with the lowest cop-
464 per ring w, that connected with the other, and reaching
to the ends of the battery; V represents a wooden
vane having two vertical branches immersed in the
conducting fluid and balanced on a fine point resting
on the top of the magnet.
When the wires are connected with a powerful bat-
tery the water begins to revolve forming a real vortex
and carrying the wooden vane along with it. When
bodies of the same specific gravity as that of the fluid
are thrown into it, the rotation is rendered obvious
without the wooden vane. When the lower ring is con-
117
nected with the negative end of the battery, the 465
bubbles of hydrogen as they ascend wind around in a
spiral direction till they reach the surface of the fluid.
These experiments demonstrated that the action of
magnets is entirely on the electric arrangement without
any relation to the ponderable substances with which it
combines; and they may yet enable us to assign the
cause of currents in the ocean which have not received
a satisfactory explanation.
23. In examining the changes which took place in
water placed between the platinum poles of a powerful 466
galvanic battery, I was struck with the difference of
temperature which I observed in the water at the two
poles. The phenomena which thus presented them-
selves appearing to me new and highly interesting I
was induced to examine the subject by careful experi-
ments and investigation. The following arrangement
presented itself and brought out new and unex-
pected results which seem to open a wide field for
future inquiry.
Exp. XIII. Having made a small rectangular box, I 467
divided it into three compartments by diaphragms of
bladder as in Figure 10.
[Here insert Fig. 10.]
In which A, B, C, are the three chambers and the
box nearly filled with common water. The copper wires
w w', being connected with the ends of a powerful bat- 468
tery, the water was rapidly decomposed through the
moist bladder. After decomposition had gone on for
eight or ten minutes, the temperature of the water in
the three cells was examined, when it was found that
the temperature of the water in each of the cells had
risen during the experiment, that the temperature of
the water at the positive pole had risen several degrees
higher than that in the negative cell; but what seemed
most remarkable was the fact that the water in the
middle cell had risen several degrees higher than the
118
469 water in the positive or hottest chamber. The cause of
this curious result soon presented itself.
The general rise of temperature in the conducting
fluid is undoubtedly caused by the same agency
which raises the temperature of a metal where perform-
ing the same office as the fluid. The difference of
temperature in the extreme cells depends on the speci-
fic heats of the gases disengaged. The specific heat
of oxygen is nearly the same as that of hydrogen. But
there being twice as much hydrogen given off at the
470 negative pole as oxygen at the positive it will absorb
nearly twice as much heat from the water in that cham-
ber as the oxygen does from the water in the other.
The temperature of the water in the negative chamber
must, therefore, be kept lower than that in the other
compartment. If liquids could conduct voltaic electri-
city without suffering decomposition, the diameter of
the whole mass between the poles would have its tem-
perature equally elevated in every point; but the two
unequal cooling processes going on in the extreme cham-
471 bers occasion the striking inequality of temperature in
the three divisions. But this experiment appears to me
to establish another point of vast importance in the
theory of voltaic electricity. If the hydrogen which is
set at liberty at the negative pole traversed the fluid
between the two poles, it is obvious it must have ac-
quired its specific heat at the positive pole, and con-
sequently could not have lowered the temperature in
the negative cell. The oxygen, then, which is disen-
gaged at the positive pole must have belonged to the
472 film of water in contact with the negative pole. There
appears, therefore, to be no actual transfer of the com-
ponent parts of the water, but agreeably to the views of
M. Grotthus, a continued series of decompositions and
recompositions along the whole chain of acqueous par-
ticles between the two poles.
24. The explanation now given of this curious phe-
nomenon receives the strongest confirmation from the
decomposition of other substances besides water. When
a solution of sulphate of copper was placed between
the poles of a powerful battery, and the temperature of
+
119
the cells examined as before, it was found that a much 473
greater difference between the temperatures of the ex-
treme chambers took place; but the temperature of the
negative chamber was now higher than that of the posi-
tive. In some of my experiments the temperature of
the negative cell rose 8 or 10° above that of the positive,
whilst the middle chamber was nearly of the same tem-
perature with the negative compartment. The same
striking difference was observed when a solution of
acetate of lead was employed.
The cause of this change of temperature depends as 474
in the case of water on the specific heats of the elements
separated at the two poles. When a metallic salt is
decomposed by the agency of voltaic electricity, the
pure metal is separated at the negative pole whilst the
oxygen appears at the other pole. Now, the speci-
fic heats of metals are exceedingly small. The change
of state, then from the liquid to the solid which took
place in the negative chamber must have raised the
temperature, while no such change of state took place
in the positive compartment. Hence the temperature 475
of the negative cell must he higher than that of the
positive. It is unnecessary to multiply examples.
we know the specific heats of the substances set at
liberty in the extreme chambers we can tell a priori
which of the compartments will have the highest tem-
perature-which affords the most satisfactory evidence
of the accuracy of the explanation given of this interest-
ing phenomena.
If
476
120
477 Defendants' Exhibit Published Description
of Ladiguin's Electric Light. W. T.
F., Spec. Exr.
478
JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, LONDON, 1872-3,
VOL. 21, AUGUST 22, 1873.
p. 779.
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.
It will be in the recollection of the readers of the
“Journal” that in April last an analogy was pointed
out between sunlight and the electric light, and that
certain conditions were therein indicated as being most
favorable to that particular development of light which
would best bring out the separation of the power pro-
ducing the light from the place of its manifestation.
Those conditions were the employment of magneto-elec-
tricity and the use of a closed incandescent conductor
479 in an atmosphere which would not oxidize or otherwise
affect the durability of the light producing material.
From the quotation from the Russian paper " Galos "
which follows it will be seen that the results anticipated
are even now in the course of realization, and all that
practical men can do is to wish the plan the success it
seems to deserve, and to wait the result of the further
exhibitions of its power in London and other places
more accessible to the western nations that St. Peters-
burg:
480
"On Tuesday, the 8-20 of May, a most interesting
trial was made for the first time in public at the Admi-
ralty House in St. Petersburg, under the auspices of
Messrs. S. A. Kosloff & Co., the proprietors of the pat-
ent of a new system of lighting by electricity, the inven-
tion of Mr. A. Ladiguin of that town.
"Owing to the restricted space in the hall made use
of on this occasion, the number of spectators was nec-
essarily limited, but still they consisted of more than a
hundred specialists from different countries, representa-
tives of science, honorable visitors, and many reporters,
121
who were all deeply interested, and unanimously de- 48k
cided that the trial was really successful.
"Up to the present time, as is well known, the elec-
tric light has been used only for light-houses, as an
electric sun illumination for signals, or on the stage
where a strong light may be required without regard to
cost; but thus far it has been impossible to employ it
for lighting streets or houses.
"By the old method the electric spark was passed
between two points of charcoal, each attached to a cop-
per wire connected with an electro-magnetic machine.
“The disadvantages attending this mode consisted in
the facts that for each light a separate machine was re-
quired and that the light so obtained, although very
powerful, was impossible to be regulated, besides being
non-continuous, owing to the rapid consumption of
the charcoal points from exposure to air.
"All the difficuties Mr. A. Ladiguin has tried and
apparently overcome most successfully.
482
"By his newly-invented method only one piece of
charcoal or other bad conductor is required, which be- 483
ing attached to wire connected with an electro-magnetic
machine is placed in a glass tube from which the air is
exhausted and replaced by a gas which will not at a
high temperature combine chemically with the charcoal.
This tube is then hermetically sealed, and the machine
being set in motion by means of a small steam engine,
the charcoal becomes gradually and equally heated,
and emits a soft, steady and continuous light, which by
a most simple contrivance can be strengthened or weak-
ened at the option of those employing it; its duration 484
being dependent solely on the electric current, which
of course will last as long as the machine is kept in
motion.
"Taking into consideration the fact that one machine
worked by a small three-horse power engine is capable
of lighting many hundreds of lanterns, it is evident
what an enormous advantage and profit could be gained
by the illumination of streets, private houses, public
buildings and mines with the new electric light. In the
latter it must prove invaluable, as no explosion need
122
485 ever be feared from it, and these lanterns will burn
equally as well under water as in a room.
"Without mentioning the many advantages this
mode of illumination has over gas, which by its unpleas-
ant odor and evaporation is slowly poisoning thousands
of human beings, and from which explosions are fre-
quent, we can state that by calculations made this
electric light can be produced at a fifth of the cost of
coal gas.
"We hope shortly to place before the public more
486 complete particulars, as well as reports of further ex-
periments which are proposed to take place in Vienna,
Paris and London."
See the Russian paper "Galos," No. 129, of May
11-23, 1873.
-487
488
123
Defendant's Exhibit Violette Paper. W. 489
T. F., Spec. Exr.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS, VOL. 16.
G. P. Putman & Sons, New York, 1853 (p. 270).
OVERHEATED STEAM APPLIED TO THE CARBONIZING OF
WOOD.
For several years past overheated steam has been 490-
used in numerous industrial operations, and we may
say generally that it may be applied in all processes in
which a temperature between 100° and 500° C. is re-
quired. Among these processes is the extraction of
wood spirit, the continuous baking of bread, the pre-
paration of sea biscuit, the drying of wood, the preser-
vation of meats, the extraction of volatile substances
insoluable in water, the purification of fatty acids by
MM. Leplay and Dubrunfaut, the extraction of the
mercury from the residues of zinc amalgam by M. 491
Violette, and finally the carbonizing of wood by the
same chemist.
M. Violette is a member of the commission on powder
and saltpeter, and in this situation he has turned his
attention to the ingredients of powder, the manufacture
of which still admits of much improvement. The char-
coal employed in this manufacture is of a quality inter-
mediate between wood and ordinary charcoal; it is
called red charcoal (charbon roux), and is produced
at 300° C.; at a higher temperature it becomes black 492
charcoal, and at a lower the carbonization is incom-
plete.
By the old process of heating in closed cylinders,
10,000 kilogrammes of wood furnish 2,000 kil. of black
charcoal, and 1,300 of red. The new process with steam
yields a better article in larger quantity for 10,000 kil.
of wood give 4,000. The wood immersed in the vapor
is readily carbonized, and as it is easy to regulate the
temperature of the vapor charcoal may be obtained of a
constant and uniform character. It has some use
124
493 since, though overheated steam was first adopted in
this process by M. Violette, and now the red charcoal,
before employed only for the finest powder, is in gen-
eral use for the cheaper kinds, so simple and certain is
its production by means of steam.
M. Violette communicates to the Academy some new
results. He shows that the change to charcoal takes
place differently with different woods, and that the
products of the same temperature differ in elementary
constitution. Exposed to moist air the charcoals absorb
494 more water the lower the temperature to which they
are exposed and the
is of their power
of conducting heat and electricity. Charcoal made at
1,500° C. conducts much better than the charcoal of gas
retorts, and serves perfectly for electric illumination.
The density increases in the same proportion. When
lighted charcoals remain ignited for a time, which de-
creases as the temperature of carbonization increases.
The charcoal made at 260° C. burns more easily and
longer; that made between 1,000° and 1,500° C. will
495 not ignite or burn.
The most inflamable of all charcoals is that of an
Agaricus. It takes fire spontaneously at 300° C. Other
charcoals prepared at the temperature 300° C. take fire
in the air spontaneously between 360° and 380° accord-
ing to the wood that is afforded, though the charcoals
of the lighter woods burning the most readily.
When charcoals are mixed with sulphur they are in-
flamed at a temperature much below that required
when alone; the mixture of the two prepared between
496 150° to 400° C. is wholly consumed at 250° C. On the
contrary, when the charcoal employed has been pre-
pared at 1,000° or 1,500° C. only the sulphur burns.
To decompose saltpeter, the charcoals require a
higher temperature; and heat of 400° C. is needed for
charcoals prepared between 150° and 432°, and a red
heat for those made between 1,000° and 1,500°.
Sulphur decomposes saltpeter at a higher temperature
than charcoal requires, viz., at 432º. The sulphur alone
inflames in common air at 250° C. and not at 150°, as
stated in treatises on chemistry.
125
The deflagration of powder takes place at 250°, but 497
this combustibility varies with the charge and the size
of the grain. The powder in grains burns between
270° and 320°, while powder pulverized burns between
265° and 270°.
In view of the facts M. Violette concludes that it is
necessary to revise the charges employed, taking into
consideration the actual position of the charcoal. Trials
made with this in view upon hunting powder with
charges calculated according to the actual position of
the charcoal have given a range much beyond the 498
standard rate obtained with the ordinary powder.
499
500
126
501
502
Edison Exhibit No. 3.
(Book No. 67. Pages 1 to 15, inclusive.)
RECORD OF LAMPS.
.
No. 142. Resistance, 150 ohms. 1880. Jan. 2,
Has burnt at least 200 hours. S 12 noon.'
This lamp is hung on the two main wires over the
pumps.
Jan'y 5, measured resistance; no change.
Hours.
200.00. Jan. 2.
19.30.
3.
9.58.
4.
20.50.
5.
3.47.
5.
20.26.
6.
12.15.
7.
22.00.
8.
9.00.
9. Till 5 o'clock.
503
504
360.00. total.
Jan. 9, 6.50.
Jan. 10, 19.15.
Jan. 11, 7.00.
Jan. 12, 11.00. Total, 405.05, up to noon.
Busted Jan. 13, 2 A. M.
No. 159. Hung on leading, over pumps.
Resist., 153 ohms. > Jan. 2, 1880,
Has burnt 200 hours. noon.
Jany. 5, measured resistance; no change.
Hours.
Jan. 2. 200.00.
3.
19.30.
4.
9.58.
5.
20.50.
5.
3.47.
6.
20.26.
7. 12.15.
8.
22.00.
127
Jan. 9. - 9.00. Total time, 360.12. Jan. 9, 5 P. M. 505
A
Jany. 8, resistance same.
11.00. Total 404.05 up to 12 o'clock.
9.
6.50.
10.
19.15.
11.
7.00.
12.
12.
9.30.
13.
11.00.
13.
11.30.
14.
22.30.
15.
11.30.
424.35
12
480.30
12
No. 189. Chandelier in top room nearest pumps.
Resist. 149.
Has run 13 hours. Jan. 2, 1880, noon.
Hours.
Jan. 2. 13.00.
3.
19.30.
4.
9.58.
5.
20.50.
5.
3.47.
6.
20.26.
7.
12.15.
8.
22.00.
9.
9.00. }
}
Total time burned 173.12 at 5
o'clock P. M.
9.
6.50.
10.
19.15.
11.
7.00.
12.
11.00. }
Total time burned 217.17 up to
noon.
Busted at 8.40.
No. 285. Second chandelier, top room.
Resist. 142.
Jan. 2, 1800.
J20. 2
Has run 13 hours. § 12 noon.
Has run since 8.21, total running.
Broke by vibration in taking off, and on
center (Edison saw this Jan. 2, 1880, 8 P. M.).
says not quite sure about this.
in above
Edison
506
507
508
128
309. No. 255. Second Chandelier, top room.
Resist. 200.
}
Jan. 2, 1880,
Has run 13 hours. § 12 noon.
Jan. 3.
19.30.
4.
9.58.
5.
20.50.
5.
3.47.
6.
20.26.
7.
12.15
8.
22.00.
510
9.
9.00. Total time burned 173.12 at 5.00 P. M.
9.
6.50.
10.
19.15.
11.
7.00.
12.
11.00.
217.17 up to 12 o'c.
12.
9.30.
13.
11.00.
237.47 "
13.
11.30.
14.
22.30.
15.
11.30.
294.17 “
511
223, third chandelier, top room.
Resist 140
Burnt 13 hours S
Jan. 3, 19.30
Busted.
}
Jan. 2, 1880,
noon.
4, 9.58
5, 20.50
5, 3.47
6, 20.26
7, 12.15
512
8, 22.00
9, 9.00 total time burned 143.12 at 5 P. M.
9, 6.50
10, 19.15
11, 7.00
12, 11.00
12, 9.30
13, 11.00
((
((
13, 11.30
14, 22.30
30
"(
187.17
up to noon.
((
207.47 "
<<
129
Jan. 15, 11.30 total time burned 262.17 up to noon.
Busted.
Busted.
193, chandelier near organ.
Resist 154
Burnt 13 hours
Jan. 3, 19.39
4, 9.58
Jan. 2, 1880,
noon.
513
5, 20.50
5, 3.47
Taken out on Jan. 9, 1880, to put in street lamps 514
replaced by 376 experiment.
162 chandelier near organ.
Resist 147
Burnt 13 hours
> Jan. 2, 1880,
noon.
Jan. 3, 19.30
4, 9.58
5, 20.50
5, 3.47
Taken out on Jan. 9, 1880, replaced by 375 experi-
ment bent on end of tip taken to Cornishes where it 515
burnt 102.00 total. Brought up for diver light.
167, third chandelier top room north side.
Resist 136
Burnt 13 hours
Jan. 2, 1880,
noon.
Saw this burst at 3 P. M. Jan. 2. Inside glass broke.
Total length of burning, 15 hours.
204, Flammer's bench.
Resist
Burning 13 hours}
Jan. 2, 1880,
noon.
January 2, 1880, taken out by Edison and five pr.
given Upton to make test for rupture.
Total burning, sixteen hours.
203, Flammer's bench,
142 Resist, ≥ Jan. 2, 1880,
Burnt 5 hours.
noon.
After burning a total of 17½ hours it broke.
516
130
517
155 Over Carman's desk, office.
Resist 126 ohms,
Jan. 2, 1880,
Burnt 50 hours. S
noon.
Jan. 3, 19.30,
4,
9.58,
5, 20.50,
5,
3.47,
6, 20.26,
7, 12.15,
518
8, 22.00,
9, 9.00, total time burned, 160 hours up to 5.00.
9, 5.50,
10, 19.15,
11,. 7.00,
12, 11.00,
12, 9.30,
66
204.05 up to noon.
13, 11.30,
((
((
224.35
""
13, 11.30,
14, 22.30,
15, 11.30,
((
66
280.05
"
519
201 Over Carman's desk, office.
Resist 147
Burnt 50 hours, S
Jan. 2, 1880,
noon.
Jan. 3, 19.30,
4, 9.58,
5, 20.50,
5, 3.47,
6, 20.26,
7, 12.15,
520
8, 22.00,
9, 9.00, total time burned, 160 hrs. up to 5 P. M.
9, 6.00,
10, 19.15,
11, 7.00,
12, 11.00,
12, 9.30,
13, 11.00,
13, 11.30,
("
204.05 up to noon.
((
224.30 "
14, 22.30,
15, 11.30,
66
("
280.00 "
(<
131
164, Office chandelier near door,
Resist 182
Burnt 50 hours,
Jan. 3, 19.30,
Jan. 2, 1880,
noon.
4, 9.50,
5, 20.50,
5, 3.47,
6, 20.26,
7, 12.15,
8, 22.00,
521
9, 9.00, total time burned, 160 hrs. up to 5 P. M. 522
9, 6.50,
10, 19.15,
11, 7.00,
12, 20.00,
(6
(6
(C
204.05 up to noon.
13, 22.30,
14, 22.30,
(C
((
224.05 "
correct total.
15, 11.30,
((
(C
(C
322.13 "
((
172, Chandelier over Griff's desk.
Resist 135
Burnt
>
50 hours Jan. 2, 1880,
Jan. 3, 19.30,
noon.
4, 9.50,
5, 20.50,
5, 3.47,
6, 20,26,
7, 12.15,
8, 22.00,
9, 9.00, total time burned, 160 hrs. up to 5 P. M.
9, 6.50,
10, 19.15,
11, 7.00,
12, 11.00,
(6
204.15 up to noon.
12, 11.30,
13, 22.30,
14, 11.30,
66
259.45 “
(6
523
524
132
-525
Edison's Exhibit No. 7.
Extracts from records of experiments, book No. 85 :
"All pumps give a great deal of trouble at F where
a contraction is made so that the air in G may be
forced out from H.
"B. This stop-cock placed too far from the main
reservoir so that the tube near it caught air. This
could be worked out by letting the Hg work up and
down. The McLeod should not be used until a high
526 vacuum has been attained. For if this has not been
done the Hg sticks in the side tube. Last evening a
vacuum was obtained so that the spark jumped five
inches outside of the tube rather than across inch in
vacuum. The changes in vacuum were extremely rapid
from green to preventing a small spark in a few seconds.
and then in a few minutes to stopping the large spark.
The finely divided copper and sulphuric acid may have
had a strong influence on this F, the tube contracted
here so that a pressure can be obtained in G to drive
527 the air out through the stop-cock H.
1
“The enlargement of the tubes at L and L¹ is a
mistake, as a bubble of air collects here and is drawn
up into the pump. Making stop-cock D with tube to
left inclined upwards may be a mistake, as the Hg col-
lects above the cock and stops the Geissler. Pure
black rubber tube placed inside of white rubber to pre-
vent soiling Hg."
528
133
Edison Exhibit No. 8.
[New York Sun, December 22d, 1879.]
ELECTRICIAN SAWYER'S CHALLENGE ΤΟ ELECTRICIAN
EDISON.
529
If a party possesses an interest in something that
he considers valuable, he is not very likely to part with
it, especially if it be something in the line of electric
lighting, where what may nominally be $1 may really 530
be $1,000. Therefore, when Mr. Edison sells out all
his interest in his electric light there is a reasonable
chance for a suspicion that he considers his invention
worth very little.
Mr. Edison's reputation before the public is founded
upon the newspaper publications about: 1. The quad-
ruplex telegraph; 2. The telephone; and 3. The phono-
graph.
As to the quadruple telegraph, I may say that it was
an adaptation of the French and German systems. 531
When Mr. Edison took hold of the 4-plex there were
already known five systems of 2-plex, three of 4-plex,
and three of 6-plex and 8-plex.
The 4-plex of Edison was a failure. A modest young
gentleman, Assistant Electrician of the Western Union
Telegraph Company, whom I have not seen for several
years (Mr. Gerritt Smith), made it a success, and some
day he will get the credit for this invention; for he,
and not Edison, is the genius in this case.
As to the telephone, Mr. Edison is not the inventor. 532
Andrew Graham Bell is the inventor of the telephone.
As to the phonograph, which really made Mr. Edi-
son's reputation, it is of no earthly value, and the
manufacture by Bergman has practically been dropped.
The real inventor of the phonograph will never be
known, in all probability, for I understand that Mr.
Edison anticipates a Western man but three days in
priority of invention.
Now, all that remains for Mr. Edison is electric
light. He is going over the same ground that Bou-
134
533 liguine, Lodygreine, Kosloff, Koun, Starr King, myself,
and others have traversed first, iron; second, plati-
num; third, carbon in different shapes. And Edison
has failed, in my opinion. To show that I mean what
I say, I deny every one of his allegations made at the
Saratoga Convention of the American Society for the
Advancement of Science, and, specifically, I challenge
him:
FIRST. To maintain a vacuum in his lamps.
SECOND. To run his carbonized paper lamp three
534 hours. (In practice, in a perfect vacuum, it will last
twenty minutes).
535
536
THIRD. To consolidate platinum by heating elec-
trically in the Sprengel vacuum, as he claims.
FOURTH. To prove that his dynamo-electric machine
develops not ninety, but even forty-five per cent. of the
feet pounds applied to it.
FIFTH. To show that he can obtain a light of twenty-
five candles from platinum with less than three-horse
power.
SIXTH. To show that platinum or iridium will not
disintegrate in twenty hours' actual running.
SEVENTH. To prove that with his carbonized-paper
lamp he can obtain two lights of ten candles each per
horse power.
EIGHTH. To show that the effect of the oxide of
magnesium is to harden his wire, and make it more
refractory.
And I further allege that all Mr. Edison's statements
are erroneous, and I offer $100 as a prize for him to
prove each of the above allegations. Let him run one
of his lamps three hours, and the public will be satis-
fied that I am correct.
W. E. SAWYER.
78 Walker street, New York, Dec. 21.
135
CONSOLIDATED E. L. Co.
VS.
MCKEESPORT L. Co.
S
Edison Exhibit No. 11, W. T. F., S. E.
Edison Exhibit No. 11, W. H. M., Notary
Public, N. Y. Co.
FROM NOTE-Book No. 74, PGs. 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,
12, 13 & 14.
RECORD OF LAMPS.
No. 159. Hung on leading wires over pumps first-
over pumps nearest to chandelier.
Res. 153 ohms.
}
Jan. 2, 1880.
Has burnt 200 h. § Noon.
Place.
537
538
Jan. 2. 200.
3.
19.30.
539
4.
9.58.
5.
20.50.
((
6.
20.26.
66
7.
12.15.
((
8.
22.00.
9.
15.50.
Res. the same, total h., 310.12.
❝ 10.
19.15.
" 11.
7.00.
· 12.
20.30. Total hours burned, 381.57.
" 13.
22.30.
"14.
540
22.30.
" 15.
" 16.
" 17. 11.
‹‹ 17.
11.30.
437.
23.00.
((
471.
8.
" 18.
2.
" 19.
" 19.
" 20.
Jan. 20.
“20.
∞Ó
8.
489.
11.
11.
509. Over.
Up to 509.
11.
136
541 Jan. 21.
22.
9.15.
15.45.
23.
8.00. Total, 553.10.
23.
5.00.
24.
18.30.
25.
6.00.
26.
10.00.
592.40.
27.
10.40.
Total, 614.20.
27.
11.00.
27.
10.25. Hrs., 614.20.
542
28.
11.00.
635.40.
28.
10.00.
29.
11.00.
656.45.
29.
11.00.
30.
16.00.
27.00.
Busted at 8 o'clock. Total hours, 683.45.
223. Third chandelier, top room, in Laboratory.
Res. 140.
Jan. 2, 1880.
Burnt 13 hours. Noon. Place.
543
Jan. 3. 32.30.
4. 9.58.
5. 23.47.
6. 20.26.
7. 12.15.
8. 22.00.
9.
15.50. Total time burned, 173.12.
10. 19.15.
544
11. 7.00.
(6
217.17. Noon.
12. 20.00.
13. 22.30.
14. 22.30.
"(
237.47.
<<
15. 11.30.
((
(:
294.17.
<<
15. 11.00.
16. 22.00.
17. 11.00.
"(
""
339.17.
18. 18.
18. 2.
19. 8.00.
(6
((
367.17. Total time.
137
One clamp red-hot, poor vacuum.
Busted at
155.
Over Carman's desk office.
Res. 126 ohms.
Jan. 2, 1880.
Burnt 50 hours. Noon. Place 31.
Jan. 2. 50.
3. 69.58.
4. 9.50.
5. 23.47.
S
6. 20.26.
7. 12.15.
8. 22.00.
9. 15.50. Total time burned, 173.12.
10. 19.15.
11. 7.00.
12. 20.00.
13. 22.30.
((
217.17. Noon.
237.47. .
14. 22.30.
15. 11.30.
15. 11.00..
((
("
271.47.
16. 22.00.
17. 19.00.
18. 8.00.
18.
2.00.
19. 19.00.
389.17.
545
546
547
20.
11.00.
((
377.17.
20. 11.00.
21. 9.15.
22. 15.45.
23. 8.00.
416.17.
548
24. 5.00.
24. 18.30.
25. 6.00.
26. 10.30.
26.
10.40.
27.
11.
"(
450.17.
((
471.57. Over.
27.
10.25.
28. 11.00. Total, 507. Noon.
28. 10.00.
138
549 Jan. 29.
11.00. Total, 538.14.
30. 12.00.
31. 11.00.
Busted at clamp or Post 1. 562.14.
201, over carman's desk (office).
Res. 147
Burnt 50 hours
}
Jan. 2, 1880, Place 30,
noon.
Jan. 3, 19.30
4, 9.58
550
((
5, 23.47
6, 20.26
7, 12.15
8, 22.00
9, 15.50
10, 19.15
11, 7.00
12, 20.00
13, 22.30
14, 22.30
551
15, 11.30, total hours burned 322.13 noon.
15, 11.00
16, 22.00
17, 11.00
((
372.10
((
17, 8.00
18, 2.00
19, 19.00
20, 11.00
66
((
412.13 ((
20, 11.00
21, 9.00
552
22, 15.45
23, 8.00
((
456.13
23, 5.00
24, 18.30
25, 6.00
26, 10.30
((
496.13
((
26, 10.40
27, 11.00
<<
517.53
27, 10.00
28, 11.00
538.14 noon
29, 22.00
over.
1
139
553
Jan. 30, 22.00
31, 22.00
Feb. 1, 6.00
2, 9.00, total 608.14
3, 11.00
619 hours.
3, 10.00
4, 9.00
638 hs.
Busted March 21.
164, office chandelier near door.
Res. 182
Burnt 50 hours (
}
Jan. 2, 1880, Place 28,
554
noon.
Jan. 3, 19.30
4, 9.50
5, 20.47
6, 20.26
7, 10.15
8, 22.00
9, 15.00
10, 19.15
11, 7.00
12, 20.00
13, 22.30
14, 22.30
15, 11.30, hours burnt 322.13 noon.
555
15, 12.00
16, 11.00
(C 367.13
66
17, 11.00
17, 8.00
18, 21.00
19, 19.00
556
20, 11.00
418.13
20, 11.00
21, 9.15
22, 15.45
23, 8.00
((
462.13
23, 5.00
24, 18.30
25, 6.00
26, 10.30
26, 10.40
((
((
502
"
140
557 Jan. 27, 11.00, hours burnt 523.43 noon.
27, 10.25 over
Jan. 28, 11.00, total 537.14 5 P. M.
28, 10.00
29, 11.00
538.14
29, 11.00
30, 22.00
31, 22.00
Feb. 1, 6.00
2, 9.00
558
2, 9.00
((
610.14
3, 11.00
3, 10.00
4, 9.00
66
640.14 noon.
172, chandelier over Griff's desk.
Res. 135 Jan. 2, 1880.
Burnt 50
Jan. 3, 19.30
4, 9.58
559
5, 23.47
6, 20.26
7, 12.15
8, 22.00
9, 15.50
10, 19.15
11, 7.00
12, 20.00
13, 22.30
14, 22.30
560
15, 11.30, total hours burned 322.13 noon.
15, 11.00
16, 22.00
17, 11.00
17, 8.00
367.13
18, 2.00
19, 19.00
20, 11.00
418.13
20, 11.00
21, 9.15
22, 15.45
141
Jan. 23, 8.00, total hours burned 246.13 noon.
23, 5.00
24, 18.30
25, 6.00
享
​561
26, 10.30
502.13 (C
26, 10.40
27, 11.00
((
523.43
27, 10.25
Jan. 28, 11.00
28, 10.00
29, 11.00
544.15
538.15
562
29, 11.00
30, 22.00
31, 22.00
Feby. 1, 6.00
2, 9.00
2, 9.00
3, 10.00
4, 9.00
Taken to Edison's parlor.
158
CONSOLIDATED E. L. Co.
VS.
MCKEESPORT L. Co.
610.15 noon.
619.15
638.15
563
564
142
565
566
CONS. E. L. Co.
VS.
MCKEESPORT Co.
Defendant's Exhibit No. 25. W. T. F., S. E.
Edison's Exhibit No. 25. W. H. M.,
Notary Public, N. Y. Co.
MR. EDISON CHALLENGED BY MR. SAWYER.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN-Sir: Notwithstanding
the assertion that one of Mr. Edison's electric lamps
has been running for 240 hours, I still assert, and am
prepared to back up my assertion, that Mr. Edison
cannot run one of his lamps up to the light of a single
567 gas jet (to be more definite, let us call it twelve-candle
power) for more than three hours. To be still more
definite, I offer to Mr. Edison, at 226 West Fifty-fourth
street, in this City, an opportunity to prove what he
says. From the private residence in that street wires.
are run to a circuit of 1,000 feet. Mr. Edison shall
have every facility; he shall use my wires; he shall
have any dynamo machine or other generator of elec-
tricity he may prefer; and all I ask is that the power
of his light shall be measured by a photo metre; that,
568 once in place, it shall not be interfered with; and that
a committee of gentlemen, preferably nominated by
the editors of the New York press, shall be present and
certify to the facts of the test.
Furthermore, I will place one of my lamps side by
side with Mr. Edison's; it shall be run at the power of
twenty-five candles; it shall outlast the entire forty
lamps at Menlo Park run at the power of twenty-five
candles; my lamp to stand as it is put up, and Mr.
Edison to put up a fresh lamp as fast as the preceding
lamp shall have burned out.
143
I am anxious, for this test; and if Mr. Edison has 569
really run one of his horse-shoe lamps 240 hours
he will not refuse to accept my offer, for he will
be treated with the utmost courtesy, and shall have
everything his own way.
I adhere in every particular to my original challenge
to Mr. Edison.
W. E. SAWYER.
78 WALKER STREET, NEW YORK, Jan. 4.
-The Sun, Monday, January 5th, 1880.
570
571
572
144
573
LETTERS PATENT, for fifteen years, taken out
July 12th, 1876, by Mr. Gauduin (Octave) of Paris, rue
de la Roquette, No. 130, and which was granted to him
by order of the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce,
under date September 16th, 1876, for a carbon intended
for the manufacture of utensils of chemistry and physics,
etc.
574
LETTERS PATENT No. 113,706.
Certain utensils of chemistry and physics, like the
crucibles intended for the reproduction of precious
stones or for chemical laboratories, the pencils intended
for the production of electric light, etc., should be made
of chemically pure carbon. Now, the dust of retort-
carbon ("retort-charcoal "), though containing but a
small proportion of foreign matters, is not sufficiently
pure for these uses, and its employ presents difficulties.
The washings with acids or with alkalis to which the
carbonaceous (coaly) matters can be subjected, with the
575 object of taking out the impurities which they contain,
are costly and insufficient; soot is sufficiently pure, but
high-priced and difficult to use, and I had to look for
another source of pure carbon for the economical fab-
rication of these objects.
I manufacture pure carbon at a low price by decom-
posing, by heat, in closed vessels, dry or liquid pitch,
tar, rosin, bitumen, natural or artificial essences and
oils, organic matters capable of yielding sufficiently
pure carbon after their decomposition by the heat.
576 The apparatus which I employ to effect this decompo-
sition are closed retorts or crucibles of cast-iron, iron,
refractory clay, but preferably of graphite (plumbago).
They are arranged in a furnace capable of heating them
to clear red heat. The upper part of the retort is fur-
nished with two tubes, the one for the escape of the
gases and volatile matters, the other for the introduc-
tion of the raw material.
Figure 1 will explain this arrangement. The volatile
products of the decomposition may be conducted under
the grate of the hearth and burned to heat the retort,
145
but it is more advantageous to lead them into a con- 577
densing-chamber, then into a serpentine ("serpentine
pipe ") of copper, lead, tin, or pottery, and, after con-
densation, to collect the tar, oils, essences, and carburets
of hydrogen, which are produced by this operation.
I utilize these different products for the manufacture of
my carbon utensils, and, as they are not met with in
the trade in a state sufficiently pure for my industry,
they are exceedingly useful to me.
It is indispensable to avoid (using), for condensing or
preserving these products, vessels of iron, cast-iron, 578
zinc, or other materials susceptible to their attacks, for
their whole value lies in their purity.
Whatever the raw material is that is used in the
manufacture of my carbon, the decomposition by heat
may be operated slowly or quickly, according to the na-
ture of the secondary products which I wish to obtain.
To operate slowly I fill a retort two-thirds full and I
heat it gradually to clear, red heat, avoiding, as much
as possible, the swelling (puffing) of the material. To
operate rapidly, I first heat the empty retort to a good 579
red heat, and I cause the raw material to arrive at the
bottom of the retort in small portions, either in a small
stream, if it is liquid, or in small pieces if it is solid.
The slow distillation produces more tar, heavy oils
and little gas; the quick distillation produces more
light essences and gas. I employ the one method or
the other, according to the products which I need.
When the raw material has been suitably selected,
there remains in the retort pure carbon, more or less
compact; I pulverize it as fine as possible, and I 580
agglomerate it, either alone or mixed with a certain
quantity of soot, by means of pure carburets of hydro-
gen obtained as secondary products. Thus prepared
these bodies are completely free from iron and are
greatly preferable to those met with in trade, not only
for the agglomeration of the carbon, but also for the
impregnation of the manufactured articles, an operation
which, while stopping up their pores, introduces into
them oxide of iron when it is performed with the pro-
ducts of commerce. Nevertheless, I reserve the right
146
581 of exclusive use of carburets of hydrogen, pitch, tar,
oils or essences of coal, etc., found in commerce, to
agglomerate or impregnate the objects which I manu-
facture, as appears from the Certificate of Addition to
my Patent No. 87,569.
The articles made of agglomerated carbon are, taking
the same kind of carbon, more combustible as they are
more porous, and more porous as they have been molded
at less pressure. I use molds of bronze, cast iron or
steel capable of resisting the greatest pressure of a
582 strong hydraulic press. Figure 2 shows a crucible-
mold, a simple examination of which will cause the
mechanism to be understood.
Although the drawplate ("drawplate" is a literal
translation of the term filière) or molding apparatus,
long used in the manufacture of the pencils of carbon,
soot, plumbago (graphite), etc., intended for writing or
drawing, might serve, without any modification, for the
manufacture of pencils for electric lighting, I have
made certain improvements in this apparatus, the ex-
583 clusive use of which I desire to reserve. Instead of
causing the pencils to go out from top to bottom, going
vertically, I place the
(there has evidently been
some omission here on the part of the copyist in France)
or the orifices of the mold on the side, and in such a
manner that the pencils pass out, forming with the
horizon a descending angle from 20 to 70 degrees.
They are guided along their whole length by tubes or
by channels (grooves). This arrangement enables one
to empty out all the material contained in the mold
584 without interrupting the work, and, as the pencils are
constantly supported they no longer break under their
own weight, which often happens when they pass out
downwards. It is above all useful in the manufacture
of thick and long pencils intended to be used as posi-
tives in electro-chemical decompositions; these carbon
positives replacing advantageously the platinum.
Figure 3 represents a pencil-mold with outlet-pipe
on the side.
Paris, July 12th, 1876.
(Signed) GAUDUIN.
B? N: 1137 06 · 18 Juilla 1876 - Gauduin.
1
C
A
Fry. 1
B
1
Echelle variable
Armenian Creunt pris le 12 juillet 1876-
to It Gand
Paris, le 2
2
1989
Pour axpedition cortifie confirme
SPP du Buteau de la Propriété Industrielle
Weitten
Fig. 2.
•
Fig. 3.
1
Echelle an
1/3
Echelle an 1/
147
FRENCH REPUBLIC.
MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.
PATENTS.
Descriptive account accompanying :
The certificate of addition, taken out 12 June, 1877,
by Mr. Gauduin, represented by Mr. Rouart, in Paris,
rue Oberkampf 151, and relating to letters patent, for
15 years, taken 12 July, 1876, for a carbon intended for
the manufacture of utensils of chemistry and physics,
etc.
The said certificate of addition being
granted, by order of the Minister of Agriculture and
Commerce, on the 13th September, 1877.
* * *
CERTIF. OF ADD. TO LET. PAT. No. 113,706.
Fig. 1 represents the vertical section, and Fig. 2 the
plan of a tubular furnace permitting the baking ["burn-
ing"], continuously, of pots, [crucibles], pencils for
electric lighting and for electro-chemistry, and other
utensils of carbon which I manufacture.
It is composed of a framework of bricks [iron bands]
held on the exterior by strong iron-work. The tubes
G, G, of refractory material, traverse it through and
through and are closed at the two ends only by clay
plugs, which can be easily removed for the charging
and discharging [placing and removing] of the objects
to be baked. These are enclosed in cylindrical boxes
of sheet iron represented in Fig. 3. They can glide
easily in the refractory tubes. When the boxes and
their contents have attained a sufficient [degree of]
temperature, they are taken from the tubes and re-
placed by others. The charging and discharging are
thus performed very easily, without stopping the
working of the furnace, and without a noticeable cool-
ing off.
H H, draught chimney.
J J, hearth.
K, grate.
L, ash pit.
585-
586
875
588
148
-589
-
It is evident that the tubes might be arranged in a
furnace either completely vertical or completely hori-
zontal, with no great inconvenience. So also the rela-
tive dimensions might be changed, within certain limits.
What I consider as my property is the idea of heating
tubes in any suitable furnace, and baking in them ob-
jects of carbon, enclosed or not in movable boxes.
I have found that a mixture of albumen and sugar,
dissolved in water, in suitable proportions, can com-
municate certain useful properties to the objects of
590 carbon. I reserve for myself the use of this syrup for
agglomerating and impregnating the utensils of carbon,
crucibles, pencils, etc. The albumen may be replaced
by the other albumenoid substances.
The drying of the objects formed may be performed
in the open air or in a suitably heated drying-chamber.
These means are rather slow. It is more expeditious
to enclose the objects in a hermetically closed receiver,
in which a vacuum can be produced by means of a
pneumatic pump. It is well to intercalate, between
591 the receiver and the pump, a vessel containing lime,
chloride of calcium, or other materials capable of ab-
sorbing the vapors as they are produced.
To recapitulate :
I claim by the present certificate of addition :
1. The exclusive use of tubular furnaces for the
baking of crucibles, pencils for electric lighting and
for electro-chemistry, and other utensils of carbon.
2. The agglomeration and impregnation of the differ-
592 ent varieties of carbon by a syrup of albumen and
sugar.
3. The rapid drying of the manufactured objects by
the employ of the vacuum, either alone or aided by
materials capable of absorbing the vapors emitted.
Paris, 12 June, 1877.
(Signed)
OCTAVE GAUDUIN.

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149
CERTIFICATE OF ADDITION, taken out April 593
7th, 1877, by Mr. GAUDUIN, Octave, at Paris, rue de la
Roquette 130, and which relates to Letters Patent, for
fifteen years, taken out 12th July, 1876, for a carbon
intended for the manufacture of utensils of chemistry
and physics, etc.
the said certificate of ad-
dition granted by order of the Minister of Agriculture
and Commerce, on June 22d, 1877.
CERTIFICATE OF ADDITION TO LETTERS PATENT No. 594
113,706.
I have succeeded in giving to my carbon the definite
form which it is to preserve, and in simplifying con-
siderably the moulding and the forming of the objects
which I manufacture by the following process:
I form the crucibles, vessels, pencils for electric light-
ing or for electro-chemistry, etc., with dry wood, suit-
ably selected, by all the methods proper to working in
wood. I convert this wooden object into a hard and 595
compact carbon, conserving its primitive ["original"]
form by drying it suitably, impregnating it with tar,
pitch, bitumen, rosin, essences and oils of coal, any
carbon of hydrogen, sugar, caramel or other matter
possessing analogous properties.
I distil it slowly so as to expel the volatile bodies;
; I
impregnate it anew and re-distil it as many times as
necessary, and finally I heat it to a high [degree of]
temperature in a reductive atmosphere.
For objects which need a very pure carbon, like the 596
pencils for electric lighting, it is good to wash the
carbon object when it is still porous with acids and
alkalies, so as to dissolve the impurities which it may
contain, and to rinse it afterward in plenty of water.
I can also heat it to red heat and submit it during a
certain time to the action of chloride of carbon, hydro-
chloric and hydrofluoric gaseous acids. I finish by
vapors of carburet of hydrogen capable of stopping the
pores by depositing carbon in them.
I also manufacture articles of carbon from cotton,
150
597 hemp, flax, cellulose in any state, kneaded and im-
pregnated with pitch, tar, etc., and formed so as to give
it the desired shape. I finish them as if the object
were of impregnated wood.
598
To recapitulate :
By the present Certificate of Addition I claim the
manufacture of crucibles, pencils for electric lighting
and electro-chemistry, vases and utensils of any kind,
by converting the wood and the cellulose into carbon
by the means described above, or by analogous means.
Paris, 7th April, 1877.
Signed: OCTAVE GAUDUIN.
599
COMPTES RENDUS, LXX. 60, PARIS 1870.
Action of carbon sulphide and carburetted gases upon
wood charcoal.
M. SIDOT.
In a preceding work I showed that carbon sulphide
was decomposed by cbarcoal, that the latter increased
in weight and that sulphur was liberated. While pur-
suing those researches I examined how carbon sulphide
acts upon certain organic bodies of vegetable or animal
origin.
Into a tube of porcelain I introduce small bundles of
wood, over which I pass cold vapor of carbon sulphide,
600 so as to expel all air from the tube. This result ob-
tained, I heat the tube slowly and gradually to a red
heat, for about one hour.
After cooling we find in the tube rings of a carbon
different from ordinary carbon in physical properties.
The essences of the most divers wood, ash, box, horn-
beam, lilac, elder and cork may give rise to this new
carbon.
What particularly distinguishes it is its sonority, like
that of bodies called the most sonorous such as steel,
silver, aluminium, glass, etc. I have the honor to sub-
151
mit to the eyes of the Academy some specimens of 601
these sonorous carbons.
When we suspend them by a string and strike upon
them, they give a metallic sound.
Wishing to obtain a sonorous instrument with this
carbon, I turned a bell of ash, and I submitted it to the
action of carbon sulphide after the process just de-
scribed. This piece of ash became a bell, which also I
present to the Academy; it gives a sound comparable
to that of a metallic bell of the same diameter. I con-
clude that it would be easy to reproduce a gamut with 602
a xylophone of carbon, and to construct a harmonicon
of carbon bells.
Very hard woods seems to give the purest and most
harmonious sounds.
These same carbons, distinguished so clearly from
ordinary ones, by their elasticity, also differ widely by
their great conductivity of heat and electricity. I think
they might replace the carbons in the Bundsen cell.
The pencils made of them give an electric light far
more intense than the light obtained with carbons from 603
gas retorts.
This carbon conductor heats up like a metal and be-
comes progressively incandescent in the whole mass,
without igniting at one point, like ordinary carbon; it
cools as soon as it is removed from the fire. It may be
characterized from a point of view of conductivity as
wood charcoal transformed into coke.
I have obtained similar results from flax, hemp, cot-
ton paper and silk.
The carbon obtained from wood has a metallic lustre, 604
but this lustre is only superficial.
It has a greater density than wood carbon.
It does not perceptibly absorb gases. I should men-
tion in this connection, that by heating the wood to a
high temperature in crucibles filled with finely pulver-
ized cinders, we obtain likewise a carbon deprived of ab-
sorbent qualities, and besides, a good conductor.
Carbon sulphide is not the only agent for this re-
markable change of wood into sonorous conductive
152
605 carbon. Wood spirit, hydrocarbons, etc., similarly
change wood into elastic conductive carbon.
More than this; I assured myself that by passing
vapor of methylic alcohol over wood heated red, this
vapor was decomposed, and the interior walls of the
tube were carpeted with a very singular carbon at the
same time.
This carbon, in fact, presents itself in the form of
filaments, one centimetre in length, constituting a kind
of silky and frothy coke of a silvery white. These fila-
606 ments seem to be formed of small juxtaposed balls.
607
608
153
CONSOLIDATED E. L. Co.
VS.
MCKEESPORT L. Co.
Defendant's Exhibit Prof. Cross' Report
of 1881 (No. 1), April 20, 1887, W. F.
F., S. E.
MASS. INST. OF TECHNOLOGY,
F. H. BETTS, Esq.:
BOSTON, June 23d, 1881.
DEAR SIR-I have examined the American patents
and the various works on electric lighting with refer-
ence to the matter of the resistance of incandescent
lamps previous to the date of Mr. Edison's patent. I
have not yet looked at the English patents, preferring
not to delay longer before writing to you. I will look
them over to-morrow or next day.
609%
610
From all the statements that I can find, or calcula-
tions that I can make, based upon these statements, I
should say that the lamps previous to Mr. Edison's 611
patent had a resistance of not over five ohms, and gen-
erally much less than this. I infer this from the state-
ments made regarding the size of carbons, in which
they are called "pencils," "small rods," &c. ; also from
the measured dimensions as given in the drawings of
said lamps. In Sawyer's book on Lighting by Incan-
descence, p. 90, the resistance of his lamp is stated to
be twenty-five one-hundredths ohms.
The only statement regarding higher resistance is in
Sawyer's book, and also in his Patent No. 205,303 612
(Distribution of Lamps), the resistance of lamp is
called 10 ohms when hot, "practically nil" when cold,
practically nil" being, I suppose, one-quarter ohm.
But the effect of heat on carbon (unlike its effect on
metals) is to diminish its resistance, this diminution
being, according to Mathieson, about 12 per cent.
when the carbon is raised to incandescence. The in-
crease of resistance from heating of the metallic con-
ductors could not be great in any lamp that could be
practically used, so that I am inclined to think that
154
613 the number, 10 ohms, is stated at a venture. Mr. Edi-
son could probably solve this question immediately
from his practical knowledge.
By the way, can the Sawyer patent, No. 205,303, for
distribution of lamps, be held? The principle on which
any resistance should be arranged for maximum effect
has been familiar to every scientific man for the last
forty years.
Compared with all these actual resistances (up to 5
ohms), that of the Maxim lamp is certainly "high" be-
614 yond a question. The only point regarding which an
objection could be made is that one hundred ohms is
the lowest resistance mentioned in the Edison patent.
On the other hand, Mr. Edison here describes for the
first time (if I am right) a process by which a carbon
filament can be made practically. No carbon rod of,
say 20 ohms resistance upward, could readily be made
to emit light by incandescence by any current that
could be practically and economically employed. At
least this, I should judge, to be the case. Hence, is
615 not Mr. E. justified in claiming that even 20 ohms
would be a high resistance. If only 5 ohms as a
maximum were used before, if Mr. Edison's process is
a new one, giving the possibility of making high re-
sistance carbons, it seems to me that even though the
ratio of 5 to 20 is the same as 20 to 100, the claim
can readily be held. Here your suggestion that the
possibility of using lights in multiple arc is an index of
their high resistance in the terms of the patent, might
be available. But the Maxim lamp has a resistance of
616 40 ohms.
As to the sealings of the Maxim lamp. I have
entrusted an analysis of the blue and black substances
used in sealing to a competent chemist, who will give
me his report by the close of this week or first of
next. Meanwhile, I will say that from a careful ex-
amination of fragment of the material after cutting it,
we are pretty well convinced that it is a glass or an
enamel. The blue is probably colored with copper,
the black with iron (?) and manganese. The chemist
thinks it may be a borax glass for easy fusion. He
155
thinks the only possible claim that could be made is 617
that it is “enamel," which is a kind of glass. As to
this last point, I have not looked up the chemistry of
glass, thinking it hardly necessary just yet. The En-
cyclopedia Britannica and Appleton's Encyclopedia
both speak of enamel as a glass, and the latter classi-
fies it under the kinds of glass! The conducting wires
are sealed into the glass, as in Edison's lamp. It seems
to me, then, that the Maxim lamp and Mr. Edison's
are substantially the same thing.
I believe that I have touched upon all the points 618
mentioned by you. I will write again as soon as I
have heard from my chemist.
I am yours very truly,
16.
CHAS. R. CROSS.
[ENDORSED :]
19,074.
16.
JUNE 23, '81.
619
Prof. Chas. R. Cross to F. H. Betts, giving result of
investigations in resistances of lamps prior to Edison's
lamp in American patents.
620
156
621 CONSOLIDATED E. L. Co.
$622
VS.
MCKEESPORT L. Co.
S
Defendant's Exhibit Prof. Cross' Report
of 1881 (No. 2), April 20, 1889, W. F.
F., S. E.
F. H. BETTS, Esq. :
BOSTON, June 24th, 1881.
MY DEAR SIR-I have to-day looked over the various
English patents relating to electric lighting by incan-
descence. I find nothing to change my opinions as ex-
pressed in my letter to you. The only light about
whose very low resistance there is any question is Wer-
dermann's, but in this incandescence proper as distinct
from a very minute voltaic arc is distinctly disclaimed.
Very truly yours,
CHAS. R. CROSS.
$623
17.
[ENDORSED :]
19,074.
17.
JUNE 24, '81.
C. R. Cross to F. H. Betts: Have examined English
patents and find nothing to change conclusions ar-
rived at in letter of 23d inst.
624
157
[FRENCH PATENT RECORDS, 2D SERIES, VOL. 16, p. 223.] 625
4606.
PATENT FOR FIFTEEN YEARS,
Dated Jan. 31st, 1849,
TO MR. LE MOLT, of Paris,
For improvements applicable to the apparatus suitable
for electric lighting.
A first improvement relates to the elements of the
pile, another to a double movement which is given to
the carburetted material that serves for the production
of the electric light.
One of the elements of the pile is a carbonized mate-
rial, in the form of a cylinder or of a plate, more or less
thick and hardened by compression. This material
may be composed of
Ashes of gas retorts
626
Liquid tar..
Ashes of retorts.
Charcoal..
Liquid tar.
4 parts.
627
1
(6
2
(C
2
((
1
2
1
Coke
Tar or bitumen
All these substances, pulverized, sifted, and mixed
with the liquid tar, are brought, by a powerful tritura-
tion, to the state of a hard and consistent paste, and to
this paste any desired form is given, by compression 628
and in a mould; then it is covered by a thick syrup of
sugar or of molasses. These moulded pieces are placed
in a retort, almost closed, and which is gradually raised
to the temperature of a high-furnace; after twenty or
thirty hours they are withdrawn to be used.
The inventor has had the idea of galvanizing the car-
bon element, that is to say, of covering it with a coating
of metal so as to connect the two carbon and zinc
elements by a metallic handle.
On Plate XXIX., Fig 1, may be seen a carbon ele-
158
629 ment and a zinc element, connected by a metallic
handle.
630
The metallic elements of the pile are covered with a
varnish which preserves all the non-acting portions of
the elements from oxidation; copal varnish will suit
very well.
The vessels containing the acid liquors which are to
act on the elements have curved sides, as shown in
figure 3, so as to avoid the projection of the liquids
outside of the vessels.
Figure 5 shows the arrangement of, the element in
the vessels.
1, carbon element;
2, porous vessel filled with nitric acid;
3, zinc element;
4, exterior vessel filled with sulphuric acid, more or
less diluted.
As electrodes, the inventor employs any carbonated
matter in the form of disks. The two disks are kept a
suitable distance apart and turning on metallic axis
631 placed in communication with the poles of the gener-
ating apparatus. At each turn the two disks approach
each other a little so that, on account of the part that
is burned, they remain constantly at the same distance.
Figure 4 represents an apparatus of rotation and of
joining combined.
632
A, A, A, wheels, with pulleys and grooves of metal,
fixed to the carbon disk, and serving to give them a
rotary movement with the aid of the two endless chains,
C, C.
B, B, axis of the carbon disk.
D, insulating materials.
E, E, contacts, one of them with roller, to facilitate
the approaching of thé disks.
F, double approaching wheel with eccentric rims.
This is also a toothed wheel, causing the disks to turn.
Appareil emetteur
-parties essentielles de détail.
Bisque
carbone
Etincelle
disque
carbone
Disques carbones à angle droit.
Fig. 4.
Ressort C
ееё
R
Support
fil conducteur du courant
F
А
a
Suppor
a
Charnie
Ressort à
Came spirale
relic ame un
Frou-
'horlogery
quelconques
·vement d'
Support
platine
www
Fehellide 16 centimètres.
4.1. dépot de cuivre
2. 2. Element carbone
éduit
о
anse métallique
Element Fine Couple
amalgamé à ause
extérieurement
revitue d'im
induit
Fig. 1
Arrangement du couple
dans les vases
4.
1. Element carbone
2. vase poreve rempli
d'acide nitrique
5: Element Zing
4. Vaſe extérieur semple
d'acide sulfurique plus
Fil conductor,
maines étendu.
Fig. 3.
Coupe d'un
vase à bords
recourbes
Fig. 3.
Elément carbone
galvanisé
Echelle de 10 Guthr
159.
CERTIFICATE OF ADDITION,
Dated July 24th, 1849.
This addition consists in employing a metallic wire
placed in connection, at its two ends, with the con-
ductors ending at the poles of the battery, and brought
to a very high degree of incandescence, which produces
an illumination. This wire is usually of platinum or of
iridium, arranged in more or less drawn out spirals, and
admitting, besides, of any other arrangement.
CERTIFICATE OF ADDITION,
Dated 14th September, 1849.
For carbon elements, charcoal alone may be used, o1
coke mixed with tar.
633
634
635
636
160
637 Complainant's Exhibit Scientific Ameri-
can Article No. 2.
Published in the "Scientific American" in New York
on December 7, 1878.
THE SAWYER-MAN ELECTRIC LAMP.
The practical usefulness of the electric light for illum-
638 inating open spaces and wide areas has been amply
demonstrated by the various devices for using the
electric arc already widely employed. Hitherto, how-
ever, it has not been found economical, or even possible,
as we understand it, to construct a lamp or candle,
based on the electric arc, that would answer the re-
quirements of ordinary, domestic and industrial light-
ing, where a moderate amount of light, well distributed,
easily manageable, and of perfect steadiness and soft-
ness, is needed. The electric arc seems, from its very
639 nature, to. present insuperable obstacles to the economi-
cal production of a large number of small lights in a
circuit; in other words, such lights as we require in our
dwellings, offices, factories, shops, and the like. And
if there were no other means of obtaining light from
electricity, the probability of the displacement of gas by
it for the purposes of general illuminating would
hardly be worth considering.
The production of light through the incandescence of
a pencil of carbon or metal, forming part of an electric
640 circuit and highly heated by its internal resistance to
the passage of the electric current, offers an entirely
different field for exploration; and though it has long
been apparently closed by the fuilure of early attempts
to obtain an electric light by such means, the achieved
success of Messrs. Sawyer and Man, not to speak of
the reported success of Mr. Edison, clearly indicates
that this is the line along which the practical solution
of the problem of household illumination by electricity
is to come. The lamp, to be described further on,
lacks only the practical demonstration of its economy
161
by protracted use on a large scale, to compel accept- 64
ance as a successful solution of the problem.
So long ago as 1845, an American inventor, Mr.
King patented here and in England a lamp (said to
have been invented by J. W. Starr) involving this
principle. His light was produced in a vacuum, to
prevent the oxidation of his incandescent carbon or
metal, and was extremely promising for its beauty,
brilliancy and steadiness. But it failed to be permanent
and economical from various defects and deficiencies,
some of which have been removed by the increased 642
power and economy of modern dynamo-electric ma-
chines, and by recent advances in the art of subdivid-
ing the electric current, but the most of them by the
inventions and discoveries covered by Messrs. Sawyer
and Man's patents.
The economical division of the current, or more cor-
rectly the light produced by a single current-popu-
larly believed to be very difficult if not practically
impossible has been successfully worked out by
several American investigators. As long ago as 1875, 643
Mr. Moses G. Farmer, now Electrical Superintendent
of the U. S. Naval Torpedo Station, at Newport, R. I.,
subdivided the electric current, produced by a small
machine, into forty-two different branches, putting a
light to each branch: Mr. Sawyer's system appears to
be able to do the same indefinitely through the main-
tenance of a uniform resistance throughout the circuit
and equal resistances in the several parts of the circuit,
as will be shown further on.
The adaptability of this form of electric lighting to 644
the needs of household illumination is indicated in Fig.
1. The light produced is pure, strong, and yet soft,
like sunlight. It is, moreover, steady and cool. It is
not influenced by air currents; and it does not vitiate
the air by poisonous products of combustion, nor by
withdrawing the vitalizing oxygen. The lamp takes
up less room than the glass shade of a gas jet, and no
more than the chimney of an oil lamp. To a limited
extent, also, it is portable, and may be used as a drop
light. The general appearance of the lamp is shown
162
645 Fig. 2 (page 354). The light is produced by the in-
candesence of the slender pencil of carbon placed as
shown in the engraving. The light-giving apparatus
is separated from the lower part of the lamp by three
diphragms, to shut off downward heat radiation. The
copper standards lower down are so shaped as to have
great radiating surface, so that the conduction of heat
downward to the mechanism of the base is wholly pre-
vented. The structure of the base, full-size, is shown
in Fig. 3 (page 355). No detailed description of this
646 portion will be required, further than to say that the
electric current enters from below, follows the line of
metallic conduction to the "burner," as shown by the
arrows, thence downward, on the other side, connecting
with the return circuit. The light-producing portion is,
of course, completely insulated, and also sealed at the
base, gas tight.
A fatal defect in all previous lamps depending on
incandescent carbon has arisen from what has been
called the "vaporizing" of the carbon. This Mr. Saw-
$47 yer holds to be an absurdity, since the carbon is not
even fused. The wastage of the carbon in mercurial
vacuums, and in atmospheres of compound gas, is due,
he holds, to chemical decomposition. Many gases, in-
different to carbon at ordinary temperatures, attack it
destructively at temperatures obtained in the electric
lamp; and the process is continuous, the carbon
taken from the burner being redeposited on the glass
case, and the gas left free to continue its depredation.
Mr. Sawyer claims to have overcome this difficulty by
448 his method of charging the lamps with pure nitrogen,
and by providing for the fixing of any residual oxygen
left in the lamp. In this way an unwasting carbon is
secured. Another stumbling block on which other
workers in this field have come to grief, has been the
crumbling or disintegration of the carbon burner, due
to sudden heating when the lamp is lighted. This is
avoided in the Sawyer-Man lamp by an ingeniously
devised switch, shown in Fig. 4. By this means it is
impossible to turn the current on or off suddenly, to
the disruption of the carbon. This, however, is not the
163
only nor the chief advantage of the switch. It is, in- 64:
deed, the key to the entire problem, the indispensable
condition, Mr. Sawyer holds, of practical electrical dis-
tribution.
It is well known that an electric current will exactly
and readily divide among circuits of equal resistance.
Accordingly, if the resistance of a sub-circuit be main-
tained constant, no matter what may be going on in it,
whether a lamp is not lighted at all, or lighted to a
mere taper, or to any intermediate stage up to full
brilliancy, it is obvious that no other lamp or lamps in 650-
that circuit will be affected. The operation of the
switch, in securing such uniform resistance, is shown in
the accompanying diagram, Fig. 5 (page 355).
The lamp has, let us say, a resistance of 0.95 of an
ohm. Therefore if one lamp is out there should be a
resistance of 0.95 of an ohm in its stead. This is the
shunt resistance, B. The current enters at the "+"
point, and leaves at the "-" point. The contact
piece, A, bearing upon the two studs 1, 1, all the cur-
rent passes out by way of B. When A is moved to the 651
studs, 2, 2, the current divides, going through the
lamp, the other by way of B, and the resistance of
the combined circuit is 0.31+0.95-1.263 in the
shunt; and 1.9+0·38+251+18,2,+0·07+0·06}+(the
lamp) 0.95-3.8. The resistance of the circuit is, there-
fore, 1-26 2-83-8-0.95 of an ohm. and so on. In short,
1.26 2-3+3-8
the resistance of the circuit is constant at 0.95, no mat-
ter what may be the change in the proportion of the
current given the lamp, as may be seen by making the
required calculation for each pair of studs. The vary- 652
ing resistances required to give the best effect have
been worked out by practical trial. The effect of the
current through the lamp is to make the carbon a dull
red. On studs 3, 3, one-half the current passes through,
and the carbon becomes a bright red. On studs 4, 4, the
lamp gets ğ of the current and becomes white hot. On
5, 5, the lamp gets of the current, and begins to as-
sume the intense limpid incandescence of the sun; and
the light increases rapidly with subsequent changes
until the whole current goes through the lamp.
164
653
Thus it is seen that the greater part of the illumina-
tion is the product of a small part of the current. When
the light is well on, a very slight increase in the cur-
rent increases the light enormously. It is here that
the great loss occasioned by dividing a fixed current
among several lamps finds its explanation. A current
that suffices in one lamp to produce a light, say of 100
candles, will, if divided between two lamps, give in each
perhaps no more than ten candles, or even 5, making
a loss of 90 candles in the sum total. But if the cur-
654 rent be doubled, each lamp will give a light of 100 can-
dles and the sum total will be 200 candles instead of
10. Having brought a candle or a system of candles
up to the point of feeble incandescence, a (proportion-
ally) small addition to the current will make them all
brilliant. If at 6,000° Fah., a given carbon will pro-
duce a light of 3 candles, at 12,000° it will give 9 can-
dles, and at 24,000° it will give 81 candles; the illumin-
ating power increasing with vastly greater rapidity than
the temperature.
655
The wires supplying the current may be run through
existing gas pipes, each lamp being provided with a
switch placed conveniently in the wall; and by
simply turning a key the light is turned up or down,
off or on. So long as the house is connected with the
main it makes no difference to the producer whether
all the lights are on or off, since the resist-
ance of the entire (house) circuit must be evercome;
though it will to the consumer, since a meter records.
the time that each lamp is on, and the charge is rated
456 accordingly. If the Dynamo-Electric Light Company
can supply the illuminating force so cheaply that the
constant and brilliant illumination of all the rooms of
a house can be secured at no greater cost than the par-
tial and intermittent illumination now had from gas, it
is obvious that the electric light will score an important
point. The cost of lamps and switches, it is claimed,
will not exceed that of gas fixtures.
The meter above referred to is shown in Fig. 6. It
is a simple clock arrangement, with an attachment de-
signed to throw the dial hands into connection when a
165
light is on. From each switch a pair of conducting 657
wires are run to opposite studs on the wooden disk
shown at the top of the figure. When no current
passes through the lamp the revolving spring shown in
front of the studded disk turns without making any
record. When the current is on, one electric connec-
tion at each revolution is made through the pins as-
signed to the particular lamp, the armature of the mag-
net is moved, and the recording wheel is advanced one
notch. This meter does not measure the quantity of
electricity passing, but only the time a lamp is on.
If 658
two or any larger number of lamps are on, an equal
number of connections are made at each revolution of
the wheel, and the record wheel is advanced to corre-
spond. This registration is, of course, a mere matter
of business detail. In view of the well-founded popu-
lar dislike to gas meters, however, it would seem to be
desirable to dispense with such devices entirely; and
the nature of electric distribution appears to favor
other and less objectionable modes and means of de-
termining the financial relations of producers and con-
sumers.
Figs. 7 and 8 indicate the method proposed for gen-
eral distribution. Where the main is tapped for a sub-
circuit, a shunt is introduced so as to throw so much
of the current as may be needed into the derived cir-
cuit. The resistance of say 100 added lamps will be
659
about 100 ohms. By giving to the shunt a resistance
of one ohm, 1-100 of the current will be diverted, and
the lamps supplied. When a large number of lamps
are required in a circuit, a combination of the two 660
plans indicated is employed.
The diversion of any portion of the electric supply
into an added circuit, whether one house or a group of
houses, necessarily increases the aggregate resistance
of the electric district, and calls for more work from
the generator. To meet such contingencies automatic-
ally, Messrs. Sawyer and Man have invented and
patented a regulator, which responds instantly to any
increase or diminution in the demand, thereby securing
an absolutely uniform volume of current.
166'
661
This regulator so controls the steam or other power
actuating the generator of electricity, that the amount
of power supplied is increased or diminished in exact
proportion to the demand, either by changing the vol- .
ume of steam produced, or by coupling on or detaching
different generators or parts of a single generator in
circuit.
With regard to the cost of this mode of electric
lighting no positive figures can be given. It is claimed
to be entirely demonstrated that one-horse power
662 will give by the Sawer-Man system of incandescence a
light of 30 five foot gas burners an hour. Where large
powers are employed the cost of steam power, every
item included, is commonly rated at one cent per horse
power per hour. The cost of 150 feet of gas at New
York rates is 41 cents, which would make the gas over
forty-fold dearer than the Sawyer-Man light. Mr.
Sawyer does not stand on this estimate, however, hold-
ing that even if the electric light should prove in prac-
tice on a large scale to be ten times as costly as calcu-
663 lation indicates, it will yet easily compete with gas, the
light furnished being so much better and purer.
It is promised that facilities will soon be offered for
the photometric test of a large number of lights, in a
circuit, with dynamometric tests of the power employed
in generating the electric supply. This, as already
noted, is all that the system lacks to prove itself an ac-
complished economical fact.
664

.THE SAWYER-MAN ELECTRIC LIGHT,

Fig. 2.
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HOUSE GETS 100 OF THE CURRENT
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Fig. 7.-DERIVED CIRCUIT. Fig. 8.-BRANCHED CIRCUIT.
171
Defendant's Exhibit Times Article of 665
Oct. 30, 1878.
A NEW ELECTRIC LIGHT.
THE ELECTRO-DYNAMIC LIGHT COMPANY READY TO COM-
MENCE OPERATIONS.
An interesting exhibition of a new electric light was
given by the Electro-Dynamic Light Company yester-
terday afternoon, at the corner of Elm and Walker 666
streets. The new light is the invention of W. E. Saw-
yer, of this city, and Albon Man, of Brooklyn. It is a
very simple affair, consisting of a small pencil of carbon,
a little larger than an ordinary pin, connected by wires
with an electric machine, and enclosed in a hermeti-
cally sealed glass globe which is filled with pure nitro-
gen gas. The pencil of carbon is heated by the electric
current to a temperature of from 30,000 to 50,000°
Fahrenheit in an atmosphere with which it cannot chem-
ically combine. The carbon is practically indestructible 667
and the light is therefore produced without any con-
sumption of material. In the experiments made yester-
day five lights were placed in different parts of the
darkened room and all connected by wires with a small
Hochhausen electric machine in an adjoining room.
simple key was placed in one of three ordinary keyholes
in one of the walls and turned a little. Two of the
burners attached to a hanging chandelier in the centre
of the room immediately glowed faintly and as the key
was turned still further around, the glow increased, until 668
a brilliant and perfectly steady white light was obtained
equal to the light of 12 ordinary gas jets. The key was
then turned in another of the keyholes and another of
the lamps was "lighted up." In the same way the
fourth and fifth burners were ignited and there resulted
an exceedingly brilliant white light, yet so soft and
steady that it did not pain the eyes. The lights were
easily turned to any desired degree of brilliancy from
that of a mere spark to a light of six times the intensity
of the common gas jet-that being the maximum power
A
172
669 of the lights in use yesterday. The company asserts
its ability to easily fit up lights equal to 30 gas
burners. By a very simple "switch" in the wall the
current of electricity is divided and subdivided to sub-
ply any number of burners desired, the electricity
reaching the switch from the generator through a single
wire. The light is turned on or off, or regulated to any
degree merely by turning a key which operates the
switch. Messrs. Sawyer and Man have recently taken
out a number of patents covering all the points of their
670 new invention which are now the property of a stock
company which has been formed to introduce the light
to the public.
The plan is similar to that proposed by Edison
—the establishing of central stations in various parts
of the city from which powerful electric genera-
tors will supply the necessary electricity. The com-
pany claims to be able to supply the electric light at
one-fortieth the cost of ordinary gas. Whether this will
prove true or not remains to be seen. The difficulty of
671 a meter has been overcome by the invention of a meter
which will record the number of burners used in any given
house, and the number of hours each burner is lighted
The measurement of the electricity used would involve
so complicated and delicate instruments that the time
plan has been adopted. Mr. Sawyer asserted yester-
day that Mr. Edison was behind time with his much
trumpeted light, as the Electro-Dynamic Company have
their light nearly ready for the public and every neces-
sary point is covered by patents of recent date."
672
173
U. S. CIRCUIT COURT,
WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA.
THE CONSOLIDATED ELECTRIC LIGHT
Co.
VS.
THE MCKEESPORT LIGHT CO.
673
In Equity.
674
I, WILLIAM T. FARNHAM, Special Examiner, herein
duly appointed, do hereby certify that the foregoing
are the proofs for final hearing taken before me in
behalf of defendants under the 67th Rule of the U. S.
Supreme Court in Equity as amended under the orders
for that purpose herein duly entered.
I further certify that on the dates in said record set
forth, the witnesses named therein, to wit, John M. D.
Keating, William Hochhausen, William Sharp, Walter
K. Griffin, Thomas A. Edison, Cyrus F. Brackett,
George F. Barker, William P. Wilson, Amos Broadnax,
Henry E. Vineing, Charles Batchelor, William Holzer,
Grosvenor P. Lowrey, Calvin Goddard, Robert M.
Gallaway, James Hood Wright, Richard N. Dyer and
John C. Tomlinson appeared before me and having
been by me first duly sworn, they gave their depositions,
which were reduced to writing partly by myself and
partly by stenographers and type writers, by consent
of counsel for the respective parties, and that said
witnesses thereupon signed their several depositions.
I further certify that I am not of counsel or attorney
for either of the parties nor in anywise interested in
the event of said cause.
I further certify that R. N. Dyer, Grosvenor P.
Lowrey, Walter K. Griffin and H. D. Donnelly,
Esquires, appeared on behalf of defendants and
Thomas B. Kerr, Amos Broadnax, Samuel A. Duncan
675
676
174
677 and Leonard E. Curtis, Esquires, appeared on behalf
of complainants at the times and places stated in said
record.
Dated New York, May 17th, 1889.
WILLIAM T. FARNHAM,
678
679
[SEAL.]
Special Examiner and
Notary Public.
1
680
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.
the fact that probably one-half the effort put
forth in Sunday-school work is wasted, and
some of it worse than wasted.
Too much attention to questions of dog-
matic belief, and too little to questions of
conduct; too much bondage to the teach-
ing of the Bible and related subjects as an
end, and too little devotion to the production
of Christian character; too much superficial
and revivalistic work, and too little broad
philanthropic endeavor; too much frivol
ity and perfunctory lesson-hearing, and too
little of the affectionate, life-long attach-
ment of god-parent and god-child between
teacher and pupil; too much system and
531
too little freedom and common-sense; too
much memory and too little sympathy-
these criticisms can justly be made against
much of our Sunday-school work in the
hundredth year after Robert Raikes of
Gloucester.
The time will come and the leader will
come. He will teach us as Jesus taught,
that the Book, and the day of rest, and the
creed symbol, are all subordinate to the wel-
fare of the human spirit, and that practical
endeavor, if it will achieve its best result,
must disentangle itself from theoretic ideal-
ism, and from bondage to dogmatism, tra-
dition, and convention.
Consolidated PL to is to Reesport Co
Edison's Exhibit 20.10 MAM.
beats & hitit 2010 notary publi
WII.
u.
>
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.
BY FRANCIS R. UPTON (MR. EDISON'S MATHEMATICIAN).
EDITOR SCRIBNER'S MONTHLY.
Dear Sir: I have read the paper by Mr. Francis Upton, and it is the first correct and
authoritative account of my invention of the Electric Light.
Menlo Park, N. J.
Yours Truly,
THOMAS A. Edison.
THE Crowning discovery of Mr. Edison- | finely-divided state-the particles widely
the electric light for domestic use-is at last
a scientific and practical success. A mis-
taken idea has been afloat that this new light
was intended to be a rival of the sun, rather
than what it really is,—a rival of gas. The
contrivances of the new lamp are so ab-
surdly simple as to seem almost an anti-
climax to the laborious process of investi-
gation by which they were reached. A small
glass globe from which the air has been ex-
hausted, two platinum wires, a bit of charred
paper-and we have the lamp. The gen-
erator of the electricity is simpler than a
gas-generator, and the wires for its distribu-
tion are more manageable than are gas mains
and pipes. The light is equal to gas in
brightness and whiter in color; it is inclosed
and, consequently, perfectly steady; it gives
off no appreciable heat; it consumes no
oxygen; it yields up no noxious gases,
and, finally, it costs less than gas. The
difficulty of subdivision Mr. Edison has also
overcome: in his method of illumination a
number of separate lights can now be sup-
phed from the same wire, and each one, be-
ing independent, can be lighted or extin-
guished without affecting those near it.
In order to a clear comprehension of the
electric light, a few words upon the general
subject are necessary. All illuminants are
produced by the incandescence or white heat
This matter may either be in a
of matter.
separated-as in the flame of candles, lamps
and gas-jets, or an aggregation of particles, as
in the calcium light. Both of these methods
have been used in the various systems of elec-
tric lighting. Electricity flowing through a
conductor generates a quantity of heat pro-
portioned I, to the amount passing through,
and 2, to the friction, or resistance, of the
medium. Ordinarily, the amount is hardly
appreciable in a good conductor. When,
however, a poor conductor forms part of the
electric circuit, a heat is generated that,
under certain conditions, rises steadily to
whiteness, causing the substance forming the
imperfect conductor to become luminous.
If the wire of an electric circuit be cut and
the two ends, after being touched, are drawn
slightly apart, the current leaps the chasm
and a spark appears which vaporizes a small
portion of the metal, and this forms a sulfi-
cient conductor to enable a constant elec-.
trical current to flow from end to end of the
wire. When the two ends of the severed wire
are properly tipped, a continuous and brilliant
light may be produced Carbon is found to
be the best material for these tips, and so
long as the current flows and the distance
between the points is properly regulated, a
storm of white hot carbon particles is car-
ried across the space, giving a brilliant il-
lumination. This is the voltaic arc, a light
produced by the incandescence of finely-
532
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.
divided matter. The broken circuit may
be completed by the interposition of some
solid matter capable of sustaining a white
heat without melting. Platinum and carbon
were long thought to be the forms of matter
which would best answer the purpose.
•
These methods of utilizing electricity pre-
sented so many difficulties that it was
thought impossible to use either for domes-
tic purposes. The objections to the voltaic
arc were that the carbon did not offer
sufficient resistance to the passage of the
current, and that it wasted, the light there-
fore requiring either continual attention,
or else some complicated mechanism, both
troublesome and expensive, to keep the dis-
tance between the carbon points constant.
(See Fig. 3.) The objections to platinum lay
in its great cost and rarity, and the fact that
its point of fusion is too low to ensure its
successful use as the source of light. And
finally the objection to all known methods
was that the conductors necessary to the
supply of any lamp then known would have
been of such enormous cost and size as to
be impracticable for general use.
|
graph. In 1845, about the same time,
we find that the first mechanisms for regu-
lating the distance between the carbon points
were independently invented by Staite and
Foucault, who thus in another direction uti-
lized the electrical power supplied by the bat-
Staite's patents show great inventive
genius; in one of them there is a well-defined
suggestion of the widely known Jablochkoff
candles. In this field of research, as in
so many others, the earlier investigators
possessed a clearness of vision which en-
abled them to see further and more accu-
rately than those who came after. Staite,
before 1850, produced an electric light, which
was exhibited in England, and was so favor-
ably received that a company was organized
and gas stock suffered a panic. Many other
inventions were made, with a vast expendi-
ture of time, ingenuity and patience, which,
like those of Staite and Foucault, failed be-
cause of their great cost. It is not enough
to invent a good light, nor even to perfect
its mechanism: the cost of production must
be small enough to enable it to compete
with all existing methods of illuminating.
Electric lighting had now passed through
three stages. It had been a brilliant labor-
atory experiment, it had been the subject
of practical investigation, and it had been
advanced to the precarious dignity of occa-
sional use in the theaters and on great ſes-
tal occasions. At the coronation of Alex-
ander of Russia, the city of Moscow was
lighted by numbers of electric lamps sus-
pended in the old bell-tower of the Kremlin,
a thousand gilded domes glittering in the
unearthly radiance, in happy contrast with
the quaint arches of the old cathedral close
at hand, while the river Moskva was trans-
muted into a stream of liquid silver.
In order to understand the difficulties of
the problem presented to Mr. Edison, and
the simple perfection of his lamp, a short
summary of the history of the electric light
will be necessary.
The first method of
illuminating by electricity was by the vol-
taic arc.
About twenty years after the dis-
covery of galvanism, or the modes of gener-
ating electricity by chemical decomposition,
the voltaic arc was discovered by Sir Hum-
phrey Davy. The battery of a single cell
was succeeded by those of multiplied power.
In 1812, by the use of a battery of 2,000
cells, Davy succeeded in producing an in-
tensely brilliant arc measuring five inches.
The experiment was, however, a very costly
one, and had apparently no practical out-
come; yet the effects produced by it were
so brilliant that Professor Dumas, who,
repeated it in Paris, in 1834, predicted
its final success as an illuminant, in spite
of the enormous cost-six dollars a minute.
For a number of years no improvement
was made, the batteries then in existence
being incapable of supplying a constant
and steady flow of electricity. Daniell's
invention in 1836 of a constant battery, used
still in telegraphy, and Grove's improve-
ment in 1839, of electrical generators, gave
a new impulse to inventors. A constant
and powerful current being supplied by these In 1845, to go back to the second meth-
two inventions, the practical use of it was od,-that of illuminating by an incandescent
shortly afterward made in Morse's tele-solid,-an American named Starr, backed by
The year 1860 saw improvements in gen-
erators. The force of steam was found to be
convertible into electricity. In 1862 Faraday
introduced the electric lamp into a British
light-house. France and Brazil tried the same
experiment, but even this failed to arouse
public interest. The invention of the Gramme
generator (though an instrument fully antici-
pating it had been lying for years in the cabi-
net of a.. Italian university) at last gave the
impetus needed to set the inventors at work.
This was soon followed by the Jablochkoff
candles, the contrivance by which some
streets in Paris are illuminated. So much for
the history of illumination by the voltaic arc.
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT
George Peabody, went to England, and
took out a patent for the use of platinum,
which had been already employed in labora-
tory experiments, although it had never been
used for practical purposes. In the same
year Grove speaks of reading by an incan-
descent platinum spiral.
In 1847, Dr. Draper, of New York, made
a number of experiments to test the qualities
of highly heated platinum. He used a lever
suspended by a straight wire, very much re-
sembling a door-latch held by a string. So
marked was the illurnination from, and the
expansion of, the heated wire at the tem-
perature required for the experiment that
he wrote: "An ingenious artist would have
very little difficulty, by taking advantage
of the movement of the lever, in making
a self-acting apparatus in which the plati-
num wire should be maintained at uniform
temperature, notwithstanding any change
taking place in the voltaic current." This
suggestion, though so clear and practical,
lay for twenty years unheeded, and would
probably have done so much longer, but that
Mr. Edison, with no knowledge of it, entirely
independently made use of a similar device
and proved himself to be the "ingenious
artist," in his first electric light invention.
Fig. 1 shows the plan of the apparatus.*
FIG. I.
G
Browsent
A
W
G
тон
HOO
eeeeer
SECTION OF EDISON'S EXPANSION REGULATOR.
533
When this is done
touches the point, B.
the electricity takes the short route through
the lever and does not pass through the
lamp. The wire, W, contracts and the
process is repeated.
Another method of accomplishing the same
purpose is shown in Fig. 2.
The current
passes, in this case, through the wire, W.
In so doing it heats the air in G. The air
XB
W
G
FIG. 2. EDISON'S PNEUMATIC REGULATOR.
in expanding forces downward the small
metal bellows which is connected with the
chamber, until the lever attached below
closes the break, B, and short circuits the
lamp, allowing the air to cool. These two
inventions really belong to the infancy of
electric lighting, though invented by Mr.
Edison only a short time ago.
In 1849 Despretz describes a series of
experiments on sticks of incandescent car-
bọn which were sealed in a glass globe, the
air being exhausted, or nitrogen substituted
for it. He used several ingenious methods
for holding the carbon-patented within the
last few years.
So completely had the mode of lighting
by an incandescent solid been forgotten,
that in 1873 a medal was bestowed by the
St. Petersburg Academy on Lodyguine for
its supposed discovery, and letters-patent
were granted to Sawyer and Mann for a
stick of carbon rendered incandescent in ni-
trogen. No successful light by incandescence
had, however, been produced when Mr.
Edison began his experiments.
•
The current enters through the curled wire
at the left, and flows from one post, P, to
the other, P', through a spiral and out at the
right. It is carried to the top of the glass
case, G, then through the straight wire, W,
to the lever at A, then to the hinge, H, so that
it escapes at the right. In passing through
the straight piece of platinum wire, W, en-needed,
closed in the spiral the heat generated by
the current causes the wire to expand. This
expansion allows the lever, L, to fall until it
*The portions marked black in the cuts are insu-
lated.
Jablochkoff candles was creating a great
In 1878 the lighting of Paris by the
stir. It had been proved that electricity
was really a rival of gas, and that, es-
needed, it could take its place. The ques-
pecially where great concentration was
duced in such small amounts as to make it
tion now was whether light could be pro-
of general domestic use. The money value
of an invention which could compete with
gas may be judged from the following items:
The United States has $400,000,000 in-
534
IC
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.
FIG. 3. FOUCault's regulator.
cappe
vested in gas, New York and the vicinity
owning about $35,000,000 of this; England
has $500,000, 00, $60,000,000 of which is
in London. Paris has $40,000,000; Germany
$50,000,000, etc. Capitalists, with these
figures before them, and the further fact that
notwithstanding the great depreciation in
plant, the larger portion of this enormous
capital was drawing ten per cent., were quick
to see an opening for their money and en-
terprise. Several New York gentlemen, Mr.
Grosvenor P. Lowrey and members of the
eminent banking-house of Drexel, Morgan
& Co. being the most prominent, placed
$100,000 in cash at Mr. Edison's disposal,
as the requisite means to make the research.
Mr. Edison came to the investigation ·
unhampered by the blunders of his pre-
decessors. He had never seen an electric
light. He took hold of the subject in his
usual clear-headed, practical way. Next to
solving a problem, its intelligent statement
is to an investigator the most important thing.
Mr. Edison saw that permanence in the
lamp and a subdivision of the light were
the main things to be sought after. Of
the two methods already described, he
soon discarded the carbon arc.
He per-
ceived that from its nature this arc was
inconstant, as its very existence depended
upon the destruction of the carbon, and
also that it presented greater difficulties in
the way of subdivision. Even if he succeeded
in conquering the latter difficulty, and was en-
abled to produce small lights, the carbon rods
waste so rapidly that a system of such lamps
would require an expert for every four or five
houses to keep it in working order. The
most effective apparatus then devised was
Foucault's regulator, Fig. 3, which it will be
seen is a very complicated piece of mechan-
ism. The Jablochkoff candles, simple as they
appear to be, require mechanical contriv-
ances to light them and keep them burning,
each candle lasting only a few hours, which
makes the constant expense for new burners
more than that of the electricity which they
can utilize. Mr. Edison, therefore, concen-
trated his attention wholly upon the light
from an incandescent solid.
The advantages of subdivision are twofold
and may be explained in a few words. To
show that a good gas jet or German student's
lamp gives, near the source of light, all the il-
lumination necessary for ordinary domestic
purposes, a simple experiment may be tried.
A printed page directly under the light,
will be seen to be brightly illuminated.
After carefully noting this, let another
equally strong light be kindled. The room
will be brighter, but the page will appear to
be scarcely brighter. This is because beyond
a certain limit the eye becomes insensible to
light. One therefore gains nothing for or-
dinary use from a single intensely brilliant
light. The object of such an illumination
being of course to bring, by means of several
moderate lights, all parts of the room up to
that point where the eye, before it begins
to be numb, can utilize the light. This
explains the first advantage of subdivision;

535
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT
the second is of another kind. Every
one familiar with the electric light, as it has
been exhibited, knows that the intense brill-
iancy of the light and the sharp definition
of the shadows, as well as their depth, makes
it most trying to the eyes. The same
amount of light distributed among a num-
ber of burners would not give more illumi-
FIG. 4. EFFECT OF CARBON ARC ILLUMINATION.
nation, but it would be of more practical
value, the light would be more diffused, the
contrast between light and shadow less sharp
and startling. Fig. 4 shows the effect of a
shadow from a single brilliant carbon light,
and Fig. 5 the effect from several shaded
lights; the advantage of the latter for prac-
tical and domestic use will be readily seen.
This is equally true with other illuminators;
though gas may be made to give out a brighter
FIG. 5. EFFECT OF GENERAL ILLUMINATION.
illumination per cubic foot when burned in a
concentrated form, it is yet more grateful to
the eye and less trying when burned as a
number of small lights, so that sharp con-
trast shall be avoided. It is also found that
the shape and size of flame, apart from the
quantity of light emitted, makes a great dif-
ference in this respect-a large light soften-
ing the edges of the shadows. The shading
of a light, although it obstructs illumination,
is useful in diffusing it.
As has been said, Mr. Edison came to the
subject unhampered. He saw that subdi-
vision was his goal, and toward that he
steadily worked. With a steadfast faith in
the fullness of Nature, a profound conviction
that, if a new substance were demanded for
the carrying out of some beneficial project,
that substance need only be sought for, he
set to work. Two examples of the reward
of his faith may be mentioned. One of the
great difficulties in the way of illuminating
by an incandescent solid-a difficulty con-
stantly urged as insuperable-was that plati-
num, though the most infusible material
which could be drawn out into a wire, still
melted at a temperature too low to insure its
successful use. Mr. Edison, by experiment-
ing, found that by slowly raising a piece of
platinum to a white heat in a vacuum, he
could make a practically new metal, the
fusing-point was so greatly raised. Again,
Mr. Preece, chief government electrician in
England, declared, and was sustained by
many others, that subdivision of the electric
light was impossible, because of the enor-
mous size of the conductors and the num-
ber of Faradic generators necessary. Edison
simply introduced into his lamp an increase
of friction or resistance to the electric flow,
and the problem was solved.
Mr. Edison's idea in regard to the elec-
tric light was that, in all respects, it should
take the place of gas. Following the anal-
ogy of water, the inventor conceived of a
system which should resemble the Holly
water works. As the water is pumped
directly into pipes which convey it under
pressure to the point where it is to be used,
so the electricity is to be forced into the
wires and delivered under pressure at its
destination. In the case of water, after being
used, it flows away by means of a sewer-
pipe, and is lost. But it is easy to imagine
that the water used in working machinery,
for instance, instead of being lost, might be
returned to the pumps and used over and
over again. With such a system as this, we
should have a perfect analogy to the Edison
electric lighting system. The electricity, after
being distributed under pressure and used, is
returned to the central station. As the light
results from no consumption of a material,
but is mere transmutation of the energy
exerted in the pumping process, it is there-
fore seen that all which is essential to an
electric lighting system is the generator (or
536
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.
pump), the two lines of wire, one distributing
the electricity, the other bringing it back,
and a lamp which transmutes into light the
energy carried by the electricity when it
passes from one wire to the other, and in
which the energy of the pressure expresses
itself as the light. In Edison's invention
the amount of electricity delivered in the
lamp is determined by the size and resist-
ance in the carbon, just as in water the
amount of flow is determined by the size
of the openings. As a great many small jets
of water can be supplied from one pipe, so
a great many lamps or small escapes for
electricity can be furnished from one wire.
As in the case of water, the amount
of work done by electricity-either as
illuminant or motor-is dependent quite
as much upon the pressure from which
it escapes as upon the quantity passing
through the wires. We might have a sys-
tem of lamps which would give a certain
amount of light from large quantities of
electricity escaping under low pressure, or
another system which could give an equal
amount of light from a small quantity of
electricity escaping under high pressure.
As in either case the amount of electricity
flowing through a wire is in proportion to
the size of the wire, it will be readily seen
that the application of pressure made by
Mr. Edison obviates the main difficulty in
the way of subdivision (i. e., in the way
of the domestic use of the electric light),
namely, the enormous size and cost of con-
ductors. The well-known principle of the
effect of pressure upon the dynamic power
of electricity had never been utilized be-
cause the proper lamp was still unknown.
This lamp is Mr. Edison's main discovery.
In order to utilize this, one of the plans
devised by him was to make the flow
of electricity intermittent. Enough was
allowed to escape in a short time, say one-
third, to keep the lamp all the time sup-
plied. It of course would require a large
wire to furnish the quantity of electricity
needed, yet two-thirds of the time the wire
would be inactive, during which period it
could be used to supply two other lamps con-
structed on the same principle. According
to the doctrine of probabilities, one-third of
a large number of lamps would be in use
all the time. Such being the case, the cost
of a conductor would be divided among
three lamps. The lamps were so constructed
as to burn steadily all the while, although
the electricity was passing through them
only one-third of the time.
One form of apparatus for accomplishing
this distribution among several lamps on the
same electrical circuit
same electrical circuit is shown in Fig. 6.
The current conducted by a single wire enters
the wire, O; from the lower left hand corner
and flows through the spring, S, by way of
B and B; upward through O', around the
magnets, M, M, and out through the lamp.
B, B, are two points where the circuit can be
broken if the spring, S, is depressed. Two
points are made in order that the spark
caused by the breaking of the circuit may
be made less by division. The spring S is de-
R
I
C
FIG. 6. EDISON'S VIBRAting Regulator.
pressed by the arms, C, C, which are attached
to the armature, A, by the rod, R. The
action
action is as follows: The current renders the
magnet active, it attracts the armature, A,
and presses the spring, S, under, stopping the
flow of electricity by breaking the circuit at
B B. The magnet thus losing its power, the
armature is drawn back by the spring to
which it is attached and the apparatus is
ready to work again. The period of this
vibration may be regulated by means of a
screw underneath, which can make the ex-
cursion of the armature more or less before
it breaks the circuit, or can even act to break
the circuit itself.
In making an electric lamp which would
be efficient without a regulator (as is Mr.
Edison's later invention), two things are
essential, great resistance in the wire, and
a small radiating surface. Mr. Edison
sought to combine these two essential
conditions by using a considerable quan-
tity of insulated platinum wire wound like
thread on a spool. This arrangement is
W
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.
shown in Fig. 7. The spool was made of
zircon, pressed extremely hard, and was to
be suspended in an exhausted glass bulb by
two leading-wires.
The platinum, as
has been incident-
ally mentioned, was
hardened by alter-
nate heating and
cooling in vacuo,
which is done by
passing electricity
through it till white
heat is reached and
then cutting it sud-
denly off. A theory
is that the sudden
cooling contracts the
metal and squeezes
out the air contain-
ed in it.
a
A
C
ט
G
A
FIG. 7. EDISON'S PLATINUM
LAMP.
HALF SIZE.
G
One of Mr. Edi-
son's greatest diffi-
culties was to get
a substance with
which to insulate his
wires that would not
melt and also be-
come a conductor in
the intense heat gen-
erated by the cur-
rent,-in which case
the electrical flow instead of traversing the
whole length of the wire would flow across
from layer to layer, or sidewise from wire to
wire. This difficulty diverted his atten-
tion from platinum to carbon, which is
infusible. He did not suspect, at first, that
it could be made to offer sufficient resistance
to the passage of the electric current, and
that through it he was to reach a happy
solution of the entire problem. A long
time was spent, with a fair degree of success,
in seeking to make a spiral of lamp-black
tar in the form of a wire. To hold
this together he used a bit of ordinary
sewing cotton which was covered with
lamp-black, and succeeded in producing
from an inch and a half of this simple
thread, bent into an arch, a light equal
to an ordinary gas-jet. The lamp-black,
however, contained air, which greatly inter-
fered with the success of the method. He
then used a simple thread, which he found
to answer the purpose, though it presented
the objection of being fragile, uneven in
texture, and unmanageable. This difficulty
suggested the use of charred paper, cut into
a thread-like form. The difficulties appar-
537
ently so insuperable melted away. The elec-
tric lamp was completed. A piece of charred
paper cut into horse-shoe shape, so deli-
cate that it looked like a fine wire, firmly
W
/W
A
A
B
D
FIG. 8. Edison's electric lamp. EXACT SIZE.
C
·
538
SPRENDEL
PUMP
MAC LEOD GAUGE
SPARK
GAUGE
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.
DRYING TUBE
GEISSLER PUMP
FIG. 9. MERCURY PUMPS FOR PRODUCING VACUJums.
clamped to the two ends of the conducting
and discharging wires so as to form part of
the electric circuit, proved to be the long-
sought combination. From this a light,
equal in power to twelve gas-jets, may be
obtained. Fig. 8.
The process by which the paper is ren-
dered serviceable is also extremely sim-
ple and inexpensive. The horse shoe loops
are cut from card-board and placed in
layers, within an iron box, with tissue-
paper between; the box is hermetically
sealed, and then raised to a red heat. Noth-
ing remains but the carbon loops and the
carbonized tissue-paper. All other forms of
carbon previously used had presented the
difficulty of containing air or gas. The car-
·
bonized paper, however, is found to be
perfectly homogeneous in structure, elastic,
tough, and of an almost vitreous cleavage.
It is strong enough to stand far more strain
than will be put upon it in any ordinary
use. If this paper were burned in air, or
in a vacuum prepared by a common air-
pump, it would of course be almost in-
stantly destroyed. In a high vacuum it
burns, but is never consumed. The small
glass globe which holds the simple appa-
ratus is exhausted of air by means of
nearly the same combination of the Spren-
gei and Geissler mercury pumps used by
Crookes in making his radiometer, or
1
light mill," and in his wonderful discov-
ery of the phenomena of radiant matter in
high vacuums, recently brought before the
Royal Society of England. Much atten-
tion has been bestowed of late on the
question of securing good vacuums.
An
absolutely perfect one is unattainable. It
is, however, found that by the use of the..
mercury pumps and chemical appliances,
where a nearly perfect vacuum is formed,
the minute portion of air remaining shows
some remarkable properties. When elec-
tricity under strong pressure passes through
an Edison lamp, the whole bulb shines
with a delicate blue light. So remarkable
is the behavior of various substances in a
vacuum prepared by means of mercury
pumps, that physicists consider that a gas
thus rarefied constitutes another state of
matter, differing as much from that of an
ordinary gas (either under atmospheric
pressure or with the pressure removed by
means of a common air pump) as a gas
differs from a liquid, or a liquid from a
solid. Mr. Edison's use of carbon in such
a vacuum is entirely new.
The pumps are shown in Fig. 9; the
Geissler pump is to the right and below. By
raising a bottle which is connected with it,
the air is forced out of a large glass bulb,
and allowed to escape through the tube A.
On lowering the bottle, the mercury flows
back into it, leaving a vacuum in the bulb.
The opening of a stop-cock allows some of
the air which is left in the pump to flow
into this bulb, when the air is again forced
out as described; this is continued until
the air is exhausted. The working prin-
ciple of the Sprengel pump is the contin-
uous dropping of mercury through a tube,
each drop acting as a piston, carrying
before it a small quantity of air. As there
is no return stroke, even by the aid of a
small tube, the work of exhaustion goes on
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.
quite rapidly. The MacLeod gauge in the
center is so constructed that it will measure
with exactness when less than one-millionth
of the original air is left in the pump.
Another purpose besides that of prevent-
ing the destruction of the carbon is served
by burning it in a vacuum. Almost all the
electricity is converted into light, very little
being dissipated by convection or conduction
as heat. The little glass globe only an inch
from this brilliant light remains cool enough
to be handled, and does not scorch tissue-
paper wrapped closely around it.
Fig. 8 shows the lamp of its actual
size. The current enters it by one of the
wires, W. At B this copper wire is twisted
and soldered to a platinum wire,
which passes through the glass
at C, and by means of a small
platinum clamp into the horse-
shoe, L, from which, by as sim-
ple a route as it entered, it re-
turns. L, the source of light, was
made in the form of a horse-shoe,
in order to approximate to the
shape of a gas-jet, and is large
enough to cause the edges of the
shadows to be softened down,
and so obviates the common
objection to familiar forms of
electric lighting. The carbon
is sealed in a glass bulb, G G G
G, the knob of glass, F, is the
melted extremity of the tube by
means of which the bulb was
connected with the pumps. At
the points, C, C, where the plati-
num wires are sealed into the
bulb, some trouble was occa-
sioned by the cracking of the
glass, which allowed air to leak
into the bulb. It will be noticed
that the glass is now drawn up
around the wire in a thin tube.
This is found to heat and cool
so rapidly that it is practically
homogeneous with the wire, and
even if the wire be heated red-
hot it will not break.
Edison has tried putting a lamp
alternately on and off the circuit
for several hours by means of a
telegraph key, without loosening
the wire. This experiment was
equivalent to using the lamp
several thousand times.
Mr.
Mr. Edison has thus suc-
ceeded in making a lamp of the
simplest imaginable construc-
539
tion, and of materials whose expense is ex-
tremely small. The paper costs next to
nothing, the glass globes very little, and the
platinum tips of the wires are so small that,
though the metal used is expensive, their
cost is trifling. The test of the value of
every invention is its simplicity, and this is
the crowning characteristic of Mr. Edison's
lamp, for it is really nothing more than a
piece of wire looped into a glass globe.
The lamp being complete, let us consider
the generator [Fig. 10], for which Mr. Edi-
son has proposed the name Faradic, in
honor of the great physicist.
The cylinder which is placed below, be-
tween the blocks of iron, F, on which the
F
FIG. 1O.
B
M
FARADIC GENERATOR.

540
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.
magnets, M, rest, is called the armature, and
is so arranged that it can be made to revolve
rapidly by means of a belt. This armature
consists of a small cylinder of wood, which
is wound around with iron wire as thread is
wound on a spool, the ends being made
as in a spool, to hold the wire in place.
Around the whole spool are a number
of loops of copper wire, covered with
cotton thread, running lengthwise of the
armature. The ends of these loops may
be seen as they are taken from the
armature to the cylinder, C, which is an
extension of the armature, by which the
currents generated in the copper wire may
which is pumped through the machine, may
meet with as little friction as possible in pas-
sing through the wire of the armature, since
by means of the great strength of the mag-
nets, very little wire can be made extremely
powerful in forcing the electricity to
higher level or in putting it under pres-
It is exactly as in pumping water,
if we have a poor pump (analogous
to a machine with a poor magnet) the
water may meet with an enormous fric-
tion in the pump itself, or require two or
more, perhaps, to give it the required pres-
sure, while in a good pump all the parts
are so made that while great pressure is
FIG. II. PROPOSED CENTRAL STATION.
be taken away from the machine. This cyl-
inder, called the commutator, consists of
blocks of copper that really represent the
ends of the wire, which are placed side by
side around the axis of the cylinder in such
a manner that no current can pass from one
to the other. Touching these as they re-
volve are brushes, R, made of copper wire,
by means of which the electricity flows from
the machine.
That the wire about the armature may be
able to pump electricity into the line, it is
needful that it be revolved immediately in
front of magnets. The magnets are made
of such large dimensions that the electricity,
given to the water, it passes through it with
the utmost freedom. The machine has such
strength that it is intended to use only a
small fraction of the power, which it could
convert into electricity, and deliver outside.
It is proposed to mass a large number
of such machines, as in Fig. 11, and have
them all pump electricity up from one wire
into a second. The two large wires, held
on supports above the floor, are intended,
the one to carry the electricity away, and
the other to bring it back after it has been
used. Two machines are placed at one
side; these are for the purpose of rendering
active the magnets of all the others.
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.
It is proposed to establish such stations in
the course of a few months in the heart of
several of our large cities. These will sup-
ply houses for quite a distance around them.
1,000 horse-power is thought to be a suffi-
cient amount for a unit, and the stations
LAMPS
R R R
WIRE
Cu.
WIRE
FIG. 12. DIAGRAM OF METER AND SYSTEM.
will be at such distances from one another |
that each district will require about this
amount. The engines will be divided into
four groups of 250 horse-power each, with
a spare one in each station of the same
power.
The wires will be laid in fascines or bun-
dles under the edge of the sidewalk in a
tight box. The object of this is to make
them easy of access and easy to
place in position. Nor is there
need of putting them out of the
reach of the frost, for they are
continuous and not liable to leak
from change in position. Even
more important is the fact that the
colder the wires are the less is the
waste of electricity, thus giving a
decided advantage over gas in
winter, when most light is needed.
The main wires may be either
of iron or copper according to
the market price of these metals;
as quotations are to-day the prefer-
ence is slightly in favor of copper
wire. These lines of wire will start
from the central station and send
out branches in the same manner
that gas or water pipes diverge,
growing smaller the farther they are
removed from the central station.
Fig. 12 also shows the branch wires
as they enter the house. It is pro-
posed to color the distributing wires red and
the waste wires green. These two distinct
wires will be carried all through the house,
and every lamp will be so placed that the
electricity will flow through it from one wire
to the other.
A
541
Before passing into the house, the elec
tricity is carried through a sort of meter con-
taining a safety-valve, by means of which
it can be measured. The contrivances for
doing this are shown in diagram, in Fig. 12,
and in perspective in Fig. 13. The lettering
W
E
WIRE
STREET
is the same in both for identical
parts. The current enters at E,
passes through the two platinum
points, D, then through the arma-
ture, A, to the dividing points,
P P. The larger portion of the
current then flows around the mag-
net, M. The armature above the
magnet is held from it by means
of the spring, X. The object of
the device is to furnish a means of
cutting out a house if too large a
flow of electricity by any accident
should occur. The magnet would
then be capable of drawing down the arma-
ture which would separate the platinum
points, D, and break the circuit.
The small wire, W, serves a double purpose
and is a remarkably clever solution of a
double problem. First: If the circuit were
partly opened it would weaken the magnet,
and the armature would recede, closing the
circuit. It would thus form a vibrator
Co
E
A
A
A
A
Cu
Cu.
R R
Σ
FIG. 13. EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT METER.
S
resembling Fig. 6. The wire, W, allows
enough electricity to pass to close the snap,
S, so that the armature is firmly held in
place, after which the wire, W, will melt off
and completely break the flow of electricity.
Secondly, the wire serves another purpose:
•
542
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.
if the points were drawn apart an arc would
spring between them. The wire, W, con-
ducts the electricity by a shorter route than
that offered by an arc and so keeps the
space between the two points free from the
intensely heated vapors of the metal.
A small fraction of the current passes by
another route to the lamps, from the point
P. It first traverses a length of wire wound
The amount
on small spools marked R.
placed here will regulate the flow through
this line. The current next passes through
from one copper plate marked Cu to an-
other, through a solution of copper salt.
In thus flowing, for every unit of current a
certain amount of copper is deposited on a
thin sheet, the amount for a lamp being once
determined by burning one for a number of
hours. It must be remembered that only a
small amount passes through the meter, but
that which passes is proportionate to the
whole. It is proposed to make a standard
lamp, which shall give a light equal to that
from a gas flame consuming five cubic feet
each hour. From this it will be calculated
how much copper will be deposited, and the
amount will be said to represent five cubic feet.
The bills for electricity will be made out in
1,000 feet, as in the case of gas. The inspec-
tor will take the strip on which the copper is
deposited to the central station, in order to
determine the amount of electricity used.
Besides giving light, the electricity sup-
plies a convenient form of motor for domes-
tic purposes.
A small electrical engine
placed beside a sewing-machine, for exam-
M
power, by this same means. Fig. 14 shows
the form adopted by Mr. Edison. It is
substantially a small model of the large
Faradic machine, the only change being in
the fact that the armature, C, is placed
lengthwise of the magnets, MM, instead of
across them. At S is a switch by means of
which the motor can be started or stopped.
It is expected that the amount of power
used in the day time will largely pay for
the expenses of generating-an additional
advantage over gas.
•
In order to use the lamp, it is brought
into the circuit by turning a handle in a
certain direction, or thrown out by reversing
the motion, or by means of plugs, which
are inserted in a socket. This may be done
either in the chandelier or in any other
convenient place in the house. Very simple
arrangements may be made so that by
touching a knob by the bedside the whole
house may be brilliantly lighted for the re-
ception or discovery of a suspected burglar.
Of course, no matches have to be used;
the light kindles itself by the turning of a
handle, and so one fruitful source of de-
structive fires is avoided:
In order that the philosophical relations
of the processes may be understood it is
needful to trace the history of the energy as
it is taken from the coal and conveyed over
the wire to the lamp. A large portion of
the heat produced by the combustion of the
coal under the boiler is found in the steam
as it flows to the engine. By means of the
latter a small fraction, about ten per cent.
a
M.
B
M.
of the original en-
ergy, is transformed
into the motion of
the wheels attached
to the engine. It
may be traced as
it flows through the
belt to the shaft,
and again as it is
carried from the
shaft to any ma-
chine which it may
drive. A belt ex-
actly resembles, in
carrying power, a
man pulling a shaft
around by means
ple, and connected with the distributing of a rope. The amount he is pulling can
wire, may save ail the fatigue of treading be measured by the strain on the belt, and
the machine, at an expense exactly equal to the work he is doing by determining the
that of one jet burning for the same time. speed with which he carries the end of
Elevators may be lifted, lathes turned, and the rope. Mr. Edison has made a device, rep-
instruments operated up to several horse-resented by Fig. 15, to measure this strain.
B
FIG. 14. EDISON'S ELECTRIC MOTOR.
·
543
The belt starting
from the pulley
over the main
shaft, C, is carried
under a pulley, A,
which is attached
to a large box
containing heavy
weights. This box
is placed upon a
platform scale.
The belt then runs
over pulley, D,
which it has to
drive, and under a
wheel, B, which
rests heavily upon
what would other-
wise be the slack
part of the belt,
for the purpose of
tightening it. The
pulley,A,attached
to the weight, will
have a tendency to
be drawn upward
by any strain that
may be put on the
belt, just as the
block of a tackle
is drawn up when
the rope is tight-
ened which runs
through it. The
weight lifted may
be measured by
the diminution of
weight on the
scale, one half of
which gives the
strain on the belt.
Fig. 15 also shows
the arrangement
of machines as
they were placed
EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.
-
A
E
葡​葡​葡萄​葡萄
​R
た
​FIG. 15. EDISON'S DYNAMOMeter, for measuring the FORCE OF AN ELECTRIC CURRENT.
in order to be tested. The cones D and E
were for the purpose of changing the speeds
at which the machines were run. The ma-
chine, H, at the right, renders active the field
of the other machine, F; the current may
be regulated by passing through more or
less of the resistance boxes, R. By means
of this apparatus the exact amount of power
carried by the belt can be reckoned when
its speed is known. This latter measure-
ment is made from the main shaft.
The energy which the belt carries is
seemingly lost, as material motion, when it
has turned the armature of the Faradic
|
machine.
machine. Since this seems to be a point
where the majority lose the track of the
energy, in order to explain clearly allu-
sion must be made to some fundamental
experiments. Arago many years ago tried
this experiment: a sheet of copper, which
is not attracted by the magnet under ordi-
nary conditions, was passed between the
two poles of a powerful magnet, and it was
found to be retarded in its motion. If the
magnets are extremely strong, though the
copper sheet to the eye passes through
nothing but air, yet to the hand it seems as
if it were cutting cheese, so strong is the
544
"THAT LASS O' LOWRIE'S."
drag put upon the copper. This phenome-
non Tyndall calls the apparent viscosity
of the magnetic field. Faraday, a few years
after this discovery, clearly explained the
reason for seeming friction between the plate
of copper and the invisible lines of magnetic
force which he imagined to reach out from
every magnet. He used wires and passed
them in front of the magnet, and found
that whenever they were made to cut these
lines electricity was thrown into the wire.
This grand discovery is at the basis of all
that is now done in making strong cur
rents, for it furnishes the method by which
motion of mass may be transformed into the
molecular motion called electricity.
As the energy appears in the wire, it is
measured again by an electrical dynamom-
eter, the main idea of which was that of Pro-
fessor Trowbridge, of Harvard University.
By means of the two instruments, one is
enabled to trace out the amount of encrgy
absorbed and given back by the machine,
and in many cases ninety per cent. of the
original power applied is found converted
into electricity. A system of electric light-
ing is nothing more than a gas system, where
energy takes the place of vapors.
It is one of the laws of progress, that no
sooner is a method for producing a cer-
tain result perfected than a practical use of
it follows. This is attested by the history of
many great inventions. Following out the
laws of discovery, it has been for some time
a speculation of the writer that the won-
derful perfection to which vacuums had been
brought, pointed historically toward some
direct connection between them and the
electric lamp. For the past few years no
more striking result of scientific work has been
effected than the startling phenomena shown
in high vacuums; parallel with this, a grow-
ing want has been felt for a cheaper and
more efficient mode of illuminating. Is this
a mere coincidence? or may we believe
that the demand and means of supply have
been developing independently, but side by
side; and that now in the electric light we
find a practical application of what had been
reached by purely theoretical research?
Besides the enormous practical value of
the electric light, as domestic illuminant
and motor, it furnishes a most striking and
beautiful illustration of the convertibility of
force. Mr. Edison's system of lighting
gives a completed cycle of change. The
sunlight poured upon the rank vegetation of
the carboniferous forests, was gathered and
stored up, and has been waiting through the
ages to be converted again into light. The
latent force accumulated during the primeval
days, and garnered up in the coal beds, is
converted, after passing in the steam-engine
through the phases of chemical, molecular
and mechanical force, into electricity, which
only waits the touch of the inventor's genius
to flash out into a million domestic suns
to illuminate a myriad homes.
"THAT LASS O' LOWRIE'S."
LIKE those grand heights of far-off northern lands
(With desolation at their skirts), which bare
Their brows to radiance of transcendent air,
Majestic in her loneliness she stands-
Yet tender to a touch: with craving hands
That draw a slighted baby's mouth to share
The sweetness of her lips, in kisses rare
Of love her own defrauded life demands.
What matchless courage sets her steadfast feet
Along their path of thorns! She, hopeless, takes
Her pain, her love, all hopes most sweet and near,
And goes-unwittingly-crowning joy to meet !
The Joan of our love! whose story makes
Our true and tender womanhood more dear.
Fontaine & book,
h
16.
Consolidated Electric Light C.
MRIC LIGHTING.
Me Intersport Light Co.
offi Clubit, Higgs
sem, shri Ex.
trouitation
A PRACTICAL TREATISE
BY
HIPPOLYTE FONTAINE.
Translated from the French
BY PAGET HIGGS, LL.D., Assoc. INST. C.E.
WITH FORTY-EIGHT ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT.
THOS. A.EDISON.
LONDON:
E. & F. N. SPON, 46, CHARING CROSS.
NEW YORK: 446, BROOME STREET.
1878.
tramlation
Fontaine's book, Hehe. He he.)
Eilubit, Higgs
this chopiter.
( 38 )
CHAPTER III.
ELECTRIC CARBONS.
—
Wood Carbon Rods - Retort Carbon Its Inconveniences - Staite and
Edwards' Carbons-Le Molt's Carbons-Lacassagne and Thiers' Carbons-
Curmer's Carbons-Jacquelain's Carbons-Peyret's Carbons-Archereau's
Carbons-Carre's Experiments-His Processes of Manufacture-Gaudoin's
Experiments-His Processes of Manufacture - Comparative Trials of
several kinds of Carbons.
In his experiments on the voltaic arc, Davy made use of rods of
wood carbon extinguished in water or mercury. These rods
burnt with great brilliancy, and in a very regular manner, but
they wore away so rapidly that their use was obliged to be
reserved for laboratory experiments. In replacing the wood
carbon by the deposits collected from the walls of gas retorts,
Foucault really opened up to the voltaic arc the epoch of useful
applications. Retort carbon is, in fact, much more dense, and
resists for a long time the destructive action of the voltaic focus.
But, as M. Le Roux has observed with reason, the last word
has not been said upon this question, and retort carbon will
still offer grave inconveniences: its density is far from uniform,
it sometimes splits, frequently works irregularly, and produces
considerable variations in brilliancy. These variations chiefly
depend upon the presence of foreign matters, such as alkaline or
earthy salts, and also notable quantities of silica. These matters
are much less refractory than the carbon; they pass into vapour,
and form for a great part the flame which envelopes the arc.
This flame is more conducting than the voltaic arc proper; more-
over, as it has a much greater section it is less heated, and besides,
as it is a gaseous body, its power of radiation is less than that
of the particles of carbon which constitute the arc.
Let us hasten to say that, by suitably choosing the two rods.
which should furnish a regulator, retort carbon gives satisfactory
results in most of its applications.
ELECTRIC CARBONS.
39
When the voltaic arc is enclosed in a globe of frosted glass,
the scintillations, intermittences, and variations in the intensity
of the focus are much less felt; the shadows are much less
marked, the light is softer, more homogeneous, more agreeable.
But the globe causes a very considerable loss of light, and
whenever the small irregularities, due to the imperfection of
the carbon, are supportable, the carbops should be burned with-
out a globe. Moreover, one gets readily accustomed to the
electric light; and workmen now, instead of complaining, seek
factories lighted in this manner.
Several inventors have endeavoured to substitute for carbons
cut directly from the deposits on the walls of retorts similar
agglomerates, but purer; others have merely purified retort
carbons. Some have obtained products very remarkable in
respect of luminosity, but practically inapplicable on account of
their extreme cost.
Among the processes proposed for the improvement of elec-
tric carbons, we will cite those of Messrs. Staite and Edwards,
Le Molt, Lacassagne and Thiers, Curmer, Jacquelain, Peyret,
Archereau, Carré and Gaudoin.
STAITE AND EDWARDS' CARBON.
In 1846, Messrs. Staite and Edwards patented a process for
the manufacture of carbons for the electric light, which had for
its base a mixture of pulverised coke and sugar.
The coke is first reduced to a nearly impalpable powder, and
a small quantity of syrup added, the mixture being pugged,
moulded, and strongly compressed. Then the carbon is subjected
to a first heating, and plunged into a very concentrated solution
of sugar, and again subjected to a white heat.
LE MOLT'S CARBON.
M. Le Molt, in 1849, patented a composition for electric
carbons, consisting of 2 parts of retort carbon, 2 parts of wood
charcoal or of coke, and 1 part of tar. The substances were in
the first place pulverised, pounded, mixed, and by much tritura-
40
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
tion brought to the state of a stiff paste; then, by the aid of
powerful mechanical means, subjected to great compression.
The moulded pieces were covered with a coating of syrup, and
placed beside each other in a vessel of retort carbon. They were
then subjected to a high temperature for a period of from twenty
to thirty hours, and purified, if necessary, by immersion in acids.
LACASSAGNE AND THIERS' CARBON.
In 1875, Messrs. Lacassagne and Thiers gave attention to the
purification of retort carbons. They fused a certain quantity of
caustic potash or soda. When this bath was at a red heat they
digested in it, for about a quarter of an hour, the carbon rods.
which had been previously cut from the walls of retorts.
This operation was intended to change into a soluble silicate
of potash or soda the silica contained in the carbons which is
so pernicious to the constancy of the light. The carbon rods
were then washed in boiling water, and subjected for several
hours (in a red-hot tube of porcelain or fire-clay) to the action
of a current of chlorine, which had the effect of converting the
different earthy matters that the alkali had not attacked into
volatile chlorides, as of silica, calcium, potassium, iron, &c.
Thus cleansed, these carbons gave a somewhat more regular
light.
CURMER'S CARBON.
Curmer's process consists principally in the calcination of
lamp-black, benzine, and oil of turpentine, the whole mixed and
moulded in the form of cylinders; the decomposition of these
substances leaves a porous carbon, which is soaked with resins or
saccharine matters and again calcined. By repeating these
operations, M. Curmer succeeded in producing carbons of small
density or conducting power certainly, but extremely regular,
and free from all impurities.
JACQUELAIN'S CARBON.
M. Jacquelain, late chemist at l'École Centrale, has endeavoured
to imitate the circumstances which, during the manufacture of
gas, give birth to retort carbon. These circumstances are the
ELECTRIC CARBONS.
41
coming into contact with the white-hot walls of the retort of
very dense hydrocarburetted matters, of which part is volatilised
and the rest decomposed, leaving as residue a layer of carbon.
In the retorts used in the manufacture of gas, these hydrocar-
buretted matters carry away with them a great number of the
impurities that the coal contains. By taking the tars resulting
from true distillation, cleared consequently of...ll the non-volatile
impurities, and realising, in special apparatus, these conditions
of decomposition in contact with highly heated walls, retort
carbons ought to be reproduced possessing perfect purity. It is
this that M. Jacquelain has done in operating with a tube of
refractory earth of 0.15 mètre diameter, in a improvised furnace;
and he has obtained some plates which, cut into rods with a saw,
have given a light perfectly steady, whiter, and of about 25 per
cent. greater intensity, with an equal electric current, than that
given by the ordinary carbons.
•
The experiments made with these carbons, by the Paris
Administration of Lighthouses, have been so conclusive that
we had, about the commencement of 1876, the idea of putting
the process in practice. But M. Jacquelain, being consulted,
explained to us that it was impossible to calculate: 1st, the
expenditure necessary for the establishment of a continuous
manufacture; 2nd, the approximate nett cost price of the carbons
obtained. As another process by M. Gaudoin has commenced to
give good results, we have not continued our idea. We have
long ago learnt what is the cost of converting a very exact
laboratory process into an industrial operation, and we do not
wish to launch into an affair of this nature without some figures
being given.
The carbon of M. Jacquelain, once formed, has always the
inconvenience of requiring a considerable amount of manual
labour before use can be made of it (because the material is so
hard, that it can with difficulty be cut by the saw), and of pro-
ducing relatively considerable waste.
PEYRET'S CARBON.
M. Peyret, a physicist of Lourdes, has prepared carbons by
soaking pieces of elder-tree pith or any other porous body with
42
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
liquefied sugar, and afterwards decomposing the sugar by heat.
By repeating the operation a sufficient number of times, he
obtained very dense carbons, which he then submitted to a
current of sulphide of carbon.
We have had in our hands only very small fragments of these
carbons, and it has been impossible for us to give an estimate
of their worth; their high price is in every case a very serious
obstacle to the development of an industrial manufacture.
•
ARCHEREAU'S CARBON.
.
M. Archereau, whose name frequently comes under the pen
in questions relating to agglomerates of carbon or to electricity,
has presented to the Academy of Sciences some new rods for
electric regulators, composed of carbon mixed with magnesia,
agglomerated and pressed; the magnesia has, according to the
author, the advantage of making the light more steady and of
augmenting its lighting power.
We have tried several samples of these carbons, some were of
good quality, others inferior to retort carbons. Several carbons
furnished a light of 150 burners, with a total consumption per
hour of 0.03 mètre. It is a manufacture that is capable of
giving good results, but needs very careful revision.
·
CARRÉ'S CARBON.
M. Carré has made a great number of experiments for the
electric light upon retort carbons impregnated with different
salts, and has combined a new product for the same usage.
Some details of his labours are necessary to make their import-
ance and merit understood.
By impregnating porous carbons, and by a prolonged ebul-
lition in concentrated solutions, M. Carré proves :
·
1st. That potash and soda at least double the length of the
voltaic arc, render it more silent, combine themselves with the
silica and eliminate it from the. carbons by making it flow to
6 or 7 millimètres from the points in a state of vitreous globules,
limpid, and often colourless; that these substances augment the
light in the proportion of 1:25 to 1;
ELECTRIC CARBONS.
43
2nd. That lime, magnesia, and strontia augment the light in
the proportion of 1.40 to 1, by the colouring in different ways;
3rd. That iron and antimony carry the augmentation to 1.60
or 1.70;
4th. That boracic acid augments, the duration of the carbons
by enveloping them with a vitreous layer which isolates the
oxygen from them, but without augmenting the light;
5th. That upon the whole the impregnation of pure art
1
regularly porous carbons, with the solutions of different sub-
stances, is a convenient and economical means of producing
their spectra, but that the mixing of the simple substances with
the carbon compound is preferable.
For the manufacture of carbons, M. Carré recommends a
composition of powdered coke, calcined lamp-black, and a special
syrup formed of 30 parts of cane sugar and 12 parts of gum.
The following formula is recommended in the patent of the
15th January, 1876:
Coke, very pure, in fine, nearly impalpable, powder..
Calcined lamp-black
Special syrup
15 parts.
5
""
7 to 8
""
The whole is strongly triturated, and has added to it from 1
to 3 parts of water, to compensate for the loss by evaporation,
according to the degree of toughness to be given to the paste.
The coke ought to be made with the best coals, pulverised and
purified by washings. (The coal powder may be likewise purified
by washings by decantation and maceration with heat in acid
baths.) The coke dust of gas retorts is generally pure enough.
The paste is now pressed and passed through a draw-plate,
then the carbons are placed in tiers in crucibles, and are sub-
jected during a given time to a high temperature.
The cooking comprehends a series of operations.
For the first, the carbons are placed horizontally in the
crucible resting upon a bed of coke dust, every layer is separated
by a cover of paper to avoid any adherence. Between the last
layer and the cover is put one centimètre of coke-sand, and one
centimètre of silicious sand upon the joint of the cover.
After the first operation, which ought to last from four to five
hours and attain a cherry-red heat, the carbons should remain
44
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
two or three hours in a very concentrated and boiling syrup of
cane sugar or caramel, with two or three intervals of considerable
cooling, in order that the atmospheric pressure may force the
syrup into all the pores. The carbons are then left to drain
by opening a cock placed at the bottom of the vessel, after
which they are agitated for some instants in boiling water to
dissolve the sugar remaining on the surface.
After desiccation the carbons are submitted to a second
cooking to the degree required; they are then stood up in the
crucible by filling up their interstices with sand.
They are thus manipulated from stage to stage until they
have acquired the density and solidity requisite, and the mani-
pulation is facilitated by the use of an oven having as many
stages as there are cookings required.
The carbons are dried slowly. Their desiccation is completed
in a stove, the temperature of which attains gradually 80 degrees
in twelve or fifteen hours. To prevent their becoming deformed
in drying, the rods are placed on pieces of sheet iron having a
V-form.
The Carré carbons are more tenacious and are harder than
those of retort carbon. They are remarkably accurate and
regular. Rods of 0.01 mètre diameter and of 0 5 mètre length
can be employed without fear of rupture. Their cylindrical
form and their homogeneity make the cones maintain as perfect
shape as if they were turned. They are also better conductors
than retort carbons. The only inconvenience that we have
remarked in their employment is a rapid disaggregation, the.
production of small sparks, and irregularity of the luminous
brilliancy.
GAUDOIN'S CARBONS.
M. Gaudoin also has made numerous experiments upon
carbons containing foreign substances.
The following bodies have been introduced into the carbons:
1st, phosphate of lime from bones; 2nd, chloride of calcium;
3rd, borate of lime; 4th, silicate of lime; 5th, pure precipitated
silica; 6th, magnesia; 7th, borate of magnesia; 8th, phosphate
of magnesia; 9th, alumina; 10th, silicate of alumina.
ELECTRIC CARBONS.
45
The proportions were calculated in such a manner as to obtain
five per cent.´of oxide after the cooking of the carbons. These
were submitted to the action of an electric current always of the
same direction, furnished by a Gramme machine powerful enough
to maintain a voltaic arc of 10 to 15 millimètres in length.
The negative carbon being placed at the bottom, M. Gaudoin
has observed the following results:
1st. The complete decomposition of the phosphate of lime
under triple influence of electrolytic action, calorific action, and
reducing action of the carbon. The reduced calcium goes to the
negative carbon and burns in contact with the air with a reddish
flame. The lime and phosphoric acid are diffused into the air,
producing abundant fumes. The light, measured by a photo-
meter, is double that which is produced by carbons of the same
section cut from the residue of gas retorts.
2nd. Chloride of calcium, borate and silicate of lime are also
decomposed, but the boracic and silicic acids appear to escape, by
volatilisation, from the electric action. These bodies give less
light than the phosphate of lime.
3rd. Silica introduced into the less conducting carbons, melts
and volatilises without being decomposed.
The
4th. Magnesia, borate and phosphate of magnesia are de-
composed, the magnesium in vapour goes to the negative carbon
and burns, in contact with the air, with a white flame.
magnesia, boracic and phosphoric acids diffuse into the air in a
state of vapour. The increase of light is less considerable than
with the lime salts.
5th. Alumina and silicate of alumina are decomposed only
with a very strong current and a very considerable voltaic are,
but under these circumstances the decomposition of the alumina
is well manifested, and the alumina, in vapour, is seen to go off
from the negative pole like a jet of gas, and burn with a blue
flame of little lighting power.
The flame and vapour which constantly accompany these
electro-chemical lights having appeared to him a great obstacle
to their utilisation for illumination, M. Gaudoin has not pushed
these experiments farther. He has preferred to follow up his
studies upon the agglomeration of carbon.
46
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
The products manufactured by M. Gaudoin being superior to
all others, we will expatiate a little upon this mode of manu-
facture.
The patent is dated 12th July, 1876.
As we have said above, the carbons intended for the pro-
duction of the voltaic arc ought to be chemically pure. Thus,
the dust of retort carben, though containing only a small
proportion of foreign matters, is not sufficiently pure for this
use, and its employment presents, some inconveniences. The
washings in acids or alkalies to which the carbonaceous matters
may be submitted, with the aim of extracting the impurities
they contain, are costly and insufficient. Lamp-black is pure
enough, but its price is high and its management difficult.
Owing to this, M. Gaudoin had to seek elsewhere a better
source of carbon, and he has found a solution of the problem in
decomposing, by heat in closed vessels, the dried pitches, fats or
liquids, the tars, resins, bitumens, natural or artificial essences or
oils, organic matters capable of leaving behind carbon sufficiently
pure after their decomposition by heat.
The apparatus employed to effect this decomposition are
closed retorts or crucibles of plumbago. These crucibles are
placed in a furnace capable of being heated to a bright red.
The lower parts of the crucibles are furnished with two tubes,
serving, one for the disengagement of gas and volatile matters,
the other for the introduction of the primary material. The
volatile products of decomposition may be conducted under the
hearth of the furnace and there burnt for heating the crucibles,
but it is more advantageous to conduct them into a condensing
chamber or into a copper still, and to recover, after condensation,
the tars, oils, essences, and hydrocarbons that are produced in
this operation.
M. Gaudoin utilises these different sub-products also in the
manufacture of his carbons; he takes great care to avoid for the
worms and receivers the use of iron, zinc, or any substances
susceptible of being attacked by these tars, because the whole
value rests in purity.
Whatever may be the primary material employed for the
manufacture of this carbon, the decomposition by heat should be
ELECTRIC CARBONS.
47
able to be conducted either slowly or quickly according to the
nature of the sub-products that it is proposed to obtain. For
operating slowly it suffices to two-thirds fill the retort and to
heat gradually up to a clear red, avoiding as much as possible
the boiling over of the substances. For operating quickly, the
empty retort is heated to a deep red, and the primary material
thrown into the bottom in small quantities, in a thin stream if
it is liquid, and in small fragments if it is solid. The slow
distillation gives most tars and heavy oils and little gas. The
quick decomposition gives more light oils and gas.
When the primary material has been properly chosen, there
remains in the retort, carbon more or less compact. It is pul-
verised as finely as possible, and agglomerated alone or with a
certain quantity of lamp-black by means of the carbides of
hydrogen obtained as secondary products.
Thus prepared, those carbides are completely free from iron,
and are much preferable to those found in commerce, not only
in the agglomeration of the carbons, but also in the impregna-
tion or soaking of the manufactured objects. (The last operation,
by filling up the pores, introduces oxide of iron when effected
with commercial products.)
The objects made in agglomerated carbon are, for one variety
of carbon, as much more combustible as they are porous, and as
much more porous as they are moulded with less pressure. The
inventor himself uses, for his manufacture, steel moulds capable
of resisting the highest pressure of a strong hydraulic press.
Although the draw-plate or moulding apparatus, used long
since in the manufacture of ordinary graphite carbons, may be
used, without any modification, for the manufacture of carbons
for the electric light, M. Gaudoin has added to this apparatus
certain important improvements. Thus instead of causing the
carbons to issue from top to bottom, vertically, he places the
orifice or orifices of the mould upon the side, and in such a
manner that the issuing carbons form with the horizon a de-
scending angle of 20 to 70 degrees. The carbon is guided for
the whole length by tubes or gutters. This arrangement allows
of emptying the whole of the matter contained in the mould
without interrupting the work, and as the carbon is constantly
48
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
supported it does not break under its own weight, which
frequently happens when issuing vertically.
We have made, at different times, numerous trials with all
kinds of carbons, and those of M. Gaudoin's manufacture gave
the best results. It has necessitated much time and considerable
expense to remove this manufacture from the merely scientific
domain to that of the practical, but success has crowned the
efforts of the inventor. (Table A.)
The light produced with the retort carbons was equal to 103
burners, and that produced by the artificial carbons varied
between 120 and 180 burners for the Archereau and Carré car-
bons, and between 200 and 210 for the Gaudoin carbons. The
mean of 150 burners may be applied, without appreciable error,
to the Archereau and Carré carbons, and that of 205 to the
Gaudoin carbons.
Brought to a uniform section of 0.0001 square mètre, the
consumption of the carbons was respectively:
For retort carbons
Archereau
Gaudoin
Carré
•
..
:
:
:
:.
:
:
:
51 millimètres.
66
73
77
"9
In proportion to the light produced this consumption was:
For the Gaudoin carbons
Archereau
Carré
retort
"
:
:
35 millimètres per 100 burners.
44
51
49
وف
These experiments were made with a Gramme machine con-
structed by M. Bréguet and a Carré lamp by the same maker.
The carbons were taken at hazard from a lot of several mètres
for each series.
At the request of one of the inventors we made some fresh
experiments, with the co-operation of Messrs. Gramme and
Lemonnier, with a more powerful Gramme machine and a
Serrin lamp.
The following Table (B) contains the mean of three series of
experiments made with the greatest precision. The electric
lamp was placed, quite vertically, at the same level as the oil-
(TABLE A.)
TABLE OF EXPERIMENTS MADE WITH SEVERAL ELECTRIC CARBONS, 6th November, 1876.
Observations.
ELECTRIC CARBONS.
Scintillating, eclipsed for a short
time, a slight disaggregation.
A slight disaggregation, a few
sparks. Cinders of Oxide of Iron
in rather large quantity. White
light, Cones good.
A slight disaggregation, a few
sparks; more Cinders than the
preceding, reddened for a greater
length.
Neither disaggregation nor sparks;
less Cinders than the Carré and
Archereau Carbons.
Consumption
Name of
Carbon.
Dimensions.
Speed of
Machine.
Of
of
Negative Positive
per
Carbon. Carbon. Hour
Total
Mean of
Two Ex-
periments.
Regularity.
m.m.
m.m.
m.m.
m.m.
Betort..
9
m.m. square
800
19
36
55
..
Irregular
69
9 m.m.
""
square
920
23
48
71
Sufficiently regular
Archereau
10 m.m.
diam.
800
20
60
80
10 m.m. diam.
920
30
60
8888
85
90
Sufficiently regular
Sufficiently regular
Carré
10.4 m.m. diam.
800
18
60
78
Irregular
92
10.4 m.m. diam.
920
26
80
106
Regular enough
Gaudoin
11.3 m.m. diam.
800
E
11-3 mm. diam.
920
2888
20
38
58
Very regular
73'
38
50
88
Very regular
49
50
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
lamp and photometer. Every precaution was taken that there
should not be any sensible error in the measurements of the
luminous intensity.
(TABLE B.)
RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS UPON SEVERAL CARBONS, 4th April, 1877.
Name of Carbon.
Form and
Dimensions.
Section in Square Millimètres.
Total Consumption per Hour
in Millimètres.
Mean Light in Caroel Burners.
Length of the Arc in Milli-
mètres.
Revolutions per Minute of
the Machine.
Regularity.
Observations.
Retort Carbon,
good quality
Archereau's
Square,
9 m.m. in the
side
Round,
Carbons, new 10 in.m. diam.
specimen
Carré's Carbons,
Round,
new specimen 9 m.m. diam.
81 60 120 2.5 820 Passable Splinters numer-
78 68 173 3 820 Null
ous. Separation
of a small piece.
Scintillation.
Carbons were
shaped very irre--
gularly.
Disaggregation.
Sparks. Light
very variable in
intensity at pe-
riods. Shaping
into small facets.
64 69 175 3 820 Middling Small
Gaudoin's, Type
No. 1.
Round,
11.2 m.m. diam.
98 80 203 3 820 Good
Gaudoin's (Ag-
glomeration
of wood Car-
bon)
'Round
78 240 3 820 Suffici-
ently
good
Sparks.
Light running
round. Very
variable in in-
tensity. Good
shaping of the
Carbons.
Neither
Sparks
nor Splinters.
Light a little
red, but pretty
constant.
Light very white.
Less steady than
with Gaudoin's
Carbons, No. 1.
No Sparks.
Small
tions.
varia-
ELECTRIC CARBONS.
51
Brought to a uniform section of 0.0001 square mètre, the
consumption of the carbons was respectively in these new
experiments:
For the Carré carbons
""
""
Retort
Archereau
44 millimètres.
49
""
53
""
99
78
Gaudoin (wood carbon) 61
Gaudoin, No. 1
In proportion to the light produced, this consumption was:
For the Gaudoin (wood carbon) 32 millimètres per 100 burners.
Archereau
39.
""
Carré
40
""
""
Gaudoin, No. 1 ..
Retort
40
50
""
""
""
The light given by the Gaudoin carbons was a little less
regular than that observed 6th November, 1876. That given
by the Carré carbons varied in less than a minute from 100 to
250 burners; the arc rotated positively round the points, the
same as if alternating currents were being used. The Archereau
carbons appeared to us less effective than at the first trial; they
were consumed slowly, but they produced a light so variable
that it was difficult to take photometric measurements. Only
the retort carbons maintained their duration, luminous intensity,
and, unfortunately, their irregularity.
We shall describe, in terminating this chapter, the improve-
ments that M. Gaudoin has made in his process, and patented,
7th April, 1877.
Instead of carbonising wood, reducing it to powder, and then
submitting it to mixture, the inventor takes dried wood, properly
chosen, to which he gives the definite form of the carbon, then
he converts it into hard carbon, and finally soaks it, as in the
manufacture we have described.
The distillation of the wood is effected slowly, in such manner
as to drive out the volatile substances, and the final desiccation
is made in a reducing atmosphere, at a very high temperature.
A previous washing, in acids or alkalies, removes from the wood
any impurities that it possessed.
E 2
52
ELECTRIC LIGHTING:
M. Gaudoin points out also the means of filling up the pores
of the wood, by heating to redness, and submitting it to the
action of chloride of carbon and different carbides of hydrogen.
He hopes thus to produce electric carbons of small consumption,
and giving an absolutely steady light.
orfli Shibet.
trantation
of Fiontaine's
look
ther
Chapter
(168)
CHAPTER XI.
LIGHTING BY INCANDESCENCE.
Use of Geissler Tubes-Report presented to the Academy of Sciences by M.
Coste, in the name of M. Gervais-King's Invention-Lodyguine's Lamp
-Wild's Report to the St. Petersburg Academy-Konn's Lamp-Bouli-
guine's Lamp-Experiments by the Author on Lighting by Incandescence
-Chérémeteff and Fontaine's Lamp.
As we have said, the voltaic arc is eminently convenient for the
lighting of large uncovered spaces, or large halls without interior
partitions, but when it is required to light small places or very
subdivided localities, it is much more advantageous to employ
gas, petroleum, or even ordinary oil.
There are numerous works on the construction of small
electric foci, but to the present day none of the means devised
have given practical results. It has been endeavoured to use
Geissler tubes, and small incandescent carbons, and if these two
means have not been successful, they offer nevertheless sufficient
interest that we should devote some pages to their description.
It is well known that Geissler, an artist at Bonn, constructed
the first tubes blown in various forms, closed hermetically and
containing only traces of various vapours. These tubes put into
communication with a current, by means of platinum wires fused
into the glass, from a Ruhmkorff coil, produce a stratified light,
that is to say, composed of fine transverse layers separated by
dark layers continually agitated. At the same time the sides of
the tubes present a brilliant appearance, to which the term
fluorescence has been applied.
On March 27, 1865, M. Coste presented to the Academy of
Sciences, in the name of M. Gervais, the following report:
"The apparatus was constructed by M. Ruhmkorff, who has
acquitted himself of his task with his usual care and ability. It
is a case or box in bronze, mounted on four feet, and its cover
LIGHTING BY INCANDESCENCE.
169
or lid is hermetically closed by means of a press-screw, and
between the two surfaces thus brought into contact is a caout-
chouc washer. To the cover is attached a ring, serving as a
suspension to the optical apparatus. The case contains twó
bichromate of potash elements closed in their turn by plates to
which strips of copper are solidly screwed. The poles of the
current furnished by these two elements may be put at will into
communication with the bobbin, and the induced current is
transmitted to a Geissler tube by two wires covered with india-
rubber. This tube, of proper form and filled with carbonic acid,
is enclosed in a glass cylinder with thick sides, furnished with
copper armatures, and into which water cannot penetrate. This
is the lighting part of the apparatus. With this instrument a
soft light is obtained, similar to that now employed by miners.
It resembles in certain respects that given by phosphorescent
animals, but is more intense. It can be seen even when the
apparatus is several mètres under water. It would doubtless
serve to attract fish, as does the phosphorescence of certain
species, and it would also serve to light limited spaces, situated
beneath the surface of the water, or for floating signals. The
captain of the Devoulx,' commanding the southern coasts of
France, employed this apparatus in the port of Cette, in September
last. It remained immersed for nine hours, and it gave light
for six hours. under these conditions, as well as when charged at
Montpellier. The phosphorescence may be of longer duration.
A second trial, made at Port Vendres, on board the 'Favori'
(Captain Trotabas), was equally successful."
•
The light obtained by the Geissler tube is so feeble, that it
can never be utilised practically, and numerous trials made in
mines and powder mills have been without result.
Lighting by incandescence has been studied for a long time;
but its application generally presents so great difficulties, that
at the present day it may be considered as within a purely
scientific domain; although a certain number of apparatus exist
working moderately well.
The first document on the question that we have found, is an
English patent of the 4th November, 1845.
Mr. King, the inventor, enters into some exact details of his
170
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
idea, and presents some considerations whicn tend to prove that
magneto-electric machines, powerful enough to produce light,
already existed in 1845.
The following are the principal passages from this patent:
The invention has for its basis the use of metallic conductors,
or of continuous carbons, heated to whiteness by the passage of
an electric current. The best metal for this purpose is platinum,
the best carbon is retort carbon.
When carbon, is employed, it is useful on account of its affinity
for oxygen at high temperatures to cover it from air and moisture,
as indicated in Fig. 45. The conductor C rests on a bath of
mercury; the bar B is in porcelain, it serves to support the
n
C
B
FIG. 45.
conductor C; the conductor D is fixed on the
bell by a hermotically sealed joint. The carbon
rod A rests at top and bottom on conducting
blocks and becomes incandescent by the passage
of an electric current.
A vacuum is previously established in the
bell, and the apparatus veritably forms a baro-
meter with one of the poles of the battery in
communication with the column of mercury, and
the other with the conductor D.
In order to obtain an intermittent light, the
circuit can be periodically interrupted by a clock-
work movement.
The apparatus properly closed may be applied
to submarine lighting, as well as to the illumina-
tion of powder mills and of mines, especially
where the danger of explosion is feared, or the
rapid inflammation of very combustible sub-
stances.
When the current is of sufficient intensity, two
or a larger number of lights may be placed in the
same circuit, care being taken to regulate the
power of the magneto-electric machines, or the
KING'S LAMP. elements of the battery producing the current.
In 1846, Greener and Staite filed a patent for a lamp,
analogous to King's, pointing out that they freed the carbon,
LIGHTING BY INCANDESCENCE.
171
before use, from impurities by treatment with nitro-muriatic
acid.
In 1849, Petrie concludes the description of a patent for a
lamp with the following remark :-"A light may be produced
by passing an electric current through a short and thin con-
ductor, which heats and becomes luminous; but the majority of
substances fuse and burn rapidly: however, I obtain a good
light by using iridium, or one of its alloys. Iridium may be
fused so as to produce an ingot whilst it is submitted to the
heat of the voltaic arc; afterwards it may be decarbonised and
rendered more malleable. It can be cut into small pieces
of 0.001 mètre diameter and 0.010 to 0.020 mètre length,
that can be fixed upon two insulated metallic supports, which
are in connection with the two wires of a proper galvanic
battery. There is then obtained a beautiful light.”
Several other patents have been taken out in America,
France, and England for the same kind of idea; but none of
these appear more complete, more explicit, and more practicable
than King's; it is then useless to continue our nomenclature.
Lighting by incandescence, and the principle of its production,
had for a long time fallen into oblivion, when in 1873 a Russian
physicist, M. Lodyguine, resuscitated both, and invented a new
lamp, which has since been perfected by Messrs. Konn and
Bouliguine.
In 1874, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences awarded
a high prize to M. Lodyguine. The following includes some
extracts from the report presented on the occasion by M. Wild,
director of the Imperial Observatory; this report, as we shall
see, includes several capital errors:
"It has long been known that we can employ the heating
faculty of the electric current, even without the aid of gas, as in
the luminous galvanic arc, to heat a solid body to whiteness. On
this principle there are often thus heated thin platinum wires,
which are bad conductors, by causing them to be traversed by a
powerful electric current. The light obtained by this process
is much more feeble and more constant than the electric light
from carbon; it can also be extended further, and may be
increased or diminished at will; nevertheless it has never found
.172
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
practical use, because it is too feeble compared with its cost, and
because when it is desired to give greater intensity, there results
fusion of the platinum wire, which in general is not homogeneous
throughout.
"M. Lodyguine was the first who had the idea of replacing
the platinum wire, in these combustion experiments, by small
bars of carbon (coke) analogous to graphite, that is to say, a
good conductor, and thus resolved the problem of electric
lighting.
"The advantages of this substitution of the carbon for
platinum are so obvious from a theoretical point of view, that
it is astonishing, as is always the case with important inven-
tions, that no one had the idea sooner. Carbon possesses at
equal temperature much greater power of radiation than pla-
tinum; the capacity for heat of platinum is superior (nearly
double) that of the carbon in question, so that the same quantity
of caloric raises the temperature of a small bar of carbon
to a degree nearly twice that attained by a platinum wire of the
same volume. Besides the resistance of the carbon in question,
as a conductor of electricity, is nearly 250 times greater than
that of platinum; it results that the small rod of carbon may be
fifteen times thicker than a platinum bar of the same length, and
that the current traversing it will engender the same quantity
of heat. Finally the carbon may by heated to the most extreme
white heat without fear of fusion, as is the case with platinum.
It is to these important theoretical advantages that is evidently
due the great success of the mode of electric lighting proposed
by M. Lodyguine.
"The sole inconvenience of the use of carbon instead of
platinum consists in the fact that, in the combustion the carbon
combines with the oxygen of the air, and is thus gradually
consumed. M. Lodyguine has avoided this inconvenience by
enclosing the carbon heated to whiteness by the electric current
in a glass receiver hermetically sealed, and from the interior of
which the oxygen is expelled by a most simple process.
จ
It is not within the province of the Academy of Sciences
to give its judgment on the technical and other difficulties
which will present themselves in the extended application of
M. Lodyguine's invention, nor on the other hand, upon the
LIGHTING BY INCANDESCENCE.
173
numerous practical advantages of this mode of lighting above all
others; it will suffice to the Academy to state that, thanks to
this invention, there is resolved in the simplest possible manner
the great problem of subdivision of the electric light, and of
rendering it constant,* in order to recognise M. Lodyguine as
worthy, in consideration of the numerous applications of his
invention, to obtain the Lomonossow prize."
In his lamp, M. Lodyguine employs carbon in a single piece
by diminishing the section at the point of the luminous focus,
and he places two carbons in the same apparatus with a small
exterior commutator, in order to pass the current into the second
carbon, when the first has been consumed. Nothing is less
practical nor less studied than the apparatus of this inventor.
M. Kosloff, of St. Petersburg, who went to France in the
hope of working the Lodyguine patent, perfected his lamp
slightly, without, however, bordering upon anything passable.
In 1875, M. Konn, also from St. Petersburg, patented a
more practicable lamp, represented in Fig. 46, which was con-
structed for the first time in Paris by M. Duboscq.
This lamp consists of a base A in copper, on which are fixed
two terminals N for fastening the conductors, two bars C, D in
copper, and a small valve K opening only from within outwards.
A globe B, widened at its upper part, is retained on the base by
means of a bronze collar L pressing on an india-rubber ring,
exactly as occurs with the level-gauges of steam-boilers.
One of the vertical rods D is insulated electrically from the
base, and communicates with a terminal also insulated. The
other rod C is constructed in two parts: (1) of a tube fixed
directly upon the base without insulation, and (2) of a copper
rod split for a part of its length. This split gives elasticity, and
admits of the rod sliding in the tube with only a small effort.
The retort carbons E, to the number of five, are placed
between two small plates which crown the rods.
Each carbon is introduced into two small blocks, also of
carbon, which receive the copper rods at their extremities. The
rods also are equal in length at their lower ends, and of unequal
length at their upper ends. A hammer I is hinged on the bar C,
* We shall see subsequently how the problem has becu resolved by M.
Lodyguine.
174
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
and rests only on a single rod of carbon at once. If this lamp is
placed in circuit by attaching the two conductors from a battery
to the terminals N, N' (the terminal or binding screw. N' is
hidden by the terminal N; but it is identical, and is not
insulated from the base), the bar of carbon E is traversed by
the current which passes by the aid of the hammer I, from the
copper bar F, the two carbon blocks O, O, the copper bar G,
and the plate crowning the bar D.
The vacuum has previously been made by putting the cock K
in connection with an air-pump or other known pneumatic
machine.
The rod E reddens, whitens, and becomes luminous. Its
light is colourless, steady, and constant; but gradually the
section diminishes, the rod breaks, and the light disappears.
The hammer I then falls on another rod, and nearly instan-
taneously lighting is re-established.
When all the carbons are consumed the hammer rests upon
the copper rod H, and the current is not interrupted. In this
manner when several lamps are fed by the same electric
generator, extinction of one does not cause that of the others.
To avoid the projection of small pieces of carbon and their
blocks against the glass, M. Konn has placed at the lower part
of his lamp a small copper tube M, which receives the debris
until the plates are refurnished.
Three of these lamps were introduced two years ago at the
house of M. Florent, a merchant of St. Petersburg, and put in
action with an "Alliance” machine. Each carbon lasts about
two hours, with the exception of the first, which is consumed
nearly immediately; the light is very agreeable, but its cost
considerably exceeds that of gas. M. Florent, whom we have
had occasion several times to see, has informed us that the great
advantage he has found in the employment of electric lighting
was its cleanliness. His store-rooms contain much white linen
that gas rapidly impairs, and on which electricity exercises no
injurious influence. The bleaching economised fully compen-
sates the supplementary cost necessitated by an important
introduction, with but little regard to the light obtained.
M. Florent has not made any photometric measurement; but,
LIGHTING BY INCANDESCENCE.
B
H
B
M
Ꮳ
D
L
FIG. 46. KONN'S LAMP.
K
175
176
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
by comparison with gas, each Konn lamp has been valued at
about 20 Carcel burners.
The principal cause of the great expense that the use of the
light from incandescence entails, rests in the difficulty of pre-
paring small carbons, which cost, as fitted, more than 5 francs
per mètre.
A Russian officer, M. Bouliguine, has constructed a lamp
(Fig. 47), which attains nearly the same end as that by M.
Konn with a single carbon. It consists, like the preceding, of
a copper base or socket, two vertical bars, two bars carrying the
current, and an exhaust valve.
One of the bars is pierced with a small hole from top to
bottom, and has nearly throughout its length a slot admitting
the passage of two small lateral lugs.
The carbon is introduced into this bar like the lead of an
ordinary pencil-case, and it is assisted to rise by a counterweight
connected by two microscopic cables to lugs in the transverse
support on which the carbon rests.
The part of the carbon which is to become incandescent is
held between the lips of two conical blocks of retort carbon.
A screw placed on the base admits of increasing or diminish-
ing the length of the bar which carries the upper conical block,
and consequently of giving to the luminous part greater or less
length.
The closing of the globe is effected by the lateral pressure of
several india-rubber washers.
When the lamp is placed in circuit, the carbon rod reddens
and illuminates until it is about to break. At this moment a
small mechanism* commanded by an electro-magnet opens the
lips of the carbon-holders, the counterweight above drives out
the fragments that would remain in the notch, and the counter-
weight below raises the carbon rod which penetrates the upper
block, and re-establishes the current. The mechanism again
acts, but in contrary direction to its first manoeuvre, the carbon-
holders contract, and the light is renewed.
* The mechanism in question, which the scale of the engraving will not
adinit of showing, consists substantially of an iron armature placed in the
interior of the lamp, and of two metallic rods acting on two cross levers jointed
on to the ring surrounding the carbon-holders.
LIGHTING BY INCANDESCENCE.
177
BOURDELIN
FIG. 47. BOULIGUINE's Lamp.
N
178
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
We have several times tried this lamp, but we have never
obtained good results. It includes too many moving parts, and
the least obstacle prevents the play of the mechanism. How-
ever, we have observed that when by chance it works regularly,
the contacts being better and less numerous than those of
Konn's lamp, it needs less intense currents for the production of
a given light. With a Gramme machine of 100 burners we
have obtained with a single lamp as much as 80 burners,
whilst with a Konn lamp we could never exceed 60 burners.
In order to realise the actual value of the system of lighting
by incandescence, we have made a series of experiments with
several Konn's lamps and a Bunsen battery of 48 elements, of
0.20 mètre height.
The first operation consisted in measuring the resistances
of retort carbon of square section. The samples tested were
0.002 mètre in the side. The following results are from eight
experiments:
Number of
Experiment.
Length of
Samples.
mètre.
Resistance in
Mètres of Tele-
graph Wire.
1234 LO CO E ∞
0.100
16
0.100
14
0.100
15
0.100
14.50
5
0.100
19
6
0.050
7
7
0.050
8
0.050
96
Total
0.650
101.50
Whence it results that the mean linear resistance of the retort
carbon of 0·002 mètre is about 172, that of a telegraph wire of
0 004 mètre being taken for unity.
We subsequently rounded the carbons, so as to reduce their
diameter to 0.0016 mètre, and regulated the length in such a
manner as to obtain 0.018 mètre incandescent part. The
vacuum was carried to about 0·70 mètre mercurial pressure.
The following results represent the mean of more than twenty
series of experiments :
Circuit
State of
the
Circuit.
Galvanometer
deflection.
LIGHTING BY INCANDESCENCE.
Methods of Coupling the Battery.
2 Series parallel of
24 Elements.
3 Series parallel of
4 Series parallel of
16 Elements.
12 Elements.
Luminous
Intensity of
each Lamp.
Galvanometer
deflection.
Luminous
Intensity of
each Lamp.
Galvanometer
deflection.
Luminous
Intensity of
each lamp.
179
1 Single Series of
48 Elements in Tension.
Galvanometer
deflection.
Luminous
Intensity of
each lamp.
closed
47
70
70
50
on itself
5 lamps
28
Reddish-white
17
Cherry-red
10 or 11
Dull-red
'35
+ burner
4 lamps
29
+ burner
22
Reddish-white
16
Orange-red
38
24 burners
3 lamps
38
1 to 2 burners
28
burner
26
+ burner
41
3+ burners
2 lamps
1 lamp
40
3 burners
41 to 42
43
4 to 5 burners
.49
2 to 3 burners
11 to 12 burners
40 to 45
3 to 5 burners
44
5 burners
60
40 burners
45 to 46 | 61 to 7 burners
The lamps were grouped like the elements of a battery in
tension, then forming a single series.
In the following table are given the results obtained with
lamps arranged in batteries, that is to say, on distinct circuits
derived from the battery. Because of the considerable differ-
ences observed in the intensities of the light of each lamp during
the same experiment, we give the total light instead of that
produced by each lamp :
Methods of Coupling the Battery.
State of the
Circuit.
2 Series parallel
of 24 Elements.
3 Series parallel
of 16 Elements.
4 Series parallel
of 12 Elements.
Galvanometer
of deflection.
Total light
emitted by
the whole of
the lamps.
Galvanometer
deflection.
Total light
emitted by
the whole of
the lamps.
Galvanometer
deflection.
Total light
emitted by the
whole of the
lamps.
Galvanometer
deflection.
8 Series parallci
of 6 Elements.
Circuit closed
on itself
5 lamps..
4 lamps
3 lamps
2,lamps
1 lamp
581
57
56+
63
56
1 burner
888888
69
70
641
+ burner
631
24 burners
60
4 burner
63
3 burners
58
61+
2 burners
62
4 burnere
58
}
+ burner
55
5 burners
60
6+ burners
59
15+ burners
55
14 burner
··
524
9 burners
574
54 burners
55
65 burners
46
8 burners
Several important observations were made during these experi-
ments.
When the receivers are sealed and the contacts carefully put
in line, the carbons last for a satisfactory period The first
carbon of a lamp never lasts for less time than a quarter of an
Total light
emitted by
the whole
of the
lamps.
N 2
180
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
hour; sometimes it breaks at the end of thirty to thirty-five
minutes, but that is very rarely; its average duration is twenty-
one minutes. The succeeding carbons last upon an average
for two hours, so long as the luminous intensity does not reach
40 burners, in which case the average duration is only half an
hour. In the experiment of four parallel series of 12 elements,
the five lamps being collected in batteries and one only
lighted, the carbon, which gave 65 burners, lasted only twenty-
three minutes as an average.
Attentive examination of incandescent carbons, through a
strongly coloured glass, has shown that they are not uniformly
brilliant. They present obscure spots, indicative of non-homo-
geneity, and the position of cracks which rapidly disintegrate
the carbon.
The vacuum never being perfect in the receivers, the first
carbon is in greater part consumed. It would appear that con-
sequently upon the little oxygen contained in the lamp being
transformed into carbonic acid and carbonic oxide, the carbon
should be preserved indefinitely. But there is then produced a
kind of evaporation which continues to slowly destroy the incan-
descent rods. This evaporation is besides clearly proved by a
pulverent deposit of sublimed carbon, that we have found on
the interior surface of the bells, on the several interior parts:
rods, contacts, hammers, &c.
No bell has been cracked by heating or cooling during the
whole of the experiments, extending over several months, but
several of the necks have been broken by the too energetic
closing of the joint.
The delicate part of the lamp is in the series of contacts
which precede the incandescent rod. The carbons are got into
straight line, which is indispensable to their duration, only with
minute and long precautions. After rupture, the contact does
not always occur automatically, and two or three times we have
been obliged to shake the lamp to cause the lighting of the
next carbon.
The maximum efficiency has occurred with a single lamp and
with four elements in quantity'; by employing two lamps and
descending to two elements in quantity, the results were con-
siderably diminished.
LIGHTING BY INCANDESCENCE.
181
We have recently made similar trials with Gaudoin artificial
carbons of the same section, and the results have been more
satisfactory. Thus the total light produced with 48 elements
in four series and a single lamp, reached 80 burners, and
that produced with the same battery and three lamps, attained
30 burners.
The same battery coupled in tension and actuating a Serrin
lamp gives a voltaic arc of 105 burners; but the light obtained
by incandescence is much steadier and more agreeable to the
eye.
From what precedes, it appears to result that King and
Lodyguine's system is much more favourable to large foci than
to the divisibility of the electric light; however it is proper to
remark that when 10 burners per lamp are not exceeded, the
carbons have a very long duration, whilst they are consumed
very quickly for an intensity of 60 to 80 burners.
Only carbons of 0.0016 mètre diameter and 0.018 mètre
luminous length were until then those tried; these behave
very well with a strong current, but give no light with 12
elements. It became interesting to learn what light could be
obtained with 12 elements by diminishing the length of the
carbons. This was the object of a new series of experi-
ments.
Five different combinations were attempted, by varying in
turn the coupling of the battery, the diameter of the carbon
and its length.
The best results were obtained with a single lamp furnished
with Gaudoin carbons of 0·0016 mètre diameter, and of 0·015
mètre length, in the incandescent portion.
The light varied between 2 and 8 burners, but it was
more often 5 burners. Each carbon lasted on average fifteen
minutes.
We were about to repeat all these experiments, substituting for
the battery a Gramme machine constructed to give the best
useful effect; but the imperfections of the lamps, the difficulty
of obtaining good contacts, the too minute care to be taken at
the commencement of each operation, led us to decide to
previously design a lamp more commodious and slightly more
practical than that of M. Konn.
182
ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
FIG. 48. FONTAINE'S LAMP.
LIGHTING BY INCANDESCENCE.
183
This lamp, which we represent in Fig. 48, is at present under
construction by M. Bréguet. It is characterised by the two
following points: (1) the carbons are set in a groove at cach of
their extremities in rigid contacts and kept fixed, which admits
of the lamp being placed in all positions; (2) the electric
current passes automatically from one carbon to the other by
the action of an electro-magnet interposed in the circuit.
A description, even summary, would not be of great interest,
since the lamp is not yet finished; the engraving sufficiently
indicates the arrangement we have adopted..
во
Consolidated Electric Light bo
The M Keesport Right bo
во
ECLAIRAGE
L'ÉLECTRICITÉ
RENSEIGNEMENTS PRATIQUES
Defendants Exhibit Fontanies
H.C. M. Spa
طرح
PAR
HIPPOLYTE FONTAINE
48 GRAVURES DANS LE TEXTE
BOURDEL
תונויזן
PARIS
LIBRAIRIE POLYTECHNIQUE
J. BAUDRY, LIBRAIRE-ÉDITEUR
RUE DES SAINTS-PÈRES, 13
LIEGE, MÈME MAISON
1877
Tous droits réservés
st.C. IN. Spe
Dift Exhibit Fontane
1.) This Chapter
CHAPITRE III.
CHARBONS ÉLECTRIQUES.
Baguettes en charbon de bois.
Charbon Staite et Edwards.
Thiers.
Charbon Curmer.
Charbon de cornue.
Charbon Le Molt.
Ses inconvénients.
Charbon Lacassagne ct
Charbon Jacquelain. Charbon Peyret.
Charbon Archereau. Expériences de M. Carré. Ses procédés de fabrication.
Expériences de M. Gaudoin. Ses procédés de fabrication. - Essais comparatifs
de diverses sortes de charbons.
Dans ses expériences sur l'arc voltaïque, Davy se servait
de baguettes de charbon de bois éteint dans l'eau ou dans
le mercure. Ces baguettes brùlaient avec un bel éclat et
d'une manière très-régulière, mais elles s'usaient si rapi-
dement, que leur usage était forcément réservé aux expé-
riences de laboratoire. En remplaçant le charbon de bois
par les dépôts recueillis sur les parois des cornues à gaz,
Foucault ouvrit réellement à l'arc voltaïque l'ère des
applications utiles. Le charbon de cornue est, en effet,
beaucoup plus dense et résiste bien plus longtemps à l'ac-
tion destructive du foyer électrique.
Mais, comme l'a fait observer avec raison M. Le Roux, le
dernier mot n'est pas dit sur cette question, et le charbon
de cornue offre encore de graves inconvénients sa compa-
cité n'est pas uniforme, tant s'en faut; il éclate quelquefois,
s'use souvent irrégulièrement et produit des variations
d'éclat assez considérables. Ces variations tiennent surtout
à la présence de matières étrangères, telles que des sels
alcalins ou terreux, et aussi de quantités notables de silice.
Ces matières sont beaucoup moins fixes que le charbon,
elles entrent en vapeur et forment pour une grande partic
48
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ.
la flamme qui entoure l'arc. Cette flamme est plus conduc-
trice que l'arc voltaïque proprement dit; en outre, comme
elle a une plus grande section, elle s'échauffe moins que
lui, et comme, de plus, c'est un corps gazeux, son pouvoir
d'irradiation est moindre que celui des particules charbon-
neuses qui constituent l'arc.
Hâtons-nous de dire que, tel qu'il est, en choisissant
convenablement les deux baguettes qui doivent garnir un
régulateur, le charbon de cornue donne des résultats satis-
faisants dans la plupart des applications.
Lorsqu'on renferme l'arc voltaïque dans un globe de
verre dépoli, les scintillements, les intermittences et les
oscillations dans l'intensité du foyer se font beaucoup moins
sentir les ombres sont moins vives, la lumière est plus
douce, plus homogène, plus agréable. Mais le globe est la
cause d'une perte de lumière assez considérable et toutes
les fois que les petites irrégularités dues à l'imperfection
du charbon sont supportables, on laisse brûler les char-
bons sans globe. On s'habitue d'ailleurs très-facilement à
la lumière électrique et les ouvriers, loir de s'en plaindre,
recherchent aujourd'hui. les usines éclairées par ce procédé.
Plusieurs inventeurs ont cherché à substituer au charbon
taillé directement dans les dépôts recueillis sur les parois
des cornues, des agglomérés analogues, mais plus purs;
d'autres ont simplement purifié les charbons des cornues;
quelques-uns ont obtenu des produits très-remarquables
au point de vue de l'éclat lumineux, mais irréalisables
en pratique à cause de l'exagération du prix de revient.
Parmi tous les procédés proposés et appliqués pour l'amé-
lioration des charbons électriques, nous citerons ceux de
MM. Staite et Edwards, Le Molt, Lacassagne et Thiers,
Curmer, Jacquelain, Peyret, Archereau, Carré et Gaudoin.
CHARBONS ÉLECTRIQUES.
49
Charbon Staite et Edwards.
En 1846, MM. Staite et Edwards firent breveter un pro-
cédé de fabrication de charbon pour lumière électrique qui
avait pour base un mélange de coke pulvérisé et de sucre.
Le coke était d'abord réduit en une poudre presque im-
palpable et additionné d'une petite quantité de sirop, puis
le mélange était malaxé, moulé et fortement comprimé. Le
charbon subissait, ensuite une première cuisson et était
.plongé dans une dissolution très-concentrée de sucre et
soumis de nouveau à la chaleur blanche.
Charbon Le Molt.
M. Le Molt a fait breveter, en 1849, une composition
pour crayons électriques, formée de 2 parties de charbon
de cornue, 2 parties de charbon de bois ou de coke et
1 partie de goudron liquide. Ces substances étaient préala-
blement pulvérisées, tamisées, mélangées et amenées par
une forte trituration à l'état de pâte dure très-consistante,
puis, à l'aide d'un puissant moyen mécanique, soumises à
une forte compression.
Les pièces moulées étaient recouvertes d'un enduit de
sirop de sucre et placées les unes contre les autres, dans un
vase en charbon de cornue. Elles étaient alors soumises à
une haute température pendant 20 à 30 heures et purifiées,
si nécessaire, par des immersions dans des acides.
Charbon Lacassagne et Thiers.
MM. Lacassagne et Thiers, en 1857, s'occupèrent de
la purification des baguettes de charbons de cornue.
Ces messieurs faisaient fondre, par voie ignée, une cer-
50
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ.
taine quantité de potasse ou de soude caustique. Lorsque
leur bain était à l'état rouge, ils y faisaient digérer, pendant
un quart d'heure environ, les baguettes de carbone prove-
nant des parois intérieures des cornues (ces baguettes
étaient préalablement taillées).
Cette opération avait pour but de changer en silicate de
potasse ou de soude soluble la silice contenue dans lesdits
charbons, et si pernicieuse à la constance de la lumière.
Les baguettes de charbon étaient ensuite lavées à l'eau
bouillante, puis soumises (dans un tube de porcelaine ou de
terre réfractaire chauffée au rouge), pendant plusieurs
heures, à l'action d'un courant de chlore, dont la propriété
était de faire passer les différentes terres que la potasse ou
la soude n'avaient pas attaquées, à l'état de chlorures
volatils, de silicium, de calcium, de potassium, de fer, etc.
Ainsi épurés, ces charbons donnaient une lumière un peu
plus régulière.
Charbon Curmer.
Le procédé Curmer consiste surtout dans la calcination
de noir de fumée, de benzine et d'essence de térébenthine,
le tout mélangé et moulé sous forme de cylindres; la dé-
composition de ces matières laisse un charbon poreux qu'on
imbibe avec des résines ou des matières sucrées et qu'on
calcine de nouveau. C'est en répétant ces opérations que
M. Curmer réussissait à produire des charbons peu denses
et peu conducteurs, il est vrai, mais extrêmement réguliers
et exempts de toutes impuretés.
Charbon Jacquelain.
M. Jacquelain. ancien chimiste à l'Ecole centrale, a
cherché à imiter les circonstances qui, pendant la fabri-
CHARBONS ÉLECTRIQUES.
51
cation du gaz, donnent naissance au charbon de cor-
nue. Ces circonstances sont l'arrivée au contact des pa-
rois incandescentes des cornues de matières hydrocarburées
très-denses dont une partie se volatilise, et dont le reste
se décompose en laissant pour résidu une couche de
charbon. Dans les cornues des usines à gaz, ces matières
hydrocarburées entraînent avec elles un grand nombre
d'impuretés que contient la houille. En prenant des gou-
drons provenant d'une véritable distillation, débarrassés,
par conséquent, de toutes les impuretés non volatiles, et
réalisant dans des appareils spéciaux ces conditions de
décomposition au contact de parois fortement échauffées,
on devait reproduire les charbons des cornues, mais jouis-
sant d'une pureté parfaite. C'est ce qu'a fait M. Jacquelain
en opérant avec un tube de terre réfractaire de 0",15
de diamètre dans un fourneau improvisé; et il a obtenu
des plaques qui, débitées en baguettes à la scie, ont donné
une lumière parfaitement tranquille, plus blanche et d'en-
viron 25 pour 100 plus intense, à courant électrique égal,
que celle donnée par les charbons ordinaires.
Lès expériences faites avec ces crayons, à l'Administra-
tion des phares de Paris, avaient été si concluantes, que
nous eûmes, vers le commencement de 1876, l'idée de
mettre le procédé en pratique. Mais M. Jacquelain, con-
sulté, nous expliqua qu'il lui était impossible de calculer :
1° les dépenses à faire pour l'installation d'une fabrication
continue; 2° le prix de revient approximatif du charbon
obtenu. Comme d'autre part le procédé de M. Gaudoin com-
mençait à donner de bons résultats, nous ne donnames pas
de suite à notre idée. Nous savons depuis longtemps ce
qu'il en coûte pour convertir un procédé de laboratoire,
même très-exact, en opération industrielle, et nous ne vou-
lions pas nous lancer dans une affaire de cette nature sans
quelques données numériques.
52
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ.
Les charbons de M. Jacquelain, une fois formés, ont
d'ailleurs l'inconvénient d'exiger un travail considérable
de main-d'œuvre pour être utilisés (car la matière est si
dure, qu'on ne la scie que difficilement) et de produire des
déchets relativement considérables.
Charbon Peyret.
M. Peyret, docteur à Lourdes, a préparé des charbons
en imbibant des morceaux de moelle de sureau ou tout
autre corps poreux avec du sucre fondu et en décomposant
ensuite le sucre par la chaleur. En répétant l'opération un
nombre de fois suffisant, il obtenait des crayons très-denses
qu'il soumettait ensuite à un courant de sulfure de carbone.
Nous n'avons eu en mains que de très-petits fragments
de ces crayons, et il nous a été impossible de nous rendre
bien compte de leur valeur; leur prix élevé est en tout cas
un obstacle très-sérieux au développement d'une fabrication
industrielle.
Charbon Archereau.
M. Archereau, dont le nom revient souvent à la plume
lorsqu'on s'occupe de questions d'agglomérés de charbons
ou d'électricité, vient de présenter à l'Académie des sciences
des nouvelles baguettes pour régulateurs électriques, com-
posées de carbone aggloméré et comprimé, mêlé à de la
magnésie, qui ont, d'après l'auteur, l'avantage de rendre
la lumière plus stable et d'augmenter son pouvoir éclairant.
Nous avons essayé divers, échantillons de ces crayons:
les uns étaient de bonne qualité, les autres inférieurs aux
charbons de cornue. Plusieurs crayons ont fourni une lu-
mière de 150 becs avec une mesure totale de 0,03 à l'heure.
C'est une fabrication qui peut devenir bonne, mais qu'il faut
absolument régulariser.
CHARBONS ÉLECTRIQUES.
53
Charbon Carré.
M. Carré a fait un grand nombre d'expériences de
lumière électrique sur les charbons de cornue imprégnés
de divers sels et a combiné un nouveau produit pour le
même usage. Quelques détails sur ses travaux sont néces-
saires pour en faire comprendre l'importance et le mérite.
En imprégnant des charbons assez poreux, et par une
ébullition prolongée dans des dissolutions concentrées,
M. Carré constata:
1° Que la potasse et la soude doublent au moins la lon-
gueur de l'arc voltaïque, le rendent muet, se combinent à
la silice et l'éliminent des charbons en la faisant fluer à
6 ou 7 millimètres des pointes, à l'état de globules vitreux,
limpides et souvent incolores; qu'elles augmentent la lu-
miere dans le rapport de 1,25 à 1 ;
2° Que la chaux, la magnésie et la strontiane augmen-
tent la lumière dans la proportion de 1,40 à 1, en la colo-
rant diversement;
3° Que le fer et l'antimoine portent l'augmentation à
1,60 ou 1,70;
4° Que l'acide borique augmente la durée des charbons
en les enveloppant d'un enduit vitreux qui les isole de
l'oxygène, mais sans augmenter la lumière;
5° Qu'enfin l'imprégnation des charbons purs et régu-
lièrement poreux avec des dissolutions de divers corps est
un moyen commode et économique de produire leurs spec-
tres, mais qu'il est préférable de mélanger les corps simples
aux charbons composés.
Pour la fabrication des crayons factices, M. Carré pré-
conise une composition de coke en poudre, de noir de fumée
calciné et d'un sirop spécial formé de 30 parties de sucre
de canne et de 12 parties de gomme.
54
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ.
La formule suivante est indiquée au brevet du 15 jan-.
rier 1876:
Coke très-pur en poudre fine presque impalpable. 15 parties.
Noir de fumée calciné.
Şirop spécial
21
7 à 8
5
Le tout est fortement trituré et additionné de 1 à 3 par-
ties d'eau pour compenser les pertes par évaporation et
selon le degré de dureté à donner à la pâte.
Le coke doit être fait avec les meilleurs charbons pul-
vérisés et purifiés par lavages. (Les poudres charbonneuses
peuvent être aussi purifiées par des lavages avec décanta-
tion, macération à chaud dans des bains acides.) Le coke
des crasses de cornues à gaz est généralement assez pur.
La pâte est alors comprimée et passée par une filière,
puis les charbons sont étagés dans des creusets et soumis
pendant un temps déterminé à une haute température.
La cuisson comprend une série d'opérations..
Pour la première, les charbons sont placés horizontale-
ment dans le creuset en fonte sur une couche de poussière
de coke, chaque lit est séparé par une feuille de papier
pour éviter toute adhérence. Entre la dernière couche et
le couvercle, on met 1 centimètre de sable de coke et 1 cen-
timètre de sable siliceux sur le joint du couvercle.
Après la première opération, qui doit durer de quatre à
cinq heures au moins et atteindre le rouge-cerise, les char-
bons doivent rester deux ou trois heures dans un sirop très-
concentré et bouillant de sucre de canne ou de caramel,
avec deux ou trois intervalles de refroidissement notable,
afin que la pression atmosphérique le fasse pénétrer dans
tous les pores. On laisse ensuite les charbons égoutter en
ouvrant un robinet placé au bas du vase, puis on les agite
quelques instants dans l'eau bouillante pour dissoudre le
sucre resté à la surface.
CHARBONS ÉLECTRIQUES.
55
Après dessiccation, on soumet les charbons à une seconde
cuisson à l'étage qui suit; on peut alors les mettre debout
dans le creuset en remplissant leurs interstices avec du
sable.
On les' traite de même en les descendant d'un étage à
chaque cuisson jusqu'à ce qu'ils aient acquis la densité et
la solidité requises et en se servant d'un four ayant autant
d'étages qu'on désire de cuissons.
Les charbons sont séchés lentement. On termine leur
dessiccation dans une étuve dont la température atteint
graduellement 80 degrés en douze ou quinze heures. Pour
les empêcher de se déformer, en séchant, les baguettes sont
placées dans des tôles ayant la forme de V.
Les charbons Carré sont plus tenaces et plus rigides que
ceux de cornue. Ils sont surtout remarquablement droits
et réguliers. Des baguettes de 0,01 de diamètre peuvent
être employées à 0,50 de longueur, sans crainte de rup-
ture. Leur forme cylindrique, jointe à leur homogénéité,
fait que leurs cônes se maintiennent aussi parfaitement
taillés que s'ils étaient usés au tour. Ils sont aussi plus con-
ducteurs que les charbons de cornue, Les seuls inconvé-
nients que nous ayons remarqués dans l'emploi consistent
en une désagrégation assez rapide, la production de petites
flammèches et l'irrégularité dans l'éclat lumineux.
Crayons Gaudoin.
M. Gaudoin a également fait de nombreuses expé-
riences sur les charbons contenant des substances étran-
gères.
Les corps suivants ont été introduits dans les crayons:
1º phosphate de chaux des os; 2° chlorure de calcium;
3º borate de chaux; 4° silicate de chaux; 5° silice précipitée
pure; 6º magnésie; 7° borate de magnésie; 8° phosphate
de magnésie; 9° alumine; 10° silicate d'alumine.
56
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ.
Les proportions étaient calculées de manière à obtenir
3 pour 100 d'oxyde après la cuisson des crayons. Ceux-ci
étaient soumis à l'action d'un courant électrique toujours
de même sens, fourni par une machine Gramme assez puis-
sante pour entretenir un arc voltaïque de 10 à 15 milli-
mètres de longueur.
Le crayon négatif étant placé en bas, M. Gaudoin a
observé les résultats suivants :
1° La décomposition complète du phosphate de chaux;
sous la triple influence de l'action électrolytique, de l'action
calorifique, et de l'action réductrice du carbone. Le calcium
réduit se rend sur le charbon négatif et brûle au contact de
l'air avec une flamme rougeâtre. La chaux et l'acide phos-
phorique se répandent dans l'air, en produisant une fumée
assez abondante. La lumière, mesurée au photomètre, est
double de celle qui est produite par des crayons de même
section taillés dans les résidus des cornues à gaz.
2º Le chlorure de calcium, le borate et le silicate de chaux
sont également décomposés, mais les acides borique et sili-
cique paraissent échapper par la volatilisation à l'action de
l'électricité. Ces corps donnent moins de lumière que le
phosphate de chaux.
3º La silice introduite dans les crayons les moins con-
ducteurs diminue la lumière, fond et se volatilise sans être.
décomposée.
4° La magnésie, le borate et le phosphate de magnésie
sont décomposés; le magné.ium en vapeur se rend sur le
charbon négatif et brûle au contact de l'air avec une flamme
blanche. La magnésie, les acides borique et phosphorique
se répandent dans l'air à l'état de fumée. L'augmentation
de lumière est moins considérable qu'avec les sels de chaux.
5° L'alumine et le silicate d'alumine ne sont décomposés
qu'avec un courant très-fort et un are voltaïque très-consi-
dérable; mais, dans ces circonstances, la décomposition de
CHARBONS ÉLECTRIQUES,
57
l'alumine est bien manifeste, et l'on voit l'aluminium en
vapeur sortir du négatif comme un jet de gaz et brûler avec
une flamme bleuâtre peu éclairante.
La flamme et la fumée qui accompagnent constamment
ces lumières électro-chimiques lui ayant paru un grand
obstacle à leur utilisation pour l'éclairage, M. Gaudoin n'a
pas poussé plus loin ces expériences. Il a préféré pour-
suivre ses études sur les agglomérés en carbone.
Les produits fabriqués par M. Gaudoin¹ étant supérieurs
à tous les autres, nous allons nous étendre un peu sur leur
mode de fabrication.
Le brevet est daté du 12 juillet 1876.
Ainsi que nous l'avons dit plus haut, les crayons destinés
à la production de l'arc voltaïque doivent être en carbone
chimiquement pur. Or, la poussière de charbon de cornue,
quoique ne contenant qu'une faible proportion de matières
étrangères, n'est pas suffisamment bonne pour cet usage,
et son emploi présente des inconvénients. Les lavages aux
acides ou aux alcalis qu'on peut faire subir aux matières
charbonneuses, dans le but d'enlever les impuretés qu'elles
contiennent, sont coûteux et insuffisants. Le noir de fumée
est assez pur, mais son prix est élevé et son maniement dif-
ficile. M. Gaudoin a dû chercher ailleurs une meilleure source
de carbone, et il a trouvé sa solution en décomposant, par
la chaleur en vases clos, les brais secs, gras cu liquides, les
goudrons, résines, bitumes, essences et huiles naturelles ou
artificielles, matières organiques susceptibles de laisser du
carbone suffisamment pur, après leur décomposition par la
chaleur.
Les appareils employés pour effectuer cette décomposi-
1. M. Octave Gaudoin est l'inventeur du procédé de galvanisation di-
recte de la fonte et du fer, appliqué en grand au Val d'Osne, lequel donne
des résultats bien supérieurs à tous les autres systèmes de cuivrage en usage
aujourd'hui.
58
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ.
tion sont des cornues ou creusets fermés en plombagine.
Ces creusets sont disposés dans un fourneau capable de les
chauffer au rouge clair. La partie inférieure des creusets
est munie de deux tubes servant, l'un au dégagement des
gaz et matières volatiles, l'autre à l'introduction de la ma-
tière première.
On peut conduire les produits volatils de la décomposition
sous la grille du foyer et les brûler pour chauffer les creu-
sets, mais il est plus avantageux de les diriger dans une
chambre de condensation, puis dans un serpentin en cuivre,
et de recueillir, après condensation, les goudrons, huiles,
essences et carbures d'hydrogène qui prennent naissance.
dans cette opération.
M. Gaudoin utilise ces différents sous-produits dans la fa-
brication même de ses charbons; il a grand soin d'éviter,
pour les serpentins et les vases de conservation, l'emploi du
fer, de la fonte, du zinc et de toutes substances susceptibles
d'être attaquées par ces goudrons, car toute leur valeur ré-
side dans leur pureté.
Quelle que soit la matière première employée à la fabri-
cation de ce charbon, la décomposition par la chaleur peut
être menée lentement ou brusquement, selon la nature des
produits secondaires qu'on se propose d'obtenir. Pour opé-
rer lentement, il suffit d'emplir la cornue aux deux tiers et
de chauffer graduellement jusqu'au rouge clair, en évitant,
autant que possible, le boursouflement de la matière. Pour
opérer brusquement, on chauffe d'abord la cornue vide au
bon rouge, et on fait arriver la matière première au fond
par petite portion, soit en filet, si elle est liquide, soit en
petits fragments, si elle est solide.
La distillation lente donne plus de goudron et d'huiles
lourdes et peu de gaz. La décomposition brusque donne
plus d'essences légères et de gaz.
Lorsque la matière première a été convenablement choi-
CHARBONS ELECTRIQUES.
59
sie, il reste dans la cornue du charbon plus ou moins com-
pacte. On le pulvérise aussi finement que possible et on
l'agglomère soit seul, soit mêlé à une certaine quantité de
noir de fumée, au moyen des carbures d'hydrogène
obtenus comme produits secondaires.
Ainsi préparés ces carbures sont complétement exempts
de fer, et sont bien préférables à ceux qu'on trouve dans le'
commerce, non-seulement par l'agglomération du carbone,
mais encore par l'imprégnation ou l'imbibition des objets
fabriqués. (Cette dernière opération, tout en bouchant les
pores, y introduit de l'oxyde de fer quand elle est faite avec
les produits du commerce.)
Les objets faits en carbone agglomere sont, pour une
variété de carbone d'autant plus combustibles qu'ils sont plus
poreux, et d'autant plus poreux qu'ils ont été moulés à une
moindre pression. L'inventeur se sert, pour sa fabrication,
de moules en acier capables de résister aux plus hautes
pressions d'une forte presse hydraulique.
Quoique la filière, ou appareil à mouler, usitée depuis
longtemps dans la fabrication des crayons ordinaires de
plombagine, puisse servir sans aucune modification à la fa-
brication des crayons pour lumière électrique, 'M. Gaudoin
a apporté à cet appareil certains perfectionnements impor-
tants. Ainsi, au lieu de faire sortir les crayons de haut en
bas, suivant la verticale, il place l'orifice ou les orifices du
moule sur le côté et de manière à ce que les crayons sor-
tent en formant avec l'horizon un angle descendant de 20 à
70 degrés. Lès crayons sont guidés sur toute leur longueur
par des tubes ou par des rigoles.
Cette disposition permet de vider toute la matière conte-
nue dans le moule sans interrompre le travail, et comme les
crayons sont constamment soutenus, ils ne cassent plus sous
leur propre poids, ce qui arrive souvent quand ils sortent
de haut en bas.
DÉSIGNATION
des
CRAYONS.
DIMENSIONS.
60
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ.
Nous avons fait, à diverses époques, de nombreux essais
avec toutes sortes de crayons, et ce sont ceux de la fabri-
cation de M. Gaudoin qui nous ont donné les meilleurs résul-
tats. Il a fallu beaucoup de temps et des dépenses d'argent
considérables pour faire entrer cette fabrication du domaine.
scientifique dans celui de la pratique, mais enfin le succès
est venu couronner les efforts de l'inventeur.
TABLEAU DES EXPÉRIENCES FAITÉS LE 6 NOVEMBRE 1876.
SUR DIVERS CRAYONS ÉLECTRIQUES.
VITESSE DE LA MACHINE.
USURE du négatif.
USURE DU POSITIF.
USURE TOTALE.
USURE MOYENNE
DES DEUX EXPÉRIENCES.
RÉGULARITÉ:
Cornue....
9am2
800 19 36 55
63
mm.mm. mm. mm.
Irrégulière. Scintillement, éclipse
de courte durée, un
9
920 23 48 71
Assez régu-
lière.
peu de désagréga-
tion:
Archereau.
10mm
de diamètre.
800 20 60 80
85
10mm 920 30 60 90
de diamètre.
lière.
Carré……………
Gaudoin,..
Assez régu- Un peu de désagré-
lière.
Assez régu-
gation, un peu de
flammèches.
Cendres d'oxyde de
fer en assez grande
quantité,
Lumière blanche.
Taille bonne.
Irrégulière. Un peu de désagré-
10mm,'t
de diamètre.,
10mm 4 920 26 80 106
,
800 18 60 78
92
Assez régu-
lière.
de diamètre.
11mm,3
de diamètre.
800 20 38 58
73
11mm,3 920 38 50 88
de diamètre.
gation, un peu de
flammèches; plus
de cendres que les
précédents; rougis-
sant sur une plus
grande longueur.
Très-régu- Pas de désagrégation,
lière.
Très-régu-
lière.
ni de flammèches:
moins de cendres
que les crayons
Carré et Archereau..
OBSERVATIONS.
CHARBONS ELECTRIQUES.
61
La lumière produite avec les charbons de cornue était
égale à 103 becs, et celle produite par les charbons artificiels
variait entre 120 et 180 becs pour les crayons Archereau
et Carré, et entre 200 à 210 pour les crayons Gaudoin. La
moyenne de 150 becs peut être appliquée, sans erreur ap-
préciable, aux crayons Archereau et Carré, et celle de
205 aux crayons Gaudoin.
Ramenée à une section uniforme de 0,0001, l'usure
des charbons était respectivement:
Pour les charbons de cornue.
Pour les agglomérés Archereau. .
Gaudoin.
Carré.
•
51 millimètres,
66
73
77
Par rapport à la lumière produite, cette usure était :
Pour les charbons Gaudoin. .
35 millimètres pour 100 becs.
Archereau.
44
Carré.
51
de cornue.
49
Ces expériences ont été faites avec une machine Gramme
construite par M. Bréguet et une lampe Carré du même
constructeur. Les charbons avaient été pris au hasard dans
un lot de plusieurs mètres pour chaque catégorie.
Sur la demande d'un des inventeurs, nous avons fait dé
nouvelles expériences avec le concours de MM. Gramme et
Lemonnier, en opérant avec une machine Gramme plus
puissante et une lampe Serrin.
Le tableau suivant contient les moyennes de trois séries
d'expériences exécutées avec la plus grande précision. La
lampe électrique était placée bien verticalement au même
niveau que la lampe à huile et que le photomètre. Toutes
les précautions étant prises pour qu'il n'y ait aucune erreur
sensible dans les mesures d'intensité lumineuse.
RÉSULTATS DES EXPÉRIENCES FAITES LE & AVRIL 1877, SUR DIVERS CHARBONS.
DÉSIGNATION
DLS CHАКБОЛУ
FORME
et
DIMENSIONS.
RÉGULA-
OBSERVATIONS.
RITÉ.
Charbon de cornue, bonne
qualité.
Carré.
9mm
81
60
120
21/2
820
de côté.
Charbon de M. Archereau.
Nouvel échantillou.
Rond.
10mm
78
68
173.
3
820
Nulle.
de diamètre.
Charbon de M. Carré. Nouvel
échantillon.
Rond.
9mm
64 69
178
3
820
de diamètre.
Charbon de M. Gaudoin.
Type nº 1.
Rond'.
11mm,2
98
80
203
3
820
Bonne.
de diamètre.
Charbon de M. Gaudoin.
(Aggloméré de charbon de
bois.)
Rond.
11mm,5
78
78
210
820
de diamètre.
Passable. Éclats nombreux. Projection d'un petit
morceau. Scintillement. Charbons se
taillant très-irrégulièrement.
Désagrégation, flammèches, lumière très-
variable d'intensité par période. Taille
en petites facettes.
Médiocre. Petites flammèches. Lumière tournante.
Très-variable d'intensité.
Bonne taille des charbons.
Pas de flammèches, ni éclat, Lumière un
peu rougeâtre, mais bien constante.
Assez bonne Lumière très-blanche. Moins fixe qu'avec
les charbons Gaudoin n° 1. Pas de flam-
mèches. Petites variations.
GHARBONS ÉLECTRIQUES.
63
L'usure des charbons, ramenés à une section uniforme
de 0.0001, était respectivement, dans ces nouvelles expé-
riences :
Pour les charbons Carré.
de cornue.
Archereau.
44 millimètres.
49
53
Gaudoin (charb. de bois). 61
Gaudoin n° 1.
..
78
Par rapport à la lumière produite cette usure était :
Pour les charbons Gaudoin (charb. de bois). 32 mill. pour 100 becs.
Archereau.
Carré.
39
40
Gaudoin, nº 1.
40
de cornue.
50
La lumière donnée par les charbons Gaudoin n° 1 était
un peu moins régulière que celle observée le 6 novem-
bre 1876. Celle donnée par les charbons Carré variait en
moins d'une minute de 100 à 250 becs; elle tournait positi-
vement autour des pointes, comme cela a lieu avec des
courants alternatifs. Les crayons Archereau nous ont paru
moins bons qu'aux premiers essais; ils s'usaient lentement,
mais ils produisaient des éclats lumineux si variables, qu'il
était difficile de prendre des mesures photométriques. Seuls
les charbons de cornue avaient conservé leur durée, leur
intensité lumineuse, et, malheureusement, leur irrégula-
rité.
1
Nous signalerons, pour terminer ce chapitre, les perfec-
tionnements que M. Gaudoin vient d'apporter à son pro-
cédé et qu'il a fait breveter le 7 avril 1877.
Au lieu de carboniser du bois, de le réduire en poudre et
de l'agglomérer ensuite, l'inventeur prend du bois see,
convenablement choisi, auquel il donne la forme du crayon
définitif, puis il le convertit en charbon dur et l'imbibe fina-
64
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITE.
lement comme dans la fabrication que nous avons décrite.
La distillation du bois se fait lentement de manière à chasser
les corps volatils, et le séchage final est obtenu dans une
atmosphère réductrice d'une température très-élevée. Un
lavage préalable dans des acides et des alcalis enlève au
bois les impuretés qu'il possède.
M. Gaudoin indique également le moyen de boucher les
pores du bois en le faisant chauffer au rouge et en le sou-
mettant à l'action du chlorure de carbone et de divers
carbures d'hydrogène. Il espère ainsi produire des char-
bons électriques s'usant peu et donnant une lumière abso-
lument fixe.
Deft Exhibit
M. Spe
nes
book
} This Chapter.
CHAPITRE XI.
ÉCLAIRAGE PAR INCANDESCENCE.
Emploi des tubes de Geissler.
Rapport présenté à l'Académie des sciences par
M. Coste, au nom de M. Gervais. Invention de M. King. — Lampe Łodyguine.
Rapport de M. Wild à l'Académie de Saint-Pétersbourg. Lampe Koun.
Lampe Bouliguine. Expériences faites par l'auteur sur l'éclairage par incan-
descence. Lampe Chérémcteff et Fontaine.
Ainsi que nous l'avons dit, l'are voltaïque convient émi-
nemment pour l'éclairage des grands espaces à découvert
ou des vastes salles sans cloisonnements intérieurs, mais
lorsqu'il s'agit d'éclairer de petits emplacements ou de
grands locaux très-subdivisés, il est beaucoup plus avanta-
geux d'employer le gaz, le pétrole et même l'huile ordi-
naire.
Il a été fait de nombreux travaux sur la création de petits
foyers électriques, mais jusqu'à ce jour aucun des moyens
préconisés n'a donné des résultats pratiques. On a notam-
ment cherché à éclairer avec des tubes Geissler et avec des
petits charbons incandescents, et, si ces deux moyens n'ont
pas réussi, ils offrent néanmoins assez d'intérêt pour que
nous leur consacrions quelques pages.
Chacun sait que Geissler, artiste à Bonn, a construit le
premier des tubes à ampoules de formes variées, fermés
hermétiquement et ne contenant que des traces de vapeurs
diverses. Ces tubes, mis en communication avec un courant
au moyen de fils de platine scellés dans le verre et d'une
bobine Ruhmkorff, produisent une lumière stratifiée, c'est-
à-dire composée de couches minces transversales séparées
par des couches sombres continuellement agitées. En
206
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ELECTRICITÉ.
même temps les parois des tubes présentent un éclat par-
ticulier qu'on désigne sous le nom de fluorescence.
Le 27 mars 1865, M. Coste a présenté à l'Académie des
sciences, au nom de M. Gervais, le rapport suivant :
"(
L'appareil a été construit par M. Ruhmkorff, qui s'est
acquitté de ce soin avec son habileté et sa complaisance
habituelles. C'est une caisse ou marmite en bronze, montée
sur quatre pieds, et son couvercle est hermétiquement
appliqué au moyen de vis de pression serrant, entre les
deux surfaces ainsi mises au contact, une rondelle annu-
laire en caoutchouc. Au couvercle est attaché un anneau
servant à la suspension de l'appareil optique. La caisse
étanche renferme 2 éléments au bichromate de potasse,
fermés à leur tour par des plaques que maintiennent des
lames de cuivre solidement vissées. Les pôles du courant
fourni par les 2 éléments peuvent être, à volonté, mis
en communication avec la bobine, et le courant induit,
fourni par celle-ci, est porté au dehors à travers la paroi
inférieure du récipient, et transmis au tube de Geissler par
des fils enveloppés de caoutchouc. Ce tube, d'une forme
appropriée et rempli d'acide carbonique, est enfermé dans
un cylindre en verre, à parois épaisses, muni d'armatures
en cuivre et dans lequel l'eau ne peut pénétrer. C'est la
partie éclairante de l'appareil. On obtient avec cet instru-
ment une lumière douce, mais très-sensible et en tout sem-
blable à celle que le génie militaire et les mineurs em-
ploient maintenant. Elle ressemble sous certains rapports à
celle que donnent les animaux phosphorescents, quoique
plus intense. Elle peut être aperçue d'assez loin, même
lorsque l'appareil fonctionne à plusieurs mètres sous l'eau.
Il n'est pas douteux qu'elle ne doive, attirer le poisson,
comme le fait aussi la phosphorescence de certaines espè-
ces, et l'on pourrait également s'en servir pour éclairer des
espaces restreints, situés au-dessous de la surface de l'eau,
ÉCLAIRAGE PAR INCANDESCENCE.
207
ou pour instituer des signaux flottants. M. le capitaine de
vaisseau Devoulx; commandant les côtes sud de la France, a
vu fonctionner cet appareil dans le port de Cette, au mois
de septembre dernier. Il est resté pendant neuf heures im-
mergé, et il a éclairé pendant six heures dans ces condi-
tions, bien que je l'eusse apporté tout chargé de Mont-
pellier. La phosphorescence peut être de plus longue durée.
Un second essai, fait à Port-Vendres, à bord du Favori (capi-
taine Trotabas), m'a également réussi. »
La lumière obtenue par les tubes Geissler est tellement
faible, qu'on n'a jamais pu l'utiliser pratiquement et que de
nombreux essais faits dans les mines et les poudreries sont
restés infructueux.
L'éclairage par incandescence a été étudié depuis fort
longtemps; mais son application usuelle a rencontré de si
grandes difficultés, qu'aujourd'hui on peut encore le consi-
dérer comme du domaine purement scientifique, bien qu'il
existe déjà un certain nombre d'appareils d'un assez bon
fonctionnement.
Le premier document que nous ayons trouvé sur la
question est une patente anglaise délivrée le 4 novembre
1845.
M. King, l'inventeur, entre dans des détails précis sur
son idée et présente des considérations qui tendraient à
prouver que des machines magnéto-électriques, assez puis-
santes pour produire de la lumière, existaient déjà en 1845.
Voici la traduction des passages principaux de cette
patente :
1
L'invention a pour base l'emploi de conducteurs métal-
liques ou de charbons continus, chauffés à blanc, par le pas-
sage d'un courant électrique. Le meilleur métal pour cet
usage est le platine, le meilleur charbon est celui de cornue.
Quand on emploie le charbon, il est utile, à cause de son
affinité pour l'oxygène à haute température, de le mettre à
208
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ.
l'abri de l'air et de l'humidité, comme il est indiqué
figure 45. Le conducteur C repose sur un bain de mercure;
la tige B est en porcelaine, elle sert à soutenir le conduc-
teur C, le conducteur D est fixé sur la cloche par un joint
bien hermétique. La baguette en charbon de cornue A
repose, en haut et en bas, sur des blocs conducteurs et
D
Fro. 45. Lampe King.
devient incandescente par le passage d'un courant élec-
trique. Le vide est préalablement fait dans la cloche, et le
mieux est d'employer un véritable baromètre en mettant
un des pôles de la pile en communication avec la colonne
de mercure et l'autre avec le conducteur D.
Pour obtenir une lumière intermittente, on rompt pério-
diquement le circuit par un mouvement d'horlogerie.
ÉCLAIRAGE PAR INCANDESCENCE.
209
L'appareil, convenablement fermé, peut être appliqué à
l'éclairage sous-marin ainsi qu'à l'illumination des pou-
dreries, des mines, partout où l'on redoute les dangers
d'explosion ou l'inflammation rapide de corps très-combus-
tibles.
Lorsque le courant est d'une intensité suffisante, deux ou
un plus grand nombre de lumières peuvent être placées dans
le même circuit, en ayant soin de régler la puissance des
machines magnéto-électriques ou des éléments de la pile,
produisant le courant.
En 1846, Greener et Staite se firent breveter pour une
lampe analogue à celle de King, en indiquant qu'il serait
bon de débarrasser, avant son emploi, le charbon de ses
impuretés en le traitant par l'acide nitro-muriatique.
En 1849, Pétrie termine la description d'un brevet de
lampe par l'indication suivante : « Une lumière peut être
produite en faisant passer un courant électrique à travers
un conducteur court et mince qui s'échauffe et devient
lumineux; mais la plus grande partie des substances fon-
dent et brûlent rapidement ; cependant j'obtiens une bonne
lumière en me servant de l'iridium ou de quelques-uns de
ses alliages. L'iridium peut être fondu jusqu'à produire un
lingot lorsqu'il est soumis à la chaleur de l'arc voltaïque;
on le décarbonise ensuite et on le rend plus malléable.
Puis on le coupe par petits morceaux de 0,001 de diamètre
et de 0,010 à 0,020 de longueur que l'on fixe entre deux
supports métalliques isolés, lesquels sont en connexion avec
les deux fils d'une batterie galvanique convenable. On
obtient alors une belle lumière. »
Plusieurs autres brevets ont été pris en Amérique, en
France et en Angleterre dans le même ordre d'idées; mais
aucun d'eux ne nous paraît plus complet, plus explicite et
plus réalisable que celui de King; il est donc inutile de
continuer notre nomenclature.
210
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ. ·
L'éclairage par incandescence et le principe de sa pro-
duction étaient depuis longtemps tombés dans l'oubli, lors-
qu'en 1873, un physicien russe, M. Lodyguine, ressuscita
l'un et l'autre et créa une petite lampe, qui fut depuis
perfectionnée par MM. Konn et Bouliguine.
En 1874, l'Académie des sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg
décerna un grand prix à M. Lodyguine. Voici quelques
extraits du rapport présenté à cette occasion par M. Wild,
directeur de l'Observatoire impérial russe; ce rapport,
comme on le verra, renferme plusieurs erreurs capitales:
« On savait aussi depuis longtemps que l'on peut em-
ployer la faculté réchauffante du courant électrique, même
sans l'aide d'un gaz comme dans l'arc galvanique lumi-
neux, pour chauffer au blanc un corps solide. Se basant sur
ce principe, on a souvent chauffé ainsi des fils de platine
minces, donc mauvais conducteurs, en les faisant traverser
par un fort courant électrique. La lumière obtenue par ce
prócédé est beaucoup plus faible et plus constante que la
lumière électrique au charbon; elle a aussi plus de force
d'extension, et peut être augmentée ou diminuée à volonté;
néanmoins, elle n'a jamais trouvé un emploi pratique,
parce qu'elle est trop faible en comparaison de son prix de
revient, et parce qu'en voulant lui donner plus d'intensité
on aboutit facilement à faire fondre le fil de platine, qui,
en général, n'est pas tout à fait homogène.
« C'est M. Lodyguine qui, le premier, a eu l'idée de rem-
placer, dans ces expériences de combustion, le fil de pla-
tine par de minces tiges d'un charbon (coke) analogue au
graphite, c'est-à-dire bon conducteur, et par là il a résolu
le problème de l'éclairage électrique.
« Les avantages de cette substitution du charbon au
platine sautent tellement aux yeux aussi au point de vue
théorique, que l'on est tout étonné comme cela est d'ail-
leurs le cas pour beaucoup d'importantes inventions — de
ÉCLAIRAGE PAR INCANDESCENCE.
211
ce qu'on n'en ait pas eu l'idée plus tôt. Le charbon possède,
à température égale, un pouvoir beaucoup plus grand de
rayonnement que le platine; la capacité calorique du pla-
tine est supérieure (presque du double) à celle du charbon
en question, bon conducteur, de sorte que la même quan-
lité de calorique élève la température d'une petite tige de
ce charbon à un degré presque deux fois plus élevé qu'elle
ne le fait pour un fil de platine du même volume. En outre,
la résistance du charbon en question, comme conducteur
d'électricité, est environ 250 fois plus grande que celle
du platine; il en résulte que la petite tige de, charbon
peut être 15 fois plus épaisse qu'une tige de platine de
la même longueur et que le courant qui la traverse engen-
drera la même quantité de chaleur. Enfin, le charbon
peut être chauffé au blanc jusqu'au degré le plus extrême
sans qu'on ait à en redouter la fusion, comme c'est le cas
pour le platine. C'est à ces importants avantages théo-
riques que l'on doit évidemment le grand succès du mode
d'éclairage électrique de M. Lodyguine
« Le seul inconvénient de l'emploi du charbon au lieu du
platine consiste en ce que, dans la combustion, le charbon
se combine avec l'oxygène de l'air et se consume ainsi peu
à peu. Mais M. Lodyguine a déjà paré à cet inconvénient
en enfermant le charbon chauffé au blanc par le courant
électrique dans un récipient. en verre hermétiquement clos
et de l'intérieur duquel l'oxygène est expulsé par un pro-
cédé des plus simples.
« Il n'appartient d'ailleurs pas à l'Académie des sciences
de donner son jugement ni, d'un côté, sur ces difficultés
techniques et d'autres encore qui se présenteront dans
l'application en grand de l'invention de M. Lodyguine, ni.
d'un autre côté, sur les nombreux avantages pratiques de
ce mode d'éclairage comparativement à tous les autres ; il
suffira à l'Académie d'avoir constaté que, gràce à cette
212
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ.
invention, se trouve résolu, de la manière la plus simple
possible, le grand problème de diviser la lumière électrique
et de la rendre constante', pour reconnaître M. Lodyguine,
en considération des nombreuses applications utiles de son
invention, digne d'obtenir le prix Lomonossow..»
Dans sa lampe, M. Lodyguine employait des crayons
d'une seule pièce en diminuant leur section à l'endroit du
foyer lumineux, et il plaçait deux charbons dans un même
appareil avec un petit commutateur extérieur, pour faire
passer le courant dans le deuxième charbon quand le pre-
mier était usé. Rien de moins pratique et de moins étudié
que les appareils de cet inventeur.
M. Kosloff, de Saint-Pétersbourg, qui vint en France
dans l'espoir d'exploiter le brevet Lodyguine, perfectionna
un peu sa lampe, sans cependant aboutir à quelque chose
de passable.
En 1875, M. Konn, également de Saint-Pétersbourg, fit
breveter une lampe plus pratique, que nous représentons
figure 46, et qui a été construite pour la première fois, en
France, par M. Duboscq.
Cette lampe se compose d'un socle A en cuivre sur
lequel sont fixées deux bornes N pour attacher les conduc-
teurs, deux tiges C, D en cuivre et une petite soupape K, ne
s'ouvrant que de dedans en dehors. Un globe B, évasé
à sa partie supérieure, est retenu sur le socle au moyen
d'un écrou en bronze L pressant sur une bague en caout-
chouc, exactement comme cela a lieu dans les niveaux
d'eau de chaudières à vapeur.
Une des tiges verticales D est isolée électriquement du
bàti et communique avec une borne également isolée.
L'autre tige C est formée de deux parties: 1° d'un tube fixé
4. On verra dans la suite combien le problème a été peu résolu par
M. Lodyguine.
*
M
E
B
G
D
FIG. 46. Lampe Konn.
K
214
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ.
directement sur le socle sans isolation, et 2° d'une ba-
guette. de cuivre, fendue dans une partie de sa longueur.
Cette fente lui donne de l'élasticité et lui permet de cou-
lisser dans le tube tout en restant fixe, si l'on n'exerce pas
sur elle un certain effort.
Les charbons de cornue E, au nombre de 5, sont placés
entre les deux petits plateaux qui couronnent les tiges.
Chaque charbon est introduit dans deux petits blocs,
également en charbon, lesquels reçoivent des baguettes de
cuivre à leurs extrémités. Les baguettes sont égales entre
elles à la partie inférieure et de longueurs inégales à la
partie supérieure. Une charnière I est articulée sur la tige C
et repose sur la baguette d'un seul charbon à la fois.
Si l'on place cette lampe dans un circuit en attachant les
deux conducteurs d'une pile aux bornes NN' (la borne N'
est cachée par la borne N; mais elle est identique et n'est
pas isolée du socle), la tige de carbone E est traversée par
le courant qui passe par l'intermédiaire de la charnière I,
de la baguette de cuivre F, des deux blocs de charbon 0, 0,
de la baguette de cuivre G et du plateau couronnant la
tige D.
Le vide a été préalablement effectué en plaçant sur l'aju-
tage de K le conduit d'une pompe à air ou d'une machine
pneumatique quelconque.
La tige E rougit, blanchit et devient lumineuse. Sa lu-
mière est d'abord blanche, fixe, constante; puis petit à petit
la section diminue, la tige se rompt et la lumière disparaît.
La charnière I tombe alors sur une autre tige, et, presque
instantanément, l'éclairage est rétabli.
Quand tous les charbons sont usés, la charnière s'arrête
sur une tige en cuivre H et le courant n'est pas rompu. De
cette manière, s'il y a plusieurs lampes alimentées par un
même générateur d'électricité, l'extinction de l'une n'en-
traîne pas celle des autres.
ÉCLAIRAGE PAR INCANDESCENCE.
215
Pour éviter la projection des petits charbons rompus et
de leurs blocs contre le verre, M. Konn a placé à la partie
inférieure de sa lampe un tube mince en cuivre M, qui
reçoit les débris jusqu'à ce qu'on garnisse de nouveau les
plateaux.
Trois de ces lampes ont été installées depuis deux ans
chez M. Florent, négociant à Saint-Pétersbourg, et mises
en action avec une machine de l'Alliance. Chaque charbon
dure environ deux heureş, à l'exception du premier, qui se
consume presque immédiatement; la lumière est très-
agréable, mais son prix de revient dépasse notablement
celui du gaz. M. Florent, que nous avons eu occasion de
voir plusieurs fois, nous a dit que le grand avantage qu'il
avait trouvé dans l'emploi de l'éclairage électrique était
dans sa propreté. Ses magasins renferment beaucoup de
linge blanc, que le gaz altérait rapidement et sur lequel
l'électricité n'exerce aucune fàcheuse influence. Le blan-
chissage économisé compense largement les frais supplé-
mentaires nécessités par une installation importante, eu
égard au peu de lumière obtenue.
Aucune expérience photométrique n'a été faite chez
M. Florent; mais, en comparant avec le gaz, on évalue
que chaque lampe Konn donne environ 20 becs Carcel.
La cause principale de la dépense exagérée qu'entraîne
l'emploi de la lumière par incandescence, réside dans la
difficulté de préparer les petits charbons, qui reviennent, en
place, à plus de 5 francs le mètre.
Un officier russe, M. Bouliguine, a combiné une lampe
(fig. 47) qui atteint à peu près le même but que celle de
M. Konn avec un seul charbon. Elle se compose, comme
la précédente, d'un socle en cuivre, de deux tiges verticales,
de deux barres de prise de courants et d'une soupape
d'évacuation.
Une des tiges est percée d'un petit trou du haut en bas et
216
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ.
possède, sur presque toute sa longueur, une fente per-
mettant le passage de deux petites oreilles latérales.
Le charbon est introduit dans cette tige comme la mine
d'un porte-crayon ordinaire, et il est sollicité à monter par
des contre-poids reliés au moyen de deux câbles microsco-
piques, aux oreilles du support en croix sur lequel repose
le charbon.
La partie du charbon qui doit entrer en incandescence
est retenue entre les lèvres de deux blocs coniques en
charbon de cornue.
Une vis, placée sous le socle, permet d'augmenter ou de
diminuer la longueur de la tige qui porte le bloc conique
supérieur, et, par suite, de donner à la partie lumineuse
une plus ou moins grande longueur.
La fermeture du globe est obtenue par la pression laté-
rale de plusieurs rondelles en caoutchouc.
Lorsque la lampe est placée dans un circuit, la baguette
de charbon rougit et s'illumine jusqu'à ce qu'elle vienne à
se rompre. A ce moment un petit mécanisme¹ commandé
par un électro-aimant ouvre les lèvres des porte-charbons,
le contre-poids du haut chasse les fragments qui pourraient
rester dans l'entaille, les contre-poids du bas relèvent la tige
en charbon, laquelle pénètre dans le bloc supérieur et rétablit
le courant. Le mécanisme commandé par l'électro-aimant
agit de nouveau, mais en sens inverse de sa première
manœuvre, les porte-crayons se resserrent et la lumière
renaît.
Nous avons, à plusieurs reprises, expérimenté cette
lampe et nous n'avons jamais obtenu de très-bons résultats.
1. Le mécanisme en question, que l'exiguïté de notre dessin ne nous a
pas permis de figurer, se compose en substance d'une armature en fer placée
dans l'intérieur de la lampe et de deux tringles métalliques agissant sur
deux leviers croisés et articulés sur la bague enveloppant les porte-
charbons.
LE. BOURZELIN
F
FIG. 47. Lampe Bouliguine,
218
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ.
Elle renferme trop d'organes en mouvement, et le moindre
obstacle empêche le mécanisme de jouer. Cependant nous
avons observé que lorsque par hasard elle fonctionnait
régulièrement, les contacts étant meilleurs et moins nom-
breux que ceux de la lampe Konn, il fallait moins d'inten-
sité de courant pour la production d'un éclat lumineux
déterminé. Avec une machine Gramme de 100 becs, nous
avons obtenu avec une seule lampe jusqu'à 80 becs, tandis
qu'avec une lampe Konn nous ne pouvions jamais dépasser
60 becs.
Pour bien nous rendre compte de la valeur réelle du sys-
tème d'éclairage par incandescence, nous avons fait faire,
sous nos yeux, une série d'expériences avec plusieurs
lampes Konn et une pile Bunsen de 48 éléments de 0,20 de
hauteur.
La première opération a consisté dans la mesure des ré-
sistances du charbon de cornue à section carrée. Les
échantillons essayés avaient 0,002 de côté. Voici les résul-
tats de huit expériences:
NUMÉROS
LONGUEUR
DES EXPÉRIENCES.
DES ÉCHANTILLONS.
RÉSISTANCE EN MÈTRES
de fil télégraphique.
1
ས
2 3 4 20
0m, 100
0,100
0,100
16m
14
13
0,100
14,50
5
0,100
19
6
0,050
7
7
0,050
9
8
0,050
7
TOTAUX....
0,650
101m,50
D'où il résulte que la résistance linéaire moyenne du
charbon de cornue de 0,002 est d'environ 172, celle d'un
fil télégraphique de 0,004 étant prise pour unité.
1
ÉCLAIRAGE PAR INCANDESCENCE.
219
On a ensuite arrondi les charbons jusqu'à réduire leur
diamètre à 0,0016 et réglé leur longueur de manière à
obtenir 0,018 de partie incandescente. Le vidẹ était
obtenu à environ 0",70 de mercure.
Les résultats ci-dessous représentent les moyennes de
plus de 20 séries d'expériences.
ÉTAT
DU CIRCUIT.
MODES DE COUPLAGE DE LA PILE.
2 SÉRIES
PARALLELES
de 24 éléments.
Indication
du galvanomètre.
Intensité
lumineuse
de
chaque
lampe.
3 SÉRIES
PARALLÈLES
de 16 éléments.
Indication
du galvanomètre.
Intensité
lumineuse
de
chaque
lampe.
4 SÉRIES
PARALLÈLES
de 12 éléments.
Indication
du galvanomètre.
Intensité
lumineuse
de
chaque
lampe.
1 SEULE SÉRIE
DE 48 ÉLÉMENTS
Indication
du galvanomètrc.
en tension.
Intensité
lumineuse
de
chaque
lampe.
Circuit fer-
mé sur lui-
même.... 47
5 lampes.. 28
>>
70
>>
70
>>
50
>>
Rouge
17
Rouge
10
Rouge
35
1/2 bec.
blanc.
cerise.
ou 11
sombre.
4 lampes. 29 1/2 bec.
22
Rouge
16
Rouge
38 2 becs 1/2.
blanc.
orangé.
3 lampes.. 38
1 à
2 becs.
2 lampes.. 40 3 becs.
28 1/3 de bec.
26 1/4 de bec.
41
3 becs 1/2.
41
à 42
1 lampe.... 43
4 à
49
5 becs.
2 becs 1/2
à 3 becs.
11 à
12 bees.
40 3 à 5 becs.
44
ö becs.
à 45
60
40 becs.
45
6 becs 1/2
à 46
à 7 becs.
Les lampes étaient groupées comme les éléments d'une
pile en tension, elles formaient donc une série unique.
Dans le tableau suivant sont consignés les résultats
obtenus avec des lampes assemblées en batteries, c'est-
à-dire sur des courants distincts dérivés de la pile. A cause
des différences notables reconnues dans les intensités des
lumières de chaque lampe, pendant la même expérience,
•
220
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ÉLECTRICITÉ.
nous donnons la lumière totale au lieu de celle produite par
chaque lampe.
ÉTAT
DU CIRCUIT.
MODES DE COUPLAGE DE LA PILE.
2 SÉRIES
PARALLÈLES
de 24 éléments.
3 SERIES
PARALLÈLES
do 16éléments.
Indication
du galvanomètre.
Totalité de la
luniière émise
l'ensemble
des lampes.
Indication
par
du galvanomètre.
Totalité --
de la lumière
émise par
l'ensemblo
des lampes
4 SÉRIES
PARALLÈLES
de 12 éléments.
Indication
dan galvanomètre.
Totalité
de la lumière
émise par
l'ensemble
des lampos.
8 SÉRÍES
PARALLÈLES
de 6 éléments.
Indication
du galvanomètre.
Totalité de
la lumière
émise par
l'ensemble
des lampes.
Circuit fermé
sur lui-même 58 1/2
5 lampes....57
lampes. 56 1/2
•
3 lampes... 56
2 lampes....55. 5 becs. 60
>>
68
>>
69
70
>>
>>>
64 1/2 1/4 de bec. 63 1/2 2 bees 1/2. 60
>>
>>
63
3/4 de bec. 63
3 bers.
39
>>
1 bec. 61 1/2
2 bees. 62
4 bees.
58
3/4 de bee
6
bees 1/2.39
1 lampe...
52.1/2 9 becs. 571/2
54 bees. 5
་་་
13 bees 1/2.35
63 bees.
Lbee 1/2.
4:6
8 bees.
Plusieurs observations importantes ont été faites pendant
les expériences.
Quand les récipients sont étanches et les contacts soi-
gneusement mis d'aplomb, les charbons ont une durée
satisfaisante. Le premier charbon d'une lampe ne dure
jamais moins d'un quart d'heure, quelquefois il ne se brise)
qu'au bout de 30 à 35 minutes, mais cela est très-rare, sa
durée moyenne est de 21 minutes. Les charbons qui succè
dent, durent en moyenne 2 heures, à moins cependant que
l'intensité lumineuse n'atteigne 40 bees, auquel cas ils ne
durent en moyenne qu'une demi-heure. Dans l'expérience
des 4 séries parallèles de 12 éléments, les 5 lampes étant
assemblées en batteries et une seule allumée, le charbon,
qui donnait 65 becs, n'a duré que 23 minutes en moyenne.
L'examen attentif des charbons incandescents, à travers
un verre fortement coloré, a montré qu'ils ne sont pas
ÉCLAIRAGE PAR INCANDESCENCE.
221
uniformément brillants. Ils présentent des taches obscures,
indices de non-homogénéité et siéges de gerçures qui
désagrégent rapidement le chiarbon.
Le vide n'étant jamais parfait dans les récipients, le
premier charbon est brûlé en grande partie. Il semble
qu'ensuite, le peu d'oxygène contenu dans la lampe étant
transformé en acide carbonique et oxyde de carbone, le
charbon doive se conserver indéfiniment. Mais il se produit
alors une sorte d'évaporation qui continue à ruiner lente-
ment les baguettes incandescentes. Cette évaporation est
d'ailleurs nettement prouvée par un dépôt pulyérulent de
charbon sublimé qu'on trouve sur la surface intérieure des
cloches, sur les diverses pièces intérieures: tiges, contacts,
charnières, etc.
Aucune cloche n'a été cassée par chaleur ou refroidisse-
ment pendant toutes les expériences qui ont duré plusieurs
mois, mais plusieurs ont eu leur col brisé par le serrage
trop énergique du joint.
La partie délicate de la lampe est dans la série des
contacts qui précèdent la baguette incandescente. On n'ob-
tient l'aplomb des charbons, indispensable à leur durée,
qu'avec des précautions minutieuses et longues. Après
rupture, le contact ne se reforme pas toujours automatique-
ment, et une fois sur trois on est obligé de secouer la
lampe pour provoquer l'allumage du charbon suivant.
Les rendements maxima ont constamment été ceux
obtenus avec une seule lampe et avec 4 éléments de quan-
tité; dès qu'on employait deux lampes ou qu'on descendait
à 2 éléments de quantité, les résultats étaient considérable-
ment diminués.
Nous avons fait tout récemment les mêmes expériences
avec des charbons artificiels Gaudoin de même section que
les premiers, et les résultats ont été plus satisfaisants,
Ainsi la lumière totale produite avec 48 éléments en
222
ECLAIRAGE A L'ELECTRICITÉ. ·
4 séries et une seule lampe a atteint 80 becs, et celle
duite avec la même pile et 3 lampes a atteint 30 becs.
pro-
La même pile, couplée en tension et agissant sur une
lampe Serrin, donnait un arc voltaïque de 105 becs; mais la
lumière obtenue par incandescence était beaucoup plus fixe
et plus agréable aux yeux.
De ce qui précède il paraît résulter que le procédé King
et Lodyguine est beaucoup plus favorable aux grands
foyers qu'à la divisibilité de la lumière électrique; cepen-
dant il convient de remarquer que lorsqu'on ne dépasse
pas 10 becs par lampe, les charbons ont une assez longue
durée, tandis qu'ils s'usent très-vite pour une intensité de
60 et 80 becs.
•
Les charbons de 0,0016 de diamètre et 0,018 de lon-
gueur lumineuse étaient jusqu'alors les seuls que nous
ayons essayés; ils se comportaient assez bien avec un fort
courant, mais ne donnaient aucune lumière avec 12 élé-
ments. Il était intéressant de chercher quelle lumière on
peut obtenir avec 12 éléments en diminuant la longueur
des charbons. Ce fut le but d'une nouvelle série d'expé-
riences.
Cinq combinaisons diverses ont été tentées, en faisant
varier tour à tour le couplage de la pile, le diamètre du
charbon et sa longueur.
Les meilleurs résultats ont été obtenus avec une lampe
unique garnie de charbons Gaudoin de 0,0016 de diamètre
et de 0,015 de partie incandescente.
La lumière constatée a varié entre 2 et 8 becs, elle a été
le plus souvent de 5 becs. Chaque charbon a duré 15 mi-
nutes en moyenne.
Nous devions reprendre toutes ces expériences, en substi-
tuant à la pile une machine Gramme combinée pour
donner le meilleur effet utile possible; mais les imperfec-
tions des lampes, la difficulté d'obtenir de bons contacts,
Q.
TURIAD
Fic. 48. Lampe II. Fontaine.
.
224
ÉCLAIRAGE A L'ELECTRICITÉ.
les soins trop minutieux à prendre au commencement de
chaque opération, nous ont décidé à étudier préalablement
une lampe un peu plus commode et un peu plus pratique
que celle de M. Konn.
Cette lampe, que nous représentons figure 48, est actuel-
lement en construction chez M. Bréguet. Elle est carac-
térisée par les deux points suivants : 1° les charbons sout
encastrés par chacune de leurs extrémités dans des contacts
rigides et maintenus fixes, ce qui permet de faire fonc-
tionner la lampe dans toutes les positions; 2° le courant
électrique passe. automatiquement d'un charbon à l'autre
par l'action d'un électro-aimant intercalé dans le circuit.
Une description, même sommaire, n'aurait pas un grand
intérêt, puisque la lampe n'est pas encore exécutée; le
dessin indique d'ailleurs suffisamment le dispositif que
nous avons adopté pour réaliser notre projet.
•

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"Edison's Exhibit To 2.
NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, DECEMBER. 21, 1879.-QUADRUPLE SHEET-WITH SUPPLEMENT.
such closing making a new passage for the electric
current and cutting it off from the incandescent
platinum. When the latter contracted, as it did the
moment the heat was lessened, the lever returned to
its normal position and allowed the electric current
to again pass through the platinum. By this device
the inventor hoped to be able to keep the incandes-
cent platinum always below its melting point. The
lows:-
The Great Inventor's Triumph in contrivance is described in his first patent as fol-
Electric Illumination.
THE FIRST LIGHT.
"Electric lights have been produced by a coil or
strip of platinum or other metal that requires a high
temperature to melt, the electric current rendering
the same incandescent. In all such lights there is
A SCRAP OF PAPER. danger of the metal melting. My improvement is
made for regulating the electric current automat-
ically passing through such incandescent conductor,
and preventing its temperature rising to the melting
It Makes a Light, Without Gas or point, thus producing a reliable electric light."
Flame, Cheaper Than Oil.
TRANSFORMED IN THE FURNACE
Complete Details of the Perfected
Carbon Lamp.
FIFTEEN MONTHS
MONTHS OF TOIL.
Story of His Tireless Experiments with Lamps,
Burners and Generators.
SUCCESS IN A COTTON THREAD.
The Wizard's Byplay, with Ecdily Pain
and Gold "Tailings."
FIGURE 1.
b
d
【雞
​f
C
E
"Fig. 1 shows one form of the device. The incan-
descent metal is in the form of a double spiral A,
the two ends terminating upon the posts b, c, to
which the conductors d, E, are conuected. A circuit
closing lever, f, is introduced in the electric circuit,
HISTORY OF ELECTRIC LIGHTING. the points of contact being at i, and there is a pla-
i
The near approach of the first public exhibition of
Edison's long looked for electric light, announced to
take place on New Year's Eve at Menlo Park, on
which occasion that place will be illuminated with
the new light, has revived public interest in the
great inventor's work, and throughout the civilized
world scientists and people generally are anxiously
awaiting the result. From the beginning of his ex-
periments in electric lighting to the present time
Mr. Edison has kept his laboratory, guardedly,
closed, and no authoritative account (except that
published in the HERALD some months ago relating
to his first patent) of any of the important steps of
his progress has been made public-a course of pro
cedure the inventor found absolutely necessary for
his own protection. The HERALD is now, however,
enabled to present to its readers a full and accurate
account of his work from its inception to its com-
pletion.
A LIGHTED PAPER.
Edison's electric light, incredible as it may appear,
is produced from a little piece of paper-a tiny strip
of paper that a breath would blow away. Through
this little strip of paper is passed an electric cur-
rent, and the result is a bright, beautiful light, like
the mellow sunset of an Italian autumn.
in-
"But paper instantly burns, even under the trifling
heut of a callow raude exclaims the sceptic, and
how, then, can it withstand the fierce heat of an
electric current ?" Very true, but Edison makes the
little piece of paper more infusible than platinum,
'more durable than granite. And this
volves no complicated process. The paper is
merely baked in an oven until all its
elements have passed away except its carbon
framework. The latter is then placed in a
glass globe connected with the wires leading to the
electricity producing machine, and the air exhausted
from the globe. Then the apparatus is ready to give
out a light that produces no deleterious gases, no.
smoke, no offensive odors-a light without flame,
without danger, requiring no matches to. ignite,
giving out but little heat, vitiating no air, and free
from all flickering; a light that is a little globe of
Bunshine, a veritable Aladdin's lamp. And this
light, the inventor claims, can be produced cheaper
than that from the cheapest oil. Were it not
for the phonograph, the quadruplex tele-
graph, the telephone and the various other
remarkable productions of the great inventor
the world might well hesitate to accept bis assurance
that such a beneficent result had been obtained, but,
as it is, his past achievements in science are suf-
ficient guarantee that his claims, are not without
foundation, even though for months past the press
of Europe and America has teemed with disserta-
tions and expositions from learned scientists rid-
iculing Edison and showing that it was impos-
sible for him to achieve that which he has
undertaken.
HIS FIRST ATTENTION TO ELECTRIC LIGHTING.
When Edison began his experiments in Septem-
ber, 1878, be had just returned from the inspiring
scenery of the Rocky Mountains, where he had
been enjoying a little recreation after sev-
eral months of hard labor. He was ripe
for fields and enterprises new. A visit to a Connec-
ticut factory where an electric light, was used con-
centrated his thoughts on the subject of lighting
by electricity, and he determined to attack the
problem. Previous to this time, although he had
roamed broadcast over the domain of electricity.
wresting from it, as is well known, many of its hid-
den secrets, Edison had scarcely thought of the
subtle fluid in connection with practical illumina-
tion. Now, however, he bent all his energies on
the subject, and was soon deep in the bewildering
intricacies of subdivision, magneto currents, resist-
ance laws and the various other branches going to
make up a system of lighting by electricity. The
task before the young inventor was divisible into
two parts.
4
First-The producing of a pure, steady and relia-
ble light from electricity; and
Second-Producing it so cheaply that it could com-
pete with gas for general illumination.
HE CHOOSES INCANDESCENCE.
Of the two systems before him-viz., voltaic arc
and the incandescence system, Edison chose the
latter as his field of operations. Prominent among
the difficulties incident to incandescent lighting,
it will be remembered, was the liability of the plati-
num (when that metal was used) to melt under the
intense heat of the electric current, and the liability
of the carbon, when that was employed, to gradually
become dissipated under the combined action of
gases and the electric current.
THE PLATINUM LIGHT.
As between platinum and carbon as the substance
to be made incandescent, Edison took up platinum
and devoted first his attention to the obtaining of,
some device to prevent the platinum from melting
under the intense heat of the electric current. An
ingenious and simple contrivance met the require-
ment. He arranged a small lever, about three inches
long, so that the expansion of the platinum (caused
by the heat) beyond a certain degree would close it,
tina, or similar wire, K. connected with the lever, f,
to the headpiece or other support, 1. The current
from a magneto machine is connected with the wires
E and d., The current then flows from E to the post,
c, thence around the platinum spiral to b, and is
carried off by the wine, d. Now, when the rod, k, of
platinum becomes heated to too great intensity its
expansion closes the lever, f, and the current then
passes from E, through f, and not through the spiral
at all. In this way the lever cuts off the current
every time the heat becomes too intense."
Numerous other devices of a similar character
were tried and for a while they all worked satisfac-
torily, but the inventor finally discovered that the
constant expansion of the platinum rod k and its
pressure upon the lever i bent it so that it became
unreliable and it was, therefore, abandoned.
THE SECOND PLATINUM LAMP.
The next regulator was in the form of a diaphragm,
which cut off the electric current from the platinum
every time the diaphragm was pressed outward be-
yond a fixed limit by the heated air. The regulation
thus produced was so rapid that the eye could not
perceive any dimination in the strength of the cur-
rent. But this also was inadequate in many
respects. The next important modification in
the light was the substitution for the platinum
spiral of finely divided platinum incorporated with
non-conducting material. When the electric current
was passed through the combination the platinum
particles became incandescent and the non-conduct-
ing material incorporated with them became In-
minous and increased the brilliancy. One ad-
vantage by this form not previously attained was
that a very weak electric current produced a good
light.
THE BOBBIN LAMP.
After this followu i cvice to dingstore
light-giving surface, the platinum being wound in
the form of a small bobbin, first having been coated
with a non-conducting coating that was not injured
by the heat. With this arrangement a new form of
regulator was used. The lamp at this stage is shown
in figure 2.
f
FIGURE 2.
B
d
g
mwele
A is the incandescent bobbin, between the coils of
which is a coating of magnesia. The top of the bob-
bin has a metallic cap connected to the lever, d. A
spring, C, draw's the rod, B. downward with consider-
able pressure, and this, of course, places pressure on
the top of the bobbin, thus keeping the wire in con-
tact with the upper end of the coil. The bobbin, A,
expands as a whole by the heat and draws the rod, B,
upward. This brings the lever attached upward
and allows the lever, E, to come in contact with the
screw, f, permitting the current to find a passage
other than that afforded by the incandescent ma-
terial.
The inventor next followed with a new regulator
and a meter for measuring the amount of electricity
used; also an automatic switch connecting the regu-
lator with the line leading to the machine for gen-
erating the electric current.
THE REFLECTOR LIMP.
The next was a unique idea, making the platinum
give the light as it were by proxy. By means of a
reflector he concentrated the heat rays of the pla-
tinum upon a piece of zircon, causing the latter to
become luminous. Figure 3 shows the apparatus.
FIGURE 3.
A is a mass of non-conducting material, b is an air
space, c is a polished reflector of copper coated with
heated by the passage of the electric current through
it, E is a thin piece of zircon that receives the heat rays
thrown off by the reflector, C, which heat rays bring
up the zircon, E, to vivid incandesence, making it give
out a light much more brilliant than the light of the
platinum spiral, C. With this form Mr. Edison tried
numerous experiments, and from time to time made
many alterations and improvements, but eventually
the apparatus was placed in the category of non-suc-
cosses.
ANOTHER SPIRAL.
Realizing from the first the necessity of the light
giving substance offering much resistance to the
passage of the electric current-a necessity in ex-
tensive subdivision of the light-the inventor
throughout his experiments kept a close watch for
substances and forms that gave suitable resistances."
In figure 4 is shown a form of lamp disconnecter
from the regulating apparatus, which largely em-
bodied the above requirement and for a time gave
good results.
FIGURE 4.
A is a spiral of carbon with two large ends, B, c.
connecting with the wires leading to the machine for
generating the current. This device was tried for
several weeks, but did not, as a whole, give satis
faction.
EVERY MAN HIS OWN ELECTRIC LIGHTER.
Branching off from the line of investigation ho had
been previously following Mr. Edison at this time
began experimenting with a view to having the light
produced locally-i. e., arranging for each house-
bolder to become his own manufacturer of light.
thus dispensing with mains and central stations.
The apparatus which he used for this purpose is
shown in figure 5:--
FIGURE 5.
R
8
R is an induction coil such as are used by peri-
patetic showmen at fairs and other places when they
give electric shocks to inquiring sightseers at so
much per shock. It is operated by two cells of bat-
tery, B, and wires lead from it to the glass tubing, T,
from which the air has previously been extracted,
and the passage of the electric current through the
tubing gives out a light. This plan is analogous to
what is known as the Ge sler tube arrangement, the
difference being ju the form of the tube and the ex-
treme smallness of the bore and also in the degree
of vacuum produced. Mr. Edison succeeded by
this arrangement in obtaining a light of several
candle power with a moderately powerful induction
coil. The light, however, was not the one sought
after so persistently by the inventor, and so it took
its place in that part of his laboratory occupied by
inventions not in use.
OSMIUM-IRIDIUM.
Once more Mr. Edison made a departure. He
moulded powdered metallic oxides in the form of
sticks and subjected them to a very high tempera-
ture. In this connection he obtained very fine re-
sults from the native alloy of osmium-iridium called
iridosmine, which alloy he used in the form of a
powder enclosed in a tube of zircon. The electric
current passing through the same brought it to a
beautiful incandescence.
CARBON AND PLATINUM.
The inventor's next important move was the adap-
tion of carbon in connection with platinum as the
substances to be made incandescent. He caused a
slender rod of carbon to, rest upon another of plati-
num, the inferiority of contact between the two at
their point of meating was using a registrace to the
Lassage of the electric current and causing the car-
son to become highly incandescent, while the plati-
num attained only a dull red heat. The carbon rod
was kept pressing upon the platinum by a weight
ingeniously arranged. A dozen or more forms of
this lamp were made; but, after all, the inventor was
obliged to return to platinum as the substance most
suitable, all things considered, for being made in-
candescent. Fortwo months he worked at platinum
day and night, only to aud that platinum, as he had
been using it, was entirely worthless for incandes-
cent lighting. To many experimenters this would
have proved a discouragement perhaps fatal, but it
had the effect only of increasing Edison's deter-
mination.
THE CRACKS IN PLATINUM.
After scores of new experiments he arrived at the
true causes of the defects and hastened to apply
the remedy. I have found, he writes, that when
wires or sheets of platinum, iridium or other metal-
lic conductors of electricity that fuse at a high tem-
perature are exposed to a high temperature near
their melting point in air for several hours by pass-
ing a current of electricity through them and then
are allowed to cool, the mictal is found to be rup-
tured, and under the microscope there are revealed
myriads of cracks in various directions, many of
which reach nearly to the centre of the wire. I have
also discovered that, contrary to the received notion,
platinum or platinum and iridium alloy loses weight
when exposed to the heat of a candle; that even
heated air causes it to lose weight; that the loss is
so great a hydrogen flame is tinged green. After a
time the metal falls to pieces; hence wire or sheets
of platinum or platinum and iridium alloy as now
known in commerce are useless for giving light by
incandescence-
First-Because the loss of weight makes it expen-
sive and unreliable and causes the burner to be
rapidly destroyed.
Second-Because its electrical resistance changes
by loss in weight, and its light-giving power for the
total surface is greatly reduced by the cracks or
ruptures.
The melting point also is determined by the weak-
est spot of the metal.
PLATINUM IN VACUO.
By my invention or discovery I am able to prevent
the deterioration of the platinum or its alloys by
cutting off or intercepting the atmospheric action.
A spiral wire or other forms of platiuum is placed in
a glass tube or bulb, with the wire near its ends
passing through and sealed in the glass, and the air
is exhausted from the glass. The platinum wires of
the spiral are then connected to a magneto-electric
machine or battery, the current of which can be con-
trolled by the addition of resistance. Sufficient cur-
rent is allowed to pass through the wire to bring it
to about 150 degrees Fahrenheit. It is then allowed to
remain at this temperature for ten or fifteen min-
utes. While thus heated both the air and gases
confined in the metal are expelled by the heat or
withdrawn by the vacuum action.
While this air or the gases are passing out of the
metal the mercury pump is kept continually work-
ling.
After the expiration of about fifteen minutes the
current passing through the metal is augmented so
that its temperature will be about 300 deg. Fahrenheit,
and it is allowed to remain at this temperature for
another ten or fifteen minutes.
The mercury pump is to be worked continuously
and the temperature of the spiral raised at intervals
of ten or fifteen minutes until it attains vivid in-
candescence and the glass is contracted where it has
passed to the pump and melted together.
BRILLIANT RESULTS.
The wire is now in a perfect vacuum and in a state
heretofore unknown, for it may have its tempera-
ture raised to a most dazzling incandescence, emit-
ting a light of twenty-five standard candles, whereas
before treatment the same radiating surface gave a
light of only about three standard candles. The
wires after being thus free from gases are found to
have a polish exceeding that of silver and obtainable
by no other means. No cracks can be seen even after
the spiral has been raised suddenly to incandescence
many times by the current, and the most delicate
balance fails to show any loss of weight in the wire
even after it is burning for many hours contian-
ously. I have further discovered that if an alloy
magnesia and subjected to the vacuum process
described, a combination takes place between the
metal and the oxide, giving the former remarkable,
properties. With a spiral having a radiating surface
of 3-16 of an inch light equal to that given by forty
standard candles may be obtained, whereas the same
spiral, not coated by my process, would melt before
giving a light of four candles. The effect of
the oxide of magnesia is to barden the
wire to, a surprising extent and render it more
refractory. spiral made of this wire is elastic and
springy when at high incandescence. I have found
that chemically pure iron and nickel drawn in wires
and subjected to the vacuum process may be made
to give a light equalling that of platinum in the
open air. Carbon sticks also may be freed from air
in this manner and be brought to a temperature
where the carbon becomes pasty and ou cooling it is
homogeneous and hard.
THE FIRST PLATINUM VACUUM LAMP.
About this time another truth dawned upon the
Inventor-namely, that economy in the production
of light from incandescence demanded that the in-
candescent substance should offer a very great re-
sistance to the passage of the electric current. Con-
cerning this the inventor writes: "It is essential to
reverse the present practice of having lamps of but
one or two ohms (electrical units) resistance and
construct lamps which, when giving their proper
Aght, shall have at least two hundred ohms resist-
auce."
The lamp, as it stood at this stage of the inventor's
Progress, is shown in figure 6.
FIGURE 6.
a
5
k
a is the burner or incandescent platinum in the
shape of a bobbin supported within the vacuum
tube, b, by a rod, b', of the same material as the
bobbin. The vacuum tube, b, is sustained by the
case, k, and around said tube, b, is a glass globe, 1.
in the case,
is
k,
a Hexible metallic
i colt aiaber, L, that opens into the glass case,
so the air. when expanded toy heat, car pass
anthoneroid Chamber nur so metioning
fible diaphragm, x, and parts connected there
with. When the current circulating around the
bobbin, a, becomes too intense and heats the latter
too highly the air within the glass case, 1, is ex-
panded and bulges downward by the diaphragm, x,
and the pin thereon pressing upon the spring, 5,
and separating said spring from the block, 6,
breaks the circuit to the burner. The temperature
within the globe, 1, lowers immediately and the
parts return to their normal position, closing the
circuit through the burner to 5 and 6. This open-
ing and closing of the circuit is but momentary,
and, therefore, the uniform brilliancy of the light is
not affected and there is no danger of the burner
becoming too highly heated.
PERFECTING THE MACHINERY.
The lamp, after these latter improvements, was in
quite a satisfactory condition, and the inventor
contemplated with much gratification the near con-
clusion of his labors. One by one he had overcome
the many difficulties that lay in his path. He had
brought up platinum as a substance for illumina-
tion from a state of comparative worthlessness to
one well nigh perfection. He had succeeded, by a
curious combination and improvement in air
pumps, .in obtaining a vacuum of nearly one mill-
ionth of an atmosphere, and he had perfected a gen-
erator or electricity producing machine (for all the
time he had been working at lamps he was also ex-
perimenting in magneto-electric machines) that gave
ont some ninety per cent in electricity of the energy
it received from the riving engine. In a word, all
the serious obstacles toward the success of iucan..
descent electric lighting, he believed, had melted
away, and there renained but a comparatively few
minor details to be arranged before his laboratory
was to be thrown open for public inspection and the
light given to the world for better or for worse.
A GREAT DISCOVERY,
Y
There occurred, however, at this juncture a dis-
covery that materially changed the system and gave
a rapid stride toward the perfect electric lamp. Sit-
ting one night in his laboratory reflecting on some
of the unfinishel details, Edison began abstractedly
rolling between his fingers a piece of compressed
lampblack mixed with tar for use in bis telephone.
For several minutes his thoughts continued far
away, his fingers in the meantime mechanically
rolling out the little piece of tarred lampblack until
it had become a slender filament. Happening to
glance at it the idea occurred to him that it might
give good result as a burner if made incandescent.
A few minutes later the experiment was tried, and,
to the inventor's gratification, satisfactory, although
not surprising results were obtained. Tarther ex-
periments were made, with altered forms and com-
position of the substance, each experiment demon-
strating that at last the inventor was upon the right
track.
A COTTON TEREAD.
A spool of cotton thread lay on the table in the
laboratory. The inventor cut off a small piece, put it
in a groove between two clamps of iron and placed
the latter in the furnace. The satisfactory light ob-
tained from the tarred lampblack had convinced him
that filaments of carbon of a texture not previously
used in electric lighting were the hidden agents to
make a thorough success of incandescent lighting,
and it was with tais view that he sought to test the
carbon remains of a cotton thread. At the expira-
tion of an hour he removed the iron mould contain-
ing the thread from the furnace and took out the
delicate carbon framework of the thread-all that
was left of it after its fiery ordeal. This slender
filament he placed in a globe and connected it with
the wires leading to the machine generating the
electric current. Then he extracted the air from the
globe and turned on the electricity.
m
Presto! a beautiful light greeted his eyes. He
. turns on more current expecting the fragile filament
instantly to fuse; but no, the culy change is a more
brilliant light. He turns on more current, and still
more, but the delicate thread remains entire. Then
with characteristic impetuosity and wondering and
marvelling at the strength of the little filament, he
turns on the full power of his machine and eagerly
watches the conséquence. For a minute or more
the tender thread seems to struggle with the intenso
heat passing through it-heat that would melt the
diamond itself-then at last it succumbs and all is
gold, d is a platinum-iridium spiral, which becomes of platinum and iridium is coated with the oxide of darkness. The powerful current had broken it in
twain, but not before it had emitted a light of sev-
eral gas jets. Eagerly the inventor hastened to ex-
amine under the microscope this curious filament,
apparently so delicate, but in reality much more
infusible than platinum, so long considered one of
the most infusible of metals. The microscope
showed the surface of the filament to be highly pol-
ished and its parts interwoven with each other.
THE PAPER LIGHT.
It was also noticed that the filament had obtained
a remarkable degree of hardness compared with its
fragile character before it was subjected to the ac-
tion of the current. Night and day, with scarcely
rest enough to eat a hearty meal or catch a brief re-
pose, the inventor kept up his experiments, and
from carbonizing pieces, of thread he went to
splinters of wood, straw, paper and many other sub-
stances never before used for that purpose. The re-
sults of his experiments showed that the substance
best adapted for carbonization and the giving out of
incandescent light, was paper preferably thick like
card board, but giving good results even when very
thin. The beautiful character of the illumination
and the steadiness, reliability and non-fusibility of
the carbon filameut were not the only elements incı-
dent to the new discovery that brought joy to the
heart of Edison. There was a further element-not
the less necessary because of its being hidden-the
element of a proper and uniform resistance to the
passage of the electric current.
The inventor's efforts to obtain this element had
been by far the most laborious of any in the history
of his work from the time he undertook the task,
and without it absolute success to electric incandes-
cent illumination could not be predicated, even
though all the other necessary properties were pres-
ent in the fullest degree.
Passing over the ecores of experiments made since
tho discovery that the carbon framework of a little
piece of paper or thread was the best substance pos-
sible for incandescent lighting, we come to consider
the way in which the same is prepared at the pres-
ent time in the laboratory.
MAKING THE PAPER CARBON.
With a suitable punch there is cut from a piece of
"Bristol" cardboard a strip of the same in the form
of a miniature horseshoe, about two inches in length
and one-eighth of an inch in width. A number of
these strips are laid flatwise in a wrought iron
mould about the size of the hand and separated from
each other by tissue paper. The mould is then covered
and placed in an oven, where it is gradually raised
to a temperature of about six hundred degrees Fah-
renheit. This allows the volatile portions of the
paper to pass away. The mould is then placed in a
furnace and heated almost to a white beat, and then
removed and allowed to cool gradually. On open-
ing the mould the charred remains of the little horse-
shoe cardboard are found. It must be taken out
with the greatest care, else it will fall to pieces.
After being removed from the mould it is placed in
a little globe and attached to the wires leading to
the generating machine. The globe is then con-
nected with an air pump, and the latter is at once
set to work extracting the air. After the air has
been extracted the globe is sealed, and the lamp is
ready for use. Figure 7 shows the lamp complete:-
THE PERFECTED LAMP-FIGURE 7.
B
E
A is a glass globe, from which the air has been ab-
stracted, resting on a stand, B. F is the little carbon
filament connected by fine platinum wires, G G', to
the wires, E E', leading to the screw posts, D D', and
thence to the generating machine. The current, en-
tering at D, passes up the wire E to the platinum
clamp, G; thence through the carbon filament F to
G', down the wire E' to the screw post D'; thence to
the generating machine. It will be noticed, by refer-
ence to the complete lamp in figure 7, that it has no
complex regulating apparatus, such as characterized
the inventor's earlier labors. All the work he did
in regulators was practically wasted, for he has
lately realized that they were not at all necessary-
no more so than a fifth wheel is to a coach..
in
Witm.
notary public 1.4.60.
a general way, how his machine operates.
Figure 8 shows the generating or Faradic machine,
as Edison terms it, in honor of Faraday, complete.
THE GENERATING MACHINE-FIGURE S.
B
a
a
S
En
t
and eight inches in diameter, wound with coarse
a a are two upright iron columns, three feet high
wire and resting upon the base, n and s, which form
its magnetic poles. This part of the apparatus is
called the field of force magnet. Fixed on an axle,
so as to freely revolve between the poles n and s, i
a cylindrical armature of wood, e, wound parallel to
its axes with fine iron wire. When this cylinder or
armature is made to revolve rapidly between the mag-
netic poles n and s, by means of the belt B, driven by
an engine (not shown in the cut), there is generated
in the wire surrounding the armature e strong cur-
rents of electricity, which are carried off by the
wires, W W, to the electric lamps.
A DOMESTIC MOTOR.
By constructing the machine in the form shown
in figure 9 there is obtained an electric motor capa
ble of performing light work, such as running sew-
ing machines and pumping water. It forms part of
the inventor's system and may be used either with
or without the electric light. To run an ordinary
sewing machine it requires only as much electricity
as is necessary to give out one electric light of the
strength of a common gas jet. To put it in opera-
tion on a sewing machine the housewife has merely
to attach it. by a little belt at A with the wheel of
the sewing machine, and turn on the electricity by
touching a little knob conveniently attached. The
cost is the same as if she was burning one electric
light.
THE ELECTROMETER.
The apparatus for measuring the amount of elec
tricity used by each householder is a simple contri-
Tance consisting of an electrolytic cell and a small
coil of wire, appropriately arranged in a box, the
latter being of about half the size of an ordinary gas
meter, and like a gas meter it can he placed in any
part of the house. The measurement is obtained by
the deposit of copper particles on a little plate in the
electrolytic cell, such deposit being caused by the
electric current passing through the cell. At the end
of any period, say one month, the plate is taken by
the inspector to the central office, where the copper
deposit is weighel and the amount of electricity cop.
sumed determined by a simple calculation.
In addition to the various parts of the system above
described, there are a number of other details, not
so important to be sure as those of which sketches
have been given, but nevertheless essential to make
up the complete plan of economical electrical illumi-
nation. A description of these latter will not be
attempted, as a proper understanding of them in-
volves a technical knowledge of the laws of electricity.
The entire system embraces an amount of work
so extensive that one naturally wonders how a single
man in such a bf space of tiine a fifteen mont!
could possibly have planned and pertected it an.
And surprise becomes greater when it is considered
that during this period Edison found time to mako
other inventions. A sextuplex telegraph, or ap-
paratus for sending six messages on one telegraph
wire in opposite directions simultaneously, saw life
during the progress of the electric light, patents for
the same having only just been issued. Several new
and important improvements in his chalk tele-
phone, by which the efficiency of that invention is
greatly increased, also attest his industry and ver
satility of genius.
POLYFORM.
But perhaps the latter quality is more strikingly
exhibited in his polyform or preparation by which
he is enabled to bid defiance to sick headaches, neu-
ralgia and other nervous diseases, and to make him-
self largely independent of physicians in times of
ailment. The polyform grew out of necessity. Be-
ing considerably afflicted with neuralgia and obtain-
ing no relief from his physician, Edison set about
becoming his own doctor. His chemical laboratory,
one of the most complete in the United States, fur-
nished him an ample field from which to draw. Ex-
¡ periment followed experiment, the inventor becom-
THE DOMESTIC OTOR-FIGURE 9.
REGULATED AT THE MAIN, LIKE GAS-CHEAP.
He finds that the electricity can be regulated with
entire reliability at the central station, just as the
pressure of gas is now regulated. By his system of
connecting the wires the extinguishment of certain
of the burners affects the others no more than the
cxtinguishment of the same number of gas burners
affects those drawing the supply from the same
mains. The simplicity of the completed lamp seems
certainly to have arrived at the highest point, and
Edison asserts that it is scarcely possible to simplify
it more. The entire cost of constructing them is
not more than twenty-five cents.
EASY METAMORPHOSIS.
The lamp shown in figure 7 is a table lamp. For
chandeliers it would consist of only the vacuum
globe and the carbon filament attached to the chan-
delier and connected to the wires leading to the gen-
erating machine in a central station, perhaps a half
mile away, the wires being run through tae
gas
pipes, so that in reality the only change necessary
to turn a gas jet into an electric lamp is to run the
wires through the gas pipe, take off the jet and screw
the electric lamp in the latter's place. Although the,
plans have been fully consummated for general il-
lumination the outline of the probable system to be
adopted is the locating of a central station in large
cities in such a manner that each station will supply
an area of about one-third of a mile. In each station
there will be, it is contemplated, one or two engines
of immense power, which will drive several generat-
ing machines, each generating machine supplying
about fifty lamps.
THE GENERATING MACHINE.
Mr. Edison's first experiments in machines for.
generating the electric current did not meet with
success. His primal apparatus was in the form of a
large tuning fork, constructed in such a way that its
ends vibrated with great rapidity before tho poles of
a large magnet. These vibrations could be produced
with comparatively little power. Several weeks of
practice proved, however, that the machine was not
practical, and it was laid aside. Then followed a
number of other forms, leading up gradually to the
one at present used. Bearing in mrtnd the principle
common to all magneto-electric machines-viz., that
the current is produced by the rotation of magnets
near each other-it will not be difficult to understand,
ing more determined in proportion as his neuralgia
grew more painful. At last he obtained a combina-
tion of chemicals, a slight application of which to
the face immediately relieved his pain. Gratified at
bis success, but hardly yet convinced, he tried the
preparation on others similarly afflicted and with
equally satisfactory results.
IN CORPORE VILI."
About this time there happened to stroll into the
laboratory one day a dilapidated tramp on his periodio
begging expedition from place to place. Now, this
tramp was a particularly unfortunate one, his poverty
being hardly more distressing than his physical ail-
raents. One of his legs was swelled with rheumatism,
neuralgia coursed along his face and, a dozen or more
sores and bruises made him a veritable Job. Hap.
pening to meet him Edison saw in him a most ex-
cellent subject for further poly form experiments,
A hearty meal and a little change readily procured
the tramp's consent, and soon the inventor was sub.
jecting his new acquaintance to all sorts of chemical
experiments. For more than a week the tramp found
food and longing in Menlo Park, giving in return
a few hours of his time every night to be ex-
perimented upon. By the time his engagement
was over his rheumatism and neuralgia had disap
peared, and his sores were well nigh healed. The
news of the tramp's good fortune soon spread, and
now it is no uncommon thing for neighbors to come
to the inventor's laboratory from miles around to
request a little polyform-a request which the in
ventor always good naturedly complies with.
GOLD "TAILINGS."
The very, very latest enterprise of the indefai ga-
ble scientist is a scheme for obtaining gold out of
"tailings," or the sand thrown away by miners as
having been worked out. Rumor has it that Edison
has succeeded in obtaining a chemical preparation
which will take from $200 to $300 per ton out of "tail
ings" from which the present processes can obtain
nothing. The matter, however, is as yet a profound.
laboratory secret.
ELECTRIC LIGHTING BEFORE EDISON.
Among its other properties, electricity has that
developing heat. A substance through which
electric current is made to flow becomes heated to a
degree proportioned first to the strength of the cur
rent, and second, to the size and character at t

L
6
substance. Substances which readily convey elec-
tricity, or, in other words, which offer but little re-
sistance to the passage of the electric current, such
as copper, silver or iron, are unsuitable for exhibit-
ing the heating power of electricity, while sub-
NEW YORK
YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1879.-QUADRUPLE SHEET-WITH SUPPLEMENT.
NICARAGUA CANAL
the concession is granted. His name simply heads GRANT AND THE CHILDREN. THE WINNEBAGOES' GRIEVANCES. ACCIDENT TO THE HENRIETTE.
the list. In this capacity, with others, he will
ask, through a commissson about to be organ-
ized and which will proceed to Nicaragua
at once, and ask of that government that a conces
stances which offer much resistance to the passage Civil Engineer Menocal Settles Some sion may be granted to enable an American company
of the current, such as platinum or carbon, show
this heating power quite strongly. Either of the
latter substances becomes heated to incandescence
the moment a strong current of electricity is passe l
through it, which incandescence gives out a beauti-
Important Points.
HEADS
GRANT HEADS THE
THE
COMPANY.
COMPANY.
ful and pleasant light. This method of obtaining GRANT
light from electricity has been known for many
years, and is called the incandescent method.
A second method known as the voltaic arc method,
from Volta, an eminent electrician, is the passing of A Cornmission of Corporators Ready to
a powerful electric current between the points of
two sticks or rods of carbon slightly separated
from each other. The passage of the current be-
tween the two causes an intensely brilliant light,
many times more intense than that produced by
incandescence. It is estimated to be of about
one-half the intensity of sunlight on a clear day.
The figure below shows the form, of the voltaic are
playing between the points of two carbon rods.
When carefully studied on a screen, for the brill-
lancy of the light prevents continued observation
by the naked eye, there will be seen hests of little
jets of carbon constantly passing in the form of an
are between the two carbon points. The problem,
then, of utilizing electricity for purposes of illumi-
nation presents two avenues of attack-one by way
of the voltaic are or intense light, and the other by
way of incandescence or milder light.,
THE VOLTAIC ARO LIGHTS.
.ד
Considering first the voltaic arc system we find
that as early as 1840 it began to attract the attention
of inventors. Probably its first use outside the
laboratory and class room was in the year 1845,
when it was employed at the opera in Paris to pro-
duce the effects of the rising sun. Its success in
this role of "Apollo" was so satisfactory that before
long enterprising managers Had extended its field
of usefulness by means of lenses and prisms to the
production of luminous fountains, artificial rain-
bows and lightning. At this period, however, fa-
cilities for obtaining steadiness and uniformity of
the light were excecding crude, and some mechani-
cal device to keep the carbons at the same relative
distance from each other, was indispensable. The
first contrivance or reg ilator, as it was called, for
this purpose was made in 1845 by Wright, of Lon-
don, and consisted of disks of carbon having their
circumference out to a V shape and receiving motion
from well known mechanism. The following year
Staite and Edwards, in London, patented several
regulators, the principle underlying them being the
enclosing of the carbons in Emall cases, which made
the carbon points meet obliquely. In 1848 Foucault,
in France, and Petrie, in England, made further im-
provements by which the adjustment of the carbons
was made quite reliable. Then followed numerus
others, extending to the present time, of more or
less perfection. Among them may be mentioned
Archereau's, Lacasagne's, Thiers', Serrin's, Du-
boscqu's, Farmer's, Brush's, Maxim's and Fuller's.
THE JABLOCHKOFF CANDLE.
In the year 1876 a new departure in the form of
regulators was made by M. Jablochkoff, a Russian
engineer, who, instead of placing the carbon rods
vertically to each other, placed them side by side,
with a thin insulating substance between them. In
this form the voltaic arc, playing between the ex-
tremities of the carbons, gradually consumed them
downward, like a flame consumes a candle. Indeed,
so analogous was the invention to a candle that it
BOOD became known as the Jablochkoff candle-a name
it still bears..
INCANDESCENCE.
The incandescent method of electric lighting was
first successfully shown by King in 1845. He placed
a rod of carbon in a globe of glass from which the
Bir had been extracted, and passing a current of elec-
tricity through the rod cansed it to become heated to
such a degree that one could read large print a consid
erable distance away by the light emitted. His labors,
however, were, productive of no practical results, and
while his theory for producing fight was regarded
as a pretty on. few were so bold as to predict that it
would ever develop into an economical and eficient
method of illumination. The following year Greene
aud Staite filed a patent for a lamp analogous to` that
of king, pointing out that they freed the carbon be-
fore use from impurities by treating it with nitro-
muriatic acid.
PETRIE'S IRIDIUM LIGHT.
In 1849 Petrie obtained patents for the same pur-
pose, concerning which he wrote as follows:-
"A light may be produced by passing an electric
current through a short and thin conductor, which
heats and becomes luminous; but the majority of
substances fuse and buin rapidly. However, I ob-
tain a good light by using iridium or one of its
alloys. Iridium may be fused so as to produce an
Ingot while it is submitted to the heat of the voltaic
are; afterward it may be decarbonized and rendered
more malleable. It can be cut into small pieces, that
can be used upon two insulated metallic supports
which are in connection with the two wires of a
battery. Then there is produced a beautiful light."
LODYGUINE'S LIGHT.
From this time until 1873 electric lighting by in-
candescence nade but little progress, inventors re-
garding the incandescent method as much inferior
to that of the voltaic arc. In the latter year, how-
ever, interest in the incandescent method was a little
revived by an invention of M. Lodyguine, who made
a lamp that overcame many of the difficulties pre-
Viously deemed insurmountable., Concerning this
invention the report to the Imperial Observatory of
Paris said:
The sole inconvenience of: the use of carbon in-
stead of platinum consists in the fact that in the
combustion the carbon combines with the oxygen of
the air and is thus gradually consumed. M. Lody-
guine has avoided this inconvenience by enclosing
the carbon heated to whiteness by the electric cur-
rent in a glass vacunm hermetically sealed, and
from the interior of which the oxygen is expelied by
a most simple process."
>>
But improved as was this arrangement over
those that had gone before, practice demonstrated
that there were still many serious difficulties it did
not meet. Among other things carbons presented
obscure spots indicative of non-homogeneity; minute
cracks also occurred in the carbon and rapidly disin-
tegrated the same. The vacuum, likewise was very
imperfect, and there was produced within the glass
globe a kind of evaporation that tended slowly to de-
stroy the carbon rods. This evaporation also left a pul-
ver.zed deposit of sublimated carbon on the inside
of the glass globe. Within the past few years.
various English and American inventors have over-
come many of these difficulties, but there still re-
mained enough to render incandescent electric light-
ing impracticable.
ELECTRIC GENERATORS.
While inventors were busy both on the voltaic arc
and incandescent methods, progress was far from
Blow on the means for producing or generating the
electric current. At an early day it was evident to
experimenters that to produce either the voltaic arc
or incandescence with any degree of economy a dif-
feront method of generating the electricity than that
afforded by the chemical batteries m nse was neces-
Bary. An important discovery by, Ampére in 1820,
developed almost simul.aneously by Oersted and
Arago and later by Faraday, to the effect that power-
ful currents of electricity could be produced by the
rotation of magnets near each other, opened an
opportune field for purposes. of electric lighting.
Pixii, a manufacturer of physical instruments in
Paris, in 1832, was the first practically to apply the
discovery. He constructed a machine consisting
of an electro-magnet and, & permanent mag-
net, with mechanism for revolving one directly
in front of the other, which revolution induced
etrorg currents of electricity that could be car-
ried off by wires and made to give light. The
juvention of Pixii was followed by improvements
by Niandet, Iloimes, Ladd, Wilde and Siemens, and
in late years by Gramine, Fuller, Brush, Maxim and
others. The invention of Gramme, owned and used
extensively in this country for the voltaic are sys-
tem by the Fuller Electrical Company, involved
several important new principles that gave a
marked impetus to the system and made po sible
the production of torrents of electricity at compara-
tively small cost.
EDISON'S ASSISTANTS.
Before concluding this article it is only proper
that due credit should be given to those whose
untiring energy and skilled handicraft made
possible the perfection of the great inven-
tor's system--viz., his chief laboratory assistants;
for, although Edison's was the mind that originated
all, theirs were the hands that deftly carried out his
wishes. Principal among his assistants, and so inti-
mately associated with him in his work that his ab-
sence from the laboratory is invariably a signal
for Mr. Edison to suspend labor, is Mr. Charles
Batchelor. For the past eight years Mr. Batchelor
has worked side by side with the inventor, carrying
out his plans with rare ability, and to his energy
and skill is due not a little. Next come Messrs.
Upton and Kruza, both beads of departments, the
one attending to the fine electrical work and the other
to the mechanical details of the machine depart-
anent. Among the others whose ability has helped to
contribute to the inventor's great success, each in
is particular sphere, are Mr. Grithin, Mr. Carman,
Alr. Jehl, Mr. Force and Mr. Baum
Start for Nicaragua.
IMMENSELY VALUABLE CONCESSIONS.
to build an interoceanic canal through their terri-
tory. That concession will consist of the exclusive
right of way, with a land grant of alternate sections
of territory three miles square on either side of the
river between the lake and San Juan del Norte,
REVIEWING THE FUTURE MEN AND WOMEN OF
THE NATION AT PHILADELPHIA-EDUCATION
THE SAFEGUARD
OF FREEDOM-COMING
EVENTS-MAYOR STORLEY'S LOYAL ZEAL.
CHARGES AGAINST THEIR QUAKER AGENT-
ALLEGED FRAUDULENT DISTRIBUTION OF
THEIR ANNUITIES-HALF BREED INTRUDERS.
[BY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERALD.]
OMAHA, Neb., Dec. 20, 1879.
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 20, 1879.
Headdress, President of the Winnebago Indians,
In the programme for General Grant's week's en-
tertainment, to-day was known as "School Day," be-
and Joe Monigah, of the same tribe, have arrived
here to consult with leading citizens concerning
cause of the parade of pupils of the public schools.
The General began, this, his fifth day here, byhite, a Quaker, and to ask General Crook to write
their alleged grievances against Agent Howard
tending, with his wife, a luncheon at Mr. Childs', at
which there were present to meet him Secretary
Evarts, ex-Minister Welsh, L. P. Morton, member of
Congress, of New York; General A. T. Goshorn, of
Centennial notoriety; Rev. Dr. Mortor, rector of
St. James' Protestant Episcopal Church (of which
afr. Childs has lately become a vestryman), and
others.
and as much public land on the Pacific slope as it is
in the power of the government to grant, and the
territory necessary for the canal route owned by
private parties to be sold at its present ap-
praised value. Also a land grant of 400 square
iniles, the location to be selected by tile
company from the public lands. The prop-
erty and lands of the company are to be
forever exempt from taxes, and the company is to
have all the land that is necessary along the route
for the construction of the canal.. During its con-
struction the tools, machinery and all other
meaus imported for the use
of the canal
are to
be exempted from
payment
duties as well as the subsistence stores and
clothing purchased for the laborers and employers
of the company or the contractors. Of course these
are not the details of the agreement, but what"
mentioned covers substantially what the corporaten
will ask and which the government of Nica-
ragua is ready to grant. On the arrival of
Commission in Nicaragua Congress wphia; president, trustees and professors of the
together in extra session and
the
[FROM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT.]
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 1879.
Mr. A. G. Menocal, civil engineer at the Washing-
ton Navy Yard, whose name is as closely connected
with the Nicaragua Interoceanic Canal' project as
that of Real Admiral Ammen, returned to Washing-
ton yesterday, having been absent some days in
New York and Philadelphia on matters con-
nected with the canal. On Thursday last he
was in Philadelphia
cailed
and saw General Grant
upon the subject which now bewilders very many
people in this country, especially as to what is to be
the future of the ex-President. In conversation
with Mr. Menocal this evening, as to what impres-
sion he derived from his interview with General
Grant, he replied (smilingly) that Admiral Ammen
and Señor de Franco had already communicated all
that conid be said on the subject to the correspond-
ent of the HERALD in Philadelphia.
T
"There are some additional points I have no doubt
which you can communicate that did not occur to
those gentlemen that would be of interest to the
HERALD?"
IMPORTANT LETTERS.
"Perhaps so. One of the objects I had in
stopping in Philadelphia was to show General
Grant several latters I had just received
from Nicaragua relative to granting liberal concès-
sioLs to an American company in the event one
should be organized and apply for the right of why
through Nicaragua for an interoceanic canal route.
I had just received a letter from Mir. Elyzondo, the
Minister of Public Works, one from the President of
Nicaragua, Mr. Zavula; another from Mr. Runnell, the
agent of the Pacific Mail Company and United States
commercial agent in Nicaragua, and a fourth from
Mr. Ramirez, a Senator of Nicaragua, and these four
letters set forth that the design of the government
is to grant the most liberal concessions for a canal to
an American company with General Grant at its head."
From Mr. Norris, also an American engineer, and un-
der contract to build a line of railroad in Nicaragua,
whom I met in New York during my recent visit, I
learned that the Nicaraguans were daily expecting
the commission to arrive from the United States,
with credentials, asking for the concessions neces-
sary for the route of the canal. I thought this in-
formation would counteract any attempts on the
part of jealous persons or meddlers to create the
impression that Nicaragua was not favorably dis-
posed toward the United States or a private company
formed of its prominent citigens to build the pro-
posed canal."
GENERAL GRANT'S OWN PROJECT.
"Did you succeed in convincing General Grant
that the road to fame and fortune was via Nicara-
gua?"
"Of that I am sure he has long since been con-
vinced. This is not a new subject to him. Why, the
idea appears to have got abroad that we are begging
General Grant to accept the presidency of the
proposed canal company, while the fact is-and
I do not see any harm in its being pub-
lished-General Grant is the pioneer of the
Nicaragua Canal project. You certainly remember
the remark attributed to him, and which is strictly
true, that it was a specialty with him during, the
eight year he was President, and fe says himself
that during t time ne tried vry hard to get
others, to take the same interest in the project that
he did. Yet with all his advantages he did not succeed
in making it an administration measure.
within my recollection that before General Grant's
term of office expired Admiral Ammen and several.
others suggested that it would be a good enterprise
for him to embark in immediately upon his leaving
the Executive Mansion. He thought so too, but as
he had had nearly sixteen years of constant
strain in the army and in the White
House he made up his mind to take
a taip round the world. He is back now just
where his inclination and business ambition would
have guided him nearly three years ago.
THE GENERAL WAITING FOR OTHERS.
It is
"The statement, then, recently published that
General Grant had said that he had not accepted the
presidency of the Nicaragua Canal Company not
true?"?
I have no doubt General Grant said it,
and it is strictly true, and those who know
what' 19 going on in Philadelphia can
afford to laugh at the great efforts
being made to discover the hidden secrets of Gen.
eral Grant's mind on this and other subjects. I
have no objection to your saying that General
Grant leads the project to establish the Nicaragua
Canal Company. He is not waiting for capital or
promises; he is to-day the most active of the pro-
moters of the enterprise, aud I presume it is not
saying too much to say that General Grant is wait-
ing for others; they are not waiting for him.'
"This will be news to the country. Why, the im-
pression has certainly got abroad that the friends of
the scheme were engaged in Philadelphia in coaxing
General Grant to become the head of the company."
"In a business enterprise of the magnitude of the
Interoceanic Canal Company, with parties striving
to ascertain just what the advocates of the
Nicaragua route are doing, I presume a little
business secrecy might be tolerated. It would
certainly be observed by parties in private life. I
understand that the people of the country have a
sort of claim upon General Grant that would seem
to entitle them to know the details of his daily life-
in other words, that whatever he thinks or does is
public property. That is not true, and no
one thinks
more decidedly than General
Grant. Now, I have no objection to saying
to you that it will be several months before General
Grant can accept the presidency of the canal com-
pany; certainly not before the 1st of March next.
You see, therefore, that his statement is literally
A POINT WELL MADE.
"But,' you will ask, 'how do you reconcile this
with the declarations made by Admiral Ammen and
Mr. De Franco?' I think the trouble with the inter-
viewers in Philadelphia has been that they wanted
to find out more than legitimately belongs to the
canal company's project. They wanted to ascertain
if General Grant would be or could be a candidate
for the Presidency and yet retain his position as
head of the company when it is organized; whether
if he accepted this position it would not preclude
him from accepting any other. I am going to
answer that question for you in the most explicit
manner. The subscriptions which the French capi-
talists have offered to make to the stock of the
company depend upon General Grant being either
the active or honorary president of the company.
It he is not elected President of the United States
again he will be free to serve as the active president.
If he should be, then what is there to prevent
his remaining as the honorary president?
On the other hand, the concession which
the Nicaraguan government is ready to make
depends upon General Grant being at the head
of the company. If by reason of the demands
of his countrymen General Grant should again
be elected President of the United States the Nica-
raguan government would most willingly exchange
his active for his moral support, which his position
as President would certainly enable him to give.
If the capitalists of the country making, the cop-
cession are satisfied who else is to be consulted?""
DEFINING THE GENERAL'S POSITION.
"I have said it will be several months before Gen-
eral Grant could formally accept the presidency of
the company. At prescut he is on an equality with
the gentlemen selected to be the corporators when
be
the concession ratifică. The Commission will
then return to New York. and upon the basis of
the concession the act of incorporation will be
drawn, the leading features, of which have already
been published in the HERALD. I have calculated
the time pretty closely, and I should say that by the
1st of March, or by the middle of that month, the act,
would be ready to be introduced in Congress.
That act will enumerate the same gentlemen as
is included in the petition for the concession to
be asked of Nicaragua, headed by General Grant.
When the act is passed and the corporators are em-
powered to organize, then General Grant will be
chosen president. He is now, to all intents,
president, inasmuch as he is at the head of the en-
terprise. More than that, he is doing to-day all that
lies in his power to promote the enterprise, and all
that is lacking are some details such as business
prudence naturally suggests."
"You speak of a commission visiting Nicaragua.
Will you please give me the names of the parties se-
lected?"
THE VISITING AMERICAN COMMISSION.
"I do not feel at liberty to mention but one, and
that is Señor de Franco, who is anxious to leave on
the steamer next Monday and leave, the other mem-
bers to follow in the steamer of the 30th inst."
"What is the reason of the haste?"
"The letters received from Nicaragua urge prompt
action on the part of the American company. As Mr.
De Franco is a prominent member of the Nicaraguan
government his presence at home would enable the
President of Nicaragua to anticipate the arrival of
the main body of the commission and convene Con-
gress without delay, so that upon the arrival of
the other members they would find, perhaps,
that Congress awaited their coming. You see, the
object is not so much to gain time as it is to head off
the attempts of European agents to intrigue at inst
the United States. The presence of Mr. De Franco
will do this effectually."
"What is he now waiting for?"
"Simply for the perfection of the preliminaries,
which will be completed, I trust, in time for him to
leave New York on next Monday! You can judge for
yourself whether any time has been lost since Gen-
eral Grant arrived in Philadelphia or not."
"And the remainder of the members follow him
with the perfected details of the petition and guar-
antees?"
"That is the understanding."
THE COPORATORS AND CAPITALISTS.
"Will you please give me the names of the gentle-
men associated with General Grant in this enter.
prise?"
in
be
"I am not at liberty to do so. They re ten or
twelve in number. gentlemen casuch race
the finited States that their names ill
a sufficient guarantee of the solidity
the company. Of course they are not all the corpo
ators. More will be added, I understand, so as to in-
clude the names of prominent bankers in England
and France; but the names I refer to are those who
have agreed to inaugurate the work."
"Will it be necessary to make any more prelimi-
nary surveys?"
are
"No, sir; those already made are considered
amply sufficient, and the projectors
coufident nat the detailed
surveys will
diminish the estimates for the construction of
the canal instead of increasing them. No, as soon
as the act passes Congress we will be ready to begin
practical operations all along the line of the pro-
posed route. There are many details I might tell
yo, but they would be uninteresting at this time.
What the HERALD is most anxious to know is whether
General Grant is in earnest. I think there will be
no doubt on that point within the next ten days."
WHY THE GENERAL'S TRIP IS DELAYED.
"In speaking of the concession the commission
will ask for, are the points you have named those
determined upon in Philadelphia, or are they such
as the government of Nicaragua stands ready to
grant?"
"Mainly such as the officials of that country have
proposed to incorporate in the treaty or concession
granting the right of way. Of course the practical
details of such a demand will have to be drawn up
with great care, and those can only be determined by
the parties asking for the concession. Nicaragua
has indicated what she is ready to do, and the land
grant alone ought to be as valuable as the canal
property itself." Mr. Menocal said that there were
still some minor matters to be fixed, and that all
could be arranged by the last of the month. This
will explain the reason why Geucral Grant delays
his departure for Cuba.
IMPORTANT LAND SUIT DECIDED.
[BY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERALD.]
HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 20, 1879.
A case of great importance to the Reading Coal
and Iron Company (another name for the Philadel-
phia and Reading Railroad Company) was decided in
its favor to-day in the Dauphin County Court. This
decision establishes the validity of their title to about
twenty-nine thousand six hundred acres of land in
Dauphin and Schuylkill counties. In 1794 James
Wilson, one of the signers of the Declaration
of Independence, and subsequently a judge
of the United States Supreme Court, pur-
chased from the State seventy-four tracts of
land containing 20,600 acres. Much of it
has become very valuable because of the discovery
of large quantities of coal cu it. James Wilson paid
the State £28,500 for the land. The purchaser
soon became involved, and in 1802 the property
was sold at Sheriff's sale in this county, Wil-
son's mortgagees buying it in to secure them-
selves. They afterward sold it to several parties. In
1853 the Dauphin and Schuylkill Railroad Com-
pauy came into the possession of 10,000 acres of
the land, and subsequently by an act of the Legis-
lature they were empowered to acquere and did ac-
quire all the property. About twelve years ago the
Reading Coal and Iron Company became the owner
of the 29,600 acres and 12,000 besides. About fitty
years ago, by a title which the Court bas just de-
cided was defective, Edward Gratz took possession of
about five hundred acres of the land, and his heirs
have claimed it since his death. For the possession
of this tract the Reading Coal and Iron Company
brought the present suit. The company established
a clear title to the entire Wilson tract of 29,600 acres.
SIR FRANCIS HINCKS ACQUITTED.
MONTREAL, Dec. 20, 1879.
In the Court of Appeals to-day, the following
judges being on the bench:-Chief Justice Dorion
and Justices Monk, Ramsay, Tessier and Cross-
Mr. Justice Ramsay delivered the judgment, which
was unanimous, in the case of Sir Francis Hincks,
found guilty of signing a false and fraudulent
return of the Consolidated Bank. The Court held
that the government forni upon which the return
was made was detective, and that the act of Parlia-
ment did not define distinctiy enough the headings
under which the statements should be made; that
there was no fraudulent intention on the part of the
defendant, who had complied so far as he could
with the act. All the judges present, including Jus-
tice Monk, who presided at the trial of Sir Francis
Hincks, expressed their concurrence. Mr. Justice
Ronthier, who was prevented from attending from
il mess, also concurred in finding Sir Francis not
guilty. Sir Francis was warmly congratulated by
his friends, but there was no demostration.
ADDRESSING THE SCHOOL CHILDREN.
After lunch General Grant, with Mr. Childs and
his guests, accompanied by ladies, took carriages to
the Academy of Music, which was filled with the
girls of the public schools awaiting his arrival.
At half past two o'clock General Graut appeared
upon the stage accompanied by Governor Hoyt and
Mr. J. P. Wickersham, Mayor Stokley, Bishop Simp-
sou, of the Methodist Episcopal Church; the present
eral Grant's Cabinet; Judges of the Supreme Court
United States Cabinet officers and members of Gen-
of Pennsylvania, the United States courts, the Court
of Common Pleas and Orphans' Courts of Philadel-
universities and colleges; Messrs, George W.
Childs, A. J. Drexel, Thomas Nast and James W.
Harper. Jr.; Presidents of Select and Common Coun-
cils; Committee of Arrangements of the Board of
Public Education; Joint Committee of Arrangements
of City Councils; members of the Board of Public
Education; officers of the army and navy; former
officers of the army and navy; editors of the various
newspapers and the State Senators from the Sena-
torial districts of Philadelphia. On the entrée of the
distinguished guest there was long and loud applause
from the youth in the audience, and then the 1,200
voices burst out in one grand chorus, of "Seo, the
Conquering Hero Comes." When this had con-
eluded Mr. Edward Steel, the president of the Board
of Education, delivered the address of welcome.
At the conclusion of his remarks General Grant, in
a quiet toue, said that he thanked the President of
the Board of Education for their kind welcome. He
Faid: "The safeguard of all power in a free republic
is a wide diffusion of knowledge. Most of the States
have not been so fortunate in that regard as Pennsyl-
vania, but I doubt not that the country will pro-
gress in this direction until a common school educa-,,
tion shall be within the reach of all. These chil
dren," he added, "have good reason to thank the
gentlemen of the educational department of this
city for the privileges accorded them." In conclu-
sion the General reiterated his thanks, bowed to
I'resident Steel and the school girls and then took
his seat amid a round of appianse.
Next on the programine came the "American
Hymn," by Keller-a chorus in two parts-which
was excellently sung. "Down in the Dewy Dell,"
by Smart, was next sung by the pupils of the Girls'
Normal School. This was followed by an address by
Mr. J. P. Wickershan, Superintendent of Public
Instruction in Pennsylvania.
REVIEWING THE BOYS.
in
All the boys' schools were marshalled at Fair-
mount avenue and Broad street, in the northern sec-
tion of the city, and the scene was an exceedingly
animated one. Each section bore a banner, having
on it a particular device, as well as small flags. In
the line of narch the bys passed down Broad street,
up Walnut to Twenty second, countermarching to
Broad, and then passing
review before
General Grant at
the Academy of Music,
and down Chestnut passing the Mayor at
Fifth street, where they were dismissed.
The lowering aspect of the weather and the prospect
of a long, muddy tramp over such pavements as
would make the most fastidious New Yorker feel
perfectly at home, did not dampen the ardor of the
boys, who had turned out in good spirits and in large
numbers. Along the route of the parade crowds of
men and women cheered them.
THE CITY'S BANQUET.
General Grant was driven to the Academy of Fine
Arts, where the city's reception took place. This
lasted from five to nine P. M., during which time
12,000 persons entered and paid their respects to the
ex-President. The Academy was decorated in the
most elaborate style. There was a profusion of
bunting and a magnificent floral display. The door-
ways and galleries were handsomely festooned with
laurel, looped in the middle with a rustic basket
suspended from each loop. The flags of all
nations were arranged at the eastern end of
the hall in the front of the gallery, while in the
gallery proper was a mass of exotic plants, in the
unidst of which was a bust of the General.
The ex-
President, with Mayor Stokley, occipled a position
on the platform, the rear of which formed a grand
garden scene. When the doors were closed at nine
o'clock there was a line, our deep, extending four
blocks. From the Acad the General was driven
to St. Oporge's Hall, at corner of Thirteenth and
the
Arch syreets, where the anquet tendered-
city of Philadelphia was given, commencing at half-
past nine P. M. There were about five hundred in-
vitations issued, which, incinded the members of
Congress from the city, members of the Legislature,
Judges of the courts, heads of the city departments
and inembers of the.City Councils. General Grant
occupied a seat at a table on the platform reserved
for the Mayor, who presided, Judges of the courts
and members of the reception committee. The
General remained only about ten minutes, having
an engagement to fill elsewhere.
GIVING THE BOOM ANOTHER PUSH.
Mayor Stokely, in calling the company to order,
said that they had met two years and a half ago
under similar circumstances. Then they were
called together to say goodby to their illustrious
guest, who was starting on his tour of the world.
The General had made that tour, having visited all-
the princes and potentates of Europe, and being
cordially received by all. He now returned in good
bodily health, ready to be called to any future ser-
vice. The General, Mayor Stokely said, regretted
that he had a pressing engagement which he was
obliged to keep.
In response to calls General Grant arose and said:-
"I have nothing more to say, but to bid you good
night and to thank you for the courtesies I have
always received in this good city of Philadelphia."
General Grant then departed, and the remainder
of the evening was devoted to social enjoyment.
THE LAST GREAT EVENT.
The only important event yet in prospect is the
grand reception of General Grant on Tuesday even-
ing next uy the Union League Club
A manager
active on the Committee of Arrangements said:-
"Nearly five hundred invitations have been sent
cut to distinguished people. We have now, from
information just received, every reason to believe
the President and Mrs. Hayes and the members of
his Cabinet and their wives will be present. In ad-
dition all the members of Grant's old Cabinet, all the
Governors, the entire Congressional delegation of
Pennsylvania, the Tuited States Senate, all the
United States naval and army officials of note, repre-
sentatives of foreign Powers, bishops of all denom-
inations, the United States and State and City Juli-
ciary and all civic dignitaries. We think that fully
twenty-five hundred ladies and gentlemen will be
gathered at the League on this occasion, and our ac-
commodations are based upon a scale to meet at least
this number. The League has charge of the General
on that day, but it will give him a needed rest until
eight o'clock in the evening. The pavilion is to be
used for dancing, the whole second floor for banquet-
ting rooms; the first floor will be devoted to the recep-
tion, and the billiard hali will be used as a cloak
room. In the dancing hall the music will be fur-
uished by the Germania orchestra, under the baton
of Charles M. Schmitz, while the First Regiment
Band, under Bandmaster Beck, will be stationed on
the second floor. The front of the building will be
covered with an awning so arranged as to make an
addition room on the pavement, and it will be mag-
nificently decorated with evergreens, flags, corps
badges and other emblems, under the supervion of
Mrs. Taylor. The interior of the building will present
a most brilliant spectacle. James L. Claghorn will
escort General Grant from the hall to the League,
where the address of welcome will be delivered by
Mr. George H. Boker. The reception will be from
eight to mine, and then will follow the dancing."
GENERAL GRANT'S APPROACHING VISIT TO HIS
MOTHER IN JERSEY CITY.
Mrs. Grant, the mother of the General, resides.on
Jersey City Heights, at the house of Mr. Corbin.
She is now past her eighty-second year and is yet
possessed of a vigor and activity rarely enjoyed at
such an advanced age. A reporter of the HERALD
called at the house last evening and ascertained from
Mr. Corbin, who is at present partially an invalid,
that the General is expected in a few days to spend a
short time with his venerable mother, whom he has
not seen since his return from his long tour. The
wish of the General, in connection with this visit, is
entire privacy, and therefore Mr. Corbin could not
state the precise time of his expected arrival. The
advanced age of Mrs. Grant and her natural aversion
to noise aud publicity will readily account for the
desire of her son to make his visit to her as quiet a
matter as possible.
RAILROAD REORGANIZATION.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 20, 1879.
A syndicate of New York capitalists has purchased
the Columbus and Sandy Creek Valley Railroad by
taking the entire stock of the same and all the
bonded interest. This syndicate has also purchased
the road bed of the old Atlantic and Lake Erie road,
known as the Central, Ohio Railroad, and the two
lines were consolidated last night, and the articles
of incorporation, under the name of Ohio
Central Railroad Company, are ready to be
filed with the Secretary of State. The directors
of the company are George J. Seney, Walston H.
Brown, George F. Stone, E. H. R. Lyman and John
T. Martin, of New York; Daniel P. Eells, of Cleve-
land; C. R. Cumming, of Chicago; Charles Foster,
of Fostoria, Ohio; Samuel Thomas and D. W. Cald-
well, of this city, and Calvin L. Bryce, of Lima,
Ohio. It is proposed to put the road in operation
at once, if local assistance is offered. The north ter-
minus of the road is at Toledo. The capital stock is
$4,000,000. The finished portion of the Columbus
anr Sandy Creek Valley road will be equipped im
mediately, and it will cost about $1,000 per nile 6
complet the road bed of the old Atlantic and Lake
Erie line.
and
to the War Department on the same subject. The
Indians allege that the agent fails to give them more
than the merest fraction of what the treaty with the
government stipulates. They say that no hats,
trousers, shoes or shirts are issued to them
that all that they releive in the way
of, clothing are coats or overcoats. They
allege that when White succeeded Major
Brightly, tour years ago, he began to cut off their
supplies and that from that time the half-breeds,
who were not entitied to rank as members of the
tribe, began to come upon the reservation. The
Winnebago half-breeds, according to Headdross,
were made citizens by the government many years
ago and received each $1,000 and a quarter section of
land at Prairie Du Chien, Wis. They gradually
deserted their farms and returned to the tribe in
order to draw annuities of money, provisions and
clothing. This fact was unknown to the govern-
ment, and a second time, in Blue Earth county,
Minn., these Indians received citizenship, with a
farm and $570 13 each.
ALLEGED NEGLECT OF THE AGENT.
Since then they have again returned to the tribe in
large numbers, and of the annuities due to the tribe
the Indians receive hardly anything, while the half
breeds are given a superfluity of clothing, provisions,
horses and wag ns and farming implements. The
Judians becoming incensed at this state of affairs
requested the half breeds to leave, but refused to let
them take with them anything belonging to the gov-
ernment. The attention of the agent has been re-
peatedly directed to this injustice, but it has received
no attention from him. On December 1 a council of
three hundred heads of Winnebago families was
called and decided to complain to the govern-
ment, and appointed Headdress, and Monigah to
make the complaint. White learned of this and
securing a statement from the half breeds that the
agency was managed efficiently, hastened to Wash
ington. Headdress states that not many full bloods
are left on the reservation, as some have gone to other
tribes and others have hired out to farmers to cat
wood or perform inenial services. The charge is
also made that the agent issues ploughs, cultivators
and wagons regularly to half breeds, who sell them
to white farmers and receive others at the next
issue. General Crook has inciosed a copy of their
statement to the Secretary of War, and men here,
familiar with affairs at the Winnebago agency, state
that they believe the statement to be true.
A CHEROKEE THREAT.
INDIGNATION OF THE CIVILIZED INDIAN TRITES
AT THE ATTEMPTS OF SCHEMERS AND SPEOU-
LATORS TO CHANGE THEIR SYSTEM OF GOV-
ERNMENT ARMED OPPOSITION NOT IMPROB-
ABLE.
ST. LOUIS, MO., Dec. 20, 1879.
Colonel W. P. Adair, assistant principal chief of
the Cherokee Indians, arrived here yesterday with a
delegation from his nation en route to Washington.
The Colonel says the delegation is instructed by the
council of the nation to oppose any change of gov-
ernment over them, and to collect from the govern-
ment a very large sum of money due the Cherokees
for their lands in the Indian Territory west
of the Arkansas River. They also expect to arrange
with the government to prevent any depreciation in
the principal and interest of their invested funds,
to fix the statu of the colored people in the nation
and to expel t intruders from their country, of
whom, he says, there are thousands. He also says
that there are not ten Indians in the entire nation
who favor the establishment of territorial govern-
ment over them, and that his people are in as good
or better condition than those in adjoining States.
Owing to a severe drouth last summer, however, his
people failed to raise any grain, and he says that he
will have to arrange for a, loan of money from the
government to purchase I readstuffs.
Speaking or the establishment of territorial gov-
ernment over the Indian Territory, he says it will be
opposed by all the civilized tribes, even to the em-
ployment of physical force. These tribes, includ-
ing the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks,
Seminoles, Osages, Wyandottes, Senecas. Delawares,
Shawnees and several others, can raise, he says,
some fifteen thousand soldiers, good fighting men,
most of whom fought on both sides in the late war.
There are thirty-eight nations and tribes and parts of
tribes in the Indian Territory, all of whoni would
join in opposition to the proposed change of govern-
Maptic Hesays due on throughout e Ter-
ritory is not only strong, but bitter and determined,
and that in case of a conflict he doubts the ability
of the United States army to subdue the Indians.
He also says that in case of a rupture there would be
a terrible scene of bloodshed on the borders adjoin-
ing the States, and he shudders to contemplate the
result.
A NEW PARTY IN TENNESSEE.
[BY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERALD.1
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 20, 1879.
The "low tax democrats" have held, two caucuses
and determined that they would bolt from the dem-
ocratic party, and to that end will meet again in
caucus next Monday night to perfect the organiza-
tion of the new party by appointing State executive
committees and arranging for appointment of
committees in the different counties. They assert
that the entire press, with two exceptions, mer-
chants and bankers, the railroads and moneyed men
generally, are opposed to them, and that they have
a tough battle before them, and that they would be
forced to establish a "low tax" daily paper in Nash-
ville. The "low tax" democrats favor the payment
of mileage, capital and agricultural bonds, amount-
ing to over $2,000,000, and the repudiation of the
remaining $2,000,000 of the State debt.
DEATH OF WILLIAM M'KEE.
RECALLING THE FAMOUS "WHISKEY FRAUDS".
THE TRIAL, CONVICTION AND PARDON OF THE
DECEASED.
ST. LOUIS, Mo., Dec. 20, 1879.
William McKee, senior proprietor of the Globe-
Democrat, died very suddenly of heart disease at
about one o'clock this morning, aged sixty-four
years.
M'KEE AND THE "WHISKEY RING."
Mr. William McKee, although the senior proprietor
of a prominent newspaper, never himself became
conspicuous until the great excitement over the
famous "whiskey frands" which began in
1875, when he, Colonel Babcock (President
Grant's military secretary) and several others
holding political positions were accused of
being members of a powerful cabal, leagued to-
gether for the purpose of carrying on a systematic
embezzlement of the government tax on spirituous
liquors. The raid upon this gigantic conspiracy.was
conceived and directed by Mr. B. II. Bristow, Secre-
tary of the Treasury, and a singular phase of it was
that it was supposed by many persons to have some
relation, so far as Mr. McKee was concerned, to
the former's aspiration to the Presidency. About 1871
McKee asked of General Grant the appointment of
Colonel Maguire as Collector of St. Louis, but was
met with a refusal. His wishes were also ignored
in the appointment of McDonald as Supervisor of
Internal Revenue. McKee used the Democrat to help
divide the republican vote of Missouri in the contest
of 1870. In 1871, however, the bitter opposition to
Grant which he had carried on ceased with great sud-
denness, and it was one of the coincidences made most
of in the subsequent "whiskey trials" that the great
"ring" was formed at this identical time. It is un-
necessary to give a history of its transactions. It
was alleged that McKee derived an income from it
of from $500 to $1,000 a week. During the Presi-
dential compaign of 1872 the distillers of St. Louis
were assessed immense sums ostensibly for polit-
ical purposes, and the Democrat newspaper supported
Grant. It was, however, sold early in the year,
under a judicial order for a dissolution of partner-
ship, and Mr. McKee soon afterward helped to
found the Globe. This also sounded zealously the
praises of the President until 1873, when a quarrel
in the "ring" was alleged to have caused its loyalty
to cool. Soon after, however, it resumed its former
tone, owing, it was said, to a restoration of harmony
among the men of whom it was the organ. In 1875
the lightning of exposure struck the "ring" and the
Democrat, then owned by Mr. Fishback, was among
the foremost to swell the hue and cry. Negotia-
tions had been pending for two months for the sale
of the Democrat to Mr. McKee, The purchase was
now speedily accomplished, and that journal was
quite as speedily consolidated with the Globe. This
measure, however, did not delay the work of in-
vestigating the alleged "ring." Mr. McKee was tried
in the next year, and was convicted and sentenced to
imprisonment for two years and to the payment of a
fine of $10,000. Great efforts were made and mon-
ster petitions were obtained to secure his pardon,
which was granted by the President on the 20th of
April, 1876, with remission of the fine.
TWO MEN SHOT.
.NEW ORLEANS, La., Dec. 20, 1879.
A despatch to the Galveston News, from Sherman,
says that a party of fifteen rowdies oame there from
Montague county and the Indian Territory, to attend
a disreputable dance, with the avowed determi-
nation not to be molested by police officers. Officer
Bond and Deputy Sherift Parrot raided the party as
they were leaving the dance. Pistols were drawn,
and in the mêlée two men, Mitchell and Elliott, were
shot. The former will die.
THE STEAM YACHT ADRIFT IN THE GULF
STREAM-SUDDEN TERMINATION OF THE VOY-
AGE AROUND THE WORLD-M. HENRI SAY
AND FAMILY RESCUED BY A NORWEGIAN
VESSEL.
A very distinguished party were assembled on
Wednesday afternoon, December 10, on the pier of the
Transatlantic Steamship Company to bid bon voyage
to M. Henri Say and his family, who were starting
on a voyage around the world. The beautiful steam
yacht, Henriette, which was expected to be the float-
ing home of the voyagers for more than two
years, was in exceptionally handsome trim,
and her snow white decks, burnished brass work,
faultless tidiness and fine looking crew attracted the
admiration of all the lookers on. There was abun-
dant handshaking and enthusiastic cheering as the
Henriette moved into the stream, the French tri-
color waving in the breeze, and her steam tender,
Le Follet, following in her wake. On her forward
deck stood M. Say and Mme. Say, who waved an
'adieu to her friends on the pier, M. Glaenzer and the
Count De Mouselly. A comely nurse held up in her
arms M. Say fils, who crowed lustily and tossed his
arms as if a voyage around the world was emi-
nently the proper thing for any well regulated baby
to do. The brass cannon on the Henriette bellowed
forth an adieu, which was re-echoed in deeper tones
by the huge liner Labrador, which was just then
starting for Havre.
MI. Henri Say, the owner, is a nephew of M. Leon
Say, the Minister of Finance of the French Republic,
and a devoted yatchaman. He has been for years one
of the most active members of the Cherbourg Yacht
Club, and the treacherous seas of the English
Channel are as familiar to him as Chantilly, where
he has also carried off abundant turf honors. He de-
voted much time, care and money in preparing for
his cruise around the world, and looked forward to a
season of unalloyed enjoyment. Mme. Say is a
very charming lady, well Lnown in the highest
circles of Parisian society. AI. Glaenzer
and the Count de Monselly accompanied M.
Say as his guests. The route laid down for
the voyage, which
to extend
was intended
over two years and a halt was as follows:--New York
to Philadelphia, Washington, Charleston, New Or
leans, Havana, Kingston, Porto Rico, Martinique,
Trinidad and the other West Indian ports: Rio Jane-
iro, Buenos Ayres, around Cape Horn, Valparaiso,
Callao, Panama, San Francisco, Honolulu, Yokolaina,
Chinese ports, perhaps Australia and New Zealand,
Calcutta, Bombay, Suez Canal, Mediterranean, Cher-
bourg and back to New York.
DISABLED AT SEA.
The following despatch was received at this office
last night:-
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 1879
The Signal Corps station at Cape Honry reports to Chief
Signal Officer at five P. M. as follows: Captain Thomas
Cunningham, of the pilot boat Starkey, reports to this
office as follows:-The French steam yacht Henriette,
bunud to Charleston S. C., became disabled at a point
about one hundred miles southeast of Cape Henry. The
owner. M. Say and family were taken aboard the Norwe-
gtan brig Aabine, Master A. B. Lix, which passed this sta-
tion bound to Baltimore at three P. M. The yacht Hen-
riette is supposed to be in a helpless condition, drifting
abent in the Gulf Stream. Hier owner has telegraphed for
assistance from Norfolk, Va.'"
A despatch from Norfolk, Va., says: "The steam
yacht Henrietta was not wrecked but simply dis-
abled, and the owner left her to obtain a steamer to
tow her in. She is in no immediate danger."
DESCRIPTION OF THE YACHT.
The Henriette was built for Mr. Boucicault over
a year ago and was first christened the Shanghraun.
She is the largest steam yachtever built in this cor
try with the single exception of the America, which
was sold to the government as a despatch boat about
the time of the Virginius trouble. The Henriette is
205 feet over all, 164 feet at the water line and 26
feet beam, drawing 12 teet of water; measurement,
500 tons. The usual arrangement of quarter deck
and forecastle were reversed in her case. The quar-
ters of the crew were placed aft, those of the
officers being separated from them by a bulkhead.
In the centre of the yacht was the main saloon, and
forward of this eight staterooms, tive on the port
and three on the starboard side. Bath and toilet
rooms were provided on both sides. The engines
were of the most approved and novel pattern, and it
was expected that a speed of sixteen knots an hour
might be attained in a smooth sea. The smoking or
lounging saloon, a circular cabin on the upper deck,
just forward ot the wheelhouse, was sumptuous and
luxurious enough for even a Turkish pacha of
the olden time. AN the cabins and staic-
rooms were furnished in Eastlake joinery
Queen Anne style. The chintz pattern
prevailed in the upholstery, and every accessory to
ease and enjoyment was brought into requisition.
Over the carpets at the entrances to the staterooms
and in the centre of the main saloon were flung tiger
and leopard skins. in profusion. On every side were
Louis Quatorze clocks, large pier glasses and grace-
ful brass lamps swinging ju their gimbals from the
niches near the bulkheads, magnificent pianoforte of
the upright style, rich curtains and hangings, heavy
velvet carpets, costly oil paintings, rare statuettes
and groups in bronze and marble and artistic carv.
ings in wood.
and
THE OFFICERS AND CREW.
The chief officer and commander of the Henriette
is M. Lafoud, formerly commander of one of the
Transatlantic steamships in the Mediterranean ser-
vice. He is considered a naval officer of great experi-
ence, cool judgment and undoubted skill. His im-
nediate subordinate is M. Voitoux, who has also
had a great deal of experience in the French marine
service, although quite young in years. The only
exceptions to tue Gallio nationality of the
officers and crew were the chief engineer, John I..
G. Cooke, and his assistants, David Fraser and
Murphy. The discipline of the French service
was maintained on board, the crew, numbering
thirty men, being all recruited from that quarter.
There are two quartermasters, a boatswain, carpen-
ter, sailmaker and coxswain, besides the mess cooks
and stewards. The Henriette was well supplied
with coal and provisions, having sixty tons of coal
on board when she left this port and stores of all de-
scriptions for two months. She, carried a small
steain launch and three other boats. She was
accompanied by a steam tender called Le Follet, an
English built craft, 114 feet in length at the water
line and 18 feet breadth of beam. This tender is
commanded by Captain Frequer, formerly a sub.
commander in the French navy, and has a crew of
ten men.. It was the intention of M. Say when start-
ing from New York on his long voyage to have the
tender precede the Henriette until they got down
into the tropics, and therefore it is probable that the
Follet started, for Charleston a few days before the
Henriette.
THE NEW STATE ADMINISTRATION.
ALBANY, Dec. 20, 1879.
Comptroller-elect Wadsworth has made the follow-
ing appointments:-Deputy Comptroller, Henry
Gallien, of Albany; Accountant, George Seely, of
Oswego; Warrant Clerk, Wiilis E. Merriman, of Al-
bany; Entry Clerk, Thomas H. Schuyler, of Schenec
tady; General Clerk, Legrand Benedict, of Rens-
selaer; Stationery Clerk, F. N. Chase, of Broome;
Chief Tax Clerk, Sidney W. Park, of Rensselaer. Tax
Clerks-Marcus B. Williams, of Delaware; William
H. Van Allen, of Albany; George W. Bliss, of Albany;
William H. Sanger, of Westchester; Allen Comstock,
of Washington; T. H. Davis, of Steuben; Edward
Pond, of Monroe, and Almerin Cartwright, of Dela-
ware; Assistant Agent to Examine Auctioneers' Ac-
counts, Thomas H. Wiles, of Albany.
THE MILWAUKEE HOUSE OF COR-
RECTION.
MILWAUKEE, Wis., Dec. 20, 1879.
The State Board of Charities and Reform sub-
mitted a report on the management of the Milwaukee
House of Correction to Governor Smith to-day. It
says:-"After eliminating all testimony of a criminal
class there remains ample proof of brutal treatment
by McGarry, Kennedy, Haze and some of their sub
ordinates. Medical testimony proved that confine-
ment in dark cells for any length of time would de-
velop disease that might end in death." These black
holes were in common use, and the Board gives its
opinion that confinement in these cells had perma-
nently impaired the health of some persons, and
that others had contracted diseases that had
in death. The Board says some
resulted
of the meat furnished to prisoners was unit
for use and should have been thrown to the dogs,
and condemned the practice of contracting for
The report concludes that the
"prisoners' meat."
character of the House of Correction should be
changed; that prisoners convicted of grave crimes
should be sent to Waupun to serve unexpired terms
and those remaining should be classified. The
female inmates should be cared for exclusively by
women attendants and juvenile offenders taught
rudimentary branches of education, and al: made to
understand that they are still regarded as human
beings.
The report is uanimous.
HEAVY SHIPMENTS.
NEW ORLEANS, La., Dec. 20, 1879.
Fifteen seagoing vessels cleared from here to-day,
including eight steamships, laden with cotton
grain, &c. The amount of cotton shipped is 46,300
bales, being the largest quantity on record from this
port in one day, and embracing 32,000 bales for Liv-
erpool, 8,800 for Havre, 2,200 for Bremen, 1,100 for
There were also
Spain and 2,200 for New York.
quantities of bulk grain, sugar, molasses, &c. Tua
total value of the shipments is $3,000,000.
TFLEGRAPH LITIGATION.
CHICAGO, Ill., Dec. 20, 1879.
The recent attempt of the American Union Tale-
graph Company in the Appellate Court of this dis
trict to secure possession of the lines of the Great
Western Telegraph Company has failed. The
motion to set aside the supersedeas procured by the
Western Union Company was denied by the Court
after full argument. This decision continues the
supersedeas and these liues will remain in posses-
sion of the Western Union Telegraph Company unr
its claim against them is paid
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One of his Campy cup to the light of a single
gasjet (to be mou definite, let us call it
12 Candle pown) for more than three hous.
To be still more definite I offer to m
Edison, at 226 Wry that
Wyth
ил
This city,
apportunity to prove what he says.
سية
From the
private residence in that street, wires are
это
rum a cucuit of 1000 fut, mr Edison
shall have Every facility; he shall we
livery Wires : he shall have
By Machine
ん
​Thi
any dynamo
or other genuctor of electivity
he may preferr; and all I ask is that
by
the power of his light shall be measurest
a photo mites: that, one in place,
it shall not be interfered with! and that
a Committee of gentlenice, preferably
pominated by the editors of the wet press.
agate
8K
the
shall be present and cutify to facts
of the text
Furthermore, I will play
(it
one of my Camps side by side with m
Edisons; it shall be run at a porn
of 25 Candly; it shall outlast the
entire 40 lamps
at Menlo Park run an
the power of 20 candle;) my lamp to stand
As it is put up, and nor Edison to put up
as the preceding
a fush Camp
مه
fast
onclamp shall have burned out.
I I am anxious for this test; and if
Mr Edison has really run one of his
ん
​lumperhorse shoe larify 240 hours he will
not refuse to ampt my offer, for he
will be treated with the utmost courtesy
And shall have everything his own way.
I adhere in every partion law.
to my original challange to Mr Edison,
"
78 Walker street, New York Jen
4
Darply
W. E. Lawyer.
Dear Stellman
да
Please fill this bay
can
with pure gas, repecting all the air you
перевид
frist.
When can I have it?
evile
is made a
the gas is
дао
the
solutions ?
anhydride
you
cine
sherr me
round after
how to fix
Ale bring some phophore
Imily more Pamper
(Ediggris Ex libit When
Jo. 24)
S.E.
Cons EL to is Mckeestaad to wefts Exhibit 24W57. S. E.
notary J.y.co.
public
296
:
CONSOLIDATED
VS.
MCKEESPORT.
Defendants' Cross-examination
Exhibit
Morton's Paper on Electric Light,
W. T. F., S. E.
[From the "American Gas Light Journal," Feb. 17,
1879.]
LECTURE UPON THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.
DELIVERED OCT. 17, 1878, BEFORE THE AMERICAN GAS-
LIGHT ASSOCIATION,
By Prof. HENRY MORTON, Ph.D.,
Pres. Stevens Inst., Hoboken, N. J.
[Concluded from page 54.]
681
682
In addition to the other forms or modifications of 683
magneto-electric machines-by which name I intend to
designate all that I have already described, as I do
not think that the term dynamo-electric machines, to
designate those in which electro-magnets, excited by
the machine itself, are used as producers of the "field
of force" or magnetic field in which the revolving mag-
nets move, as distinguished from the earlier sort, using
permanent magnets or the like, is at all necessary-
there are some others which should not be passed over
without notice.
In the first place, Mr. Edward Weston, of Newark,
is manufacturing a machine resembling exactly in ap-
pearance, and, as far as I can see, in all essentials of
construction, that which I have already described and
shown as Siemens' later form (see Fig. 27). With sev-
eral of these machines I have made numerous trials lately,
and find them to run well for as much as ten hours at a
time, and to give a higher efficiency in light per horse
power than any of the other machines with which I
have experimented. This result seems to agree with
684
297
685 the general result of experiments made in Europe with
the machines of Siemens, and with a general verbal
686
687
நி.ை..
FIG. 40.
statement which was made to me as to the result of ex-
periments at the U. S. Torpedo Station at Newport,
R. I., where they have one of these Siemens machines.
There is also a very efficient machine manufactured
by Messrs. Arnoux & Hochhausen, of New York. Some
688 of these were used very successfully last summer for
lighting the bathing beach at Coney Island and for
lighting several points in New York during the holiday
season this winter and the new State House at Albany
during its inauguration.
One of these was kindly loaned to me on the evening
of the address here reported, but as it was soon after-
ward required for use by its manufacturers I have not
had an opportunity to make any examination of or ex-
periments with it. It much resembles the second form
of Wilde, or the Farmer machine in general arrange-
ment.
298
In describing the various forms and modifications of 689
these machines I have not attempted in all cases to
follow the chronological order of each step, as this
would sometimes have involved the skipping about from
one type of machine to another. I will now, therefore,
give an abstract of the chronology of the subject, fol-
lowing Dr. Schellen's book as an authority for a part of
the list:
1831. Faraday discovered magneto-electric induction.
1832. Pixii made first magneto-electric machine.
1833. Saxton made magneto-electric machine.
1836. Clarke made magneto-electric machine.
1849. Nollet-Van Malderen-Alliance machine.
1852. Holmes introduced electro-magnets.
1857. Siemens introduced peculiar armature.
1864, Pacinotti, the first continuous current machine.
1866. Wilde made his first form of machine.
1866. Siemens & Halke, same principle as Ladd.
1867. Ladd, self-exciting principle.
1867. Wheatstone developed same principle.
690
1871. Gramme first described his continuous current 691
machine.
1873. Wilde described his second form.
1875. Siemens describes his machine. (Fig. 27.)
1873. Farmer patented machine like Wilde's second.
1874. Lontin machine, for many circuits.
1878. Gramme's alternating machine.
In considering the practical application of the elec-
tric arc as a source of light, it becomes very important
to notice with accuracy just what is the chief location
of light in the ignited poles, and how this may be af- 692
fected by various conditions.
Thus, in the first place, if we are using a machine
with a current of uniform direction, we will find that the
upper or positive pole, as they are generally arranged,
soon acquire a cup-shaped form, as shown in Fig. 40,
and that the most intensely luminous portion of the
carbon is the interior of this positive cup. The edges
of this cup will evidently cut off this light from spread-
ing upward for a very considerable angle, while on the
other hand all the lightfrom this interior luminous area
299
693 will pass freely downward. From this it will of course
follow that very different results would be obtained if,
with such machine and arrangement of the carbons,
the lights were measured from below, or on a level, or
from above.
694
695
696
Fig. 41.
If the two carbon points are not placed truly in line
with each other, then we have such a state of affairs as
is shown in Fig. 41.
Here, evidently, while the light from the hollow pos-
itive pole would radiate freely in front, it would be
largely cut off behind, and escape only with a medium
degree of facility at either side; in fact, measure-
ments made with such arrangements show the following
figures:
Representing by 100 the light emitted, in a horizon-
tal position, when the points are in line, we have for
the various directions, when they are displaced as shown
in Fig. 41 in front, 287; latterly, 116; backward, 38.
In the report of experiments made by a com-
300
mittee of the Franklin Institute (see Journal of that 697
Society, vol. 75, p. 301) I find the record of a similar
set of measurements, as follows:
Front..
Side.
Back....
2,218 candles.
578
CC
578
111
<<
3,485÷4-871
"The light produced by the machine, under the 698
same conditions, except the carbons being adjusted
in one vertical line, was 525 candles. This would
seem to indicate that nearly 66 per cent. more
light than was produced by this adjustment of the
carbons; but a close study of the conditions sat-
isfied us that such is not the case, and there is no ad-
vantage to be derived from such adjustment, except
when the light is intended to be used in one direc-
tion only."
This shows us, among other things, how very great a 699
difference of result in candle power may be obtained
with the same apparatus, if a difference occurs in the
arrangement of the points; and it also explains why
an arc which gives a very high candle power when
measured, may quite fail to exhibit anything like an
equal degree of actual illuminating power when put to
some practical use.
Thus, in the case just cited, while the candle power,
measured from the front, would be 287, the average for
all directions would be only 139. or about one-half as 700
great.
In this connection a certain advantage is found in
the use of machines with alterna ting currents. Here
the carbons both burn away alike to the pointed ends,
and the light is thus much more equally distributed
on all sides. (See Fig. 42.)
In most of the machines now in use the cureent
which produces the light is the same which passes
around the coils of the stationary magnets, by which
the field of force is developed; hence there is the most
intimate relations between the machine and the lamp,
301
701 and any fluctuation in the resistance offered at the lat-
ter is at once felt at the machine. To eliminate this
source of uncertainty and irregularity, in some experi-
ments which I have lately conducted with various ma-
chines I have employed a simple, substantial holder for
the carbons, with means of adjustment from time to
time by hand. This requires, of course, the frequent
attention of an assistant during the experiments, but
by this means I have obtained more constant and fa-
vorable results, from all the machines tried, than with
702 any of the automatic lamps.
Next to this I have found the Brush lamp to be most
satisfactory, when used with its own machine.
703
704
FIG. 42.
As the structure of this lamp is very simple, I will
give a description of it here.
This lamp is shown in Figs. 43 and 44, in which a is a
helix of insulated copper wire, resting upon an insu-
lated plate, b, upheld by the metallic post, c. Loosely
302
fitted with the helix is the core d, partly supported by 705
the adjustable springs e. The rod, f, passes freely
through the centre of the core, d, and has at its lower
end a clamp for holding the carbon pencil. A washer,
h, of brass, surrounds the rod f, just below the core, d,
and has one edge resting on the lifting finger attached
to the latter, while the other edge is overhung by the
head of an adjustable screw stop, x.
The metal post, c, is supported and guided by a
tubular post, i, secured to a suitable base plate. At-
tached to the lower end of the post, c, and passing out 706-
through a slot in i, is the arm, y, supporting an insu-
lated holder for the lower carbon.
If now one conducting wire from the machine be
connected to the base plate, and the other to the lower
carbon holder, the current of electricity will pass up
through the posts, i and c, through the helix a, rod ƒ,
and the carbons, kk, thus completing the circuit.
The axial magnetism produced in the helix will draw
up the core, d, and it, by means of the lifting, finger,
will raise one edge of the washer h,
which, by its angular impingement
against the rod, f, clamps and lifts it
to a distance controlled by the ad-
justable stop, x, but separating the
carbon points far enough to produce
the light.
As the carbons burn away, the in-
creased length of the electric arc in-
creases its resistance, and weakens the
magnetism of the helix, and therefore
the coil, rod, and carbon move down-
ward by the force of gravity, until, by
the shortening of the arc, the magnet-
ism of the helix is strengthened, and
downward movement arrested. When,
however, the downward movement is
sufficient to bring the clutch-washer,
h, to the support, g, it will be released
from the clamping effect of the lifting
finger, and the rod, f, will slip through
until arrested by the upward move-
d
K
.. J'k
707
708
k
k
y
FIG. 43.
303
709 ment of the core, due to the increased magnetism of
the helix.
710
The normal position of the clamp-washer is with the
edge under the adjustable stop, just touching the sup-
port, 9, the office of the core being to regulate the slip-
ping of the rod through it. If, however, the rod, from
any cause, falls too far, it will instantly and automati-
cally be raised again, as at first, and the carbon points
thus continued at the proper distance from each other.
In the lamps used in these experiments, the helix
was composed of two separated insulated wires wound
together, so that, by means of suitable pin contracts,
shown at the top of Fig. 10, they could be connected
711
་་་
.12.
x
712
អាក
f
T
FIG. 14.
either couples or end to end, thus varying the inten-
sity of the magnetism of the helix. Thus, in connec-
tion with varying the weight to be lifted by the mag-
netism of the helix, either by loading the core or in-
creasing the upward thrust of the springs, enabled us
to adjust the lamp to suit the varying qualities of the
currents dealt with.
Several new methods of arranging the carbons, and
rendering them more or less adjustable automatically,
have been recently suggested or put in practice.
Thus, in "Nature" for December 19th, 1878, I find a
plan described by Wilde, which consists in placing two
304
carbon rods beside each other, as in the Jablochkoff 718
candle, but without any insulating material between
them. Under these circumstances the author states
that the arc will keep to the extremities of the rods,
or will run to them if established elsewhere.
To provide against extinction, and secure automatic
relighting, one of the holders is hinged so as to allow
its carbon to fall against the other unless pulled away
by an electro-magnet in circuit. This arrangement is
certainly very simple, and free from many of the ob-
jections offered in connection with the Jablochkoff can- 714
dle. It will be seen here, however, that the maximum
light will be developed between the two rods, or, in
other words, on their respective inner surfaces where
it will have the least facility for producing useful effect.
A very curious modification of this candle has been
made by Mr. Edward Weston, in which he places a
strip of some relatively volatile matter on the backs or
outer sides of the parallel carbon rods. The arc then
forms across from these parts, and the incandescent
vapor assumes much the appearance of a gas flame.
Among the recent forms of lamp described in Dr.
Schellen's recent work, "Die Magnet-und Dynamo-
Elektrischen Maschinen," are several announcements
by the Siemens-Halske firm.
In one of these two carbons inclined
inclined towards
each other are allowed to descend, and thus bring their
upper ends together by the withdrawal downwards of a
non-conducting interposed rod, whose motion is con-
trolled by an electro-magnet in the circuit.
715-
In another, which, however, looks like a suggestion 716
rather than a practicable machine, the carbons are ar-
ranged so that the lower one is constantly vibrating up
and down, and the upper one simply rests upon it, ex-
cept in so far as it is being constantly knocked away
by the motion of the lower one, which motion is effected
by an electro-magnet in the circuit.
A much more complete apparatus, on the same
principle we will describe presently.
Among the latest developments in electric lamps may
305
717 be reckoned the plan of Mr. Werdermann, which may
be described as follows:
718
719
C
FIG. 45.
Mr. Werdermann makes one electrode to consist of a
disc of carbon tapering inthichness from the center to
the circumference on one side and flat on the other.
The other electrode is a very fine and thin rod of carbon,
with one end pointed. The disc is placed horizontally
720 with the rounded side downwards, and the thin
rod vertically, and in contact with the disc the
current being supplied via the metal collar by
which the road is surrounded near the top. On
passing the electricity the fine point of the car-
bon rod above the collar becomes incandescent, and
a very small electric arc is produced between the two
carbons. Referring to the diagram (Fig. 45), the upper
carbon is shown at C, and the rod carbon at c. The
former is supported by means of an adjustable jointed
bracket B, attached to the wood stand. The rod car-
306
bon is guided by the spring collar on the top of the 721
stand, and to which the connection is made, and is
supported by the fine cord, running over the pulley P.
This cord is attached to the clasp D at the bottom of
the rod and to the balance weight W, by which the rod
is maintained in constant, practical, though not absolute
contact with the disc. Round the upper part of the
disc is a metal band A, to which the circuit wire is
attached, and the current thus passed on to the next
lamps.
was 722
"This lamp (says the Ironmonger of Nov. 9),
tried on October 28, and again on November 6, on the
works of the British Telegraph Manufactory (Limited),
Euston Road, London, the current being derived from
a small Gramme machine of two-horse power. At the
commencement two lights were maintained equal to
640 candles, and the light was perfectly steady. Subse-
quently the current was sent through a row of 20 lamps
the light of each being equal to 40 candles; still the
light was steady. Mr. Werdermann asserted his ability
to distribute the current from the small machine then 723
at work so as to divide it among 60 lights. In that
case the light would inevitably be small; but enough
is apparent to prove that, so far as a current will
bear division, Mr. Werdermann will be able to utilize
it."
It will be noticed that here, as with all other flamps
working by incandescence, there is great loss, which in-
creases with the subdivision. A Gramme machine
utilizing two-horse power should give, with an ordinary
lamp, a light of from 1,000 to 1,500 candles, in place of 724
the 640 here claimed from two lamps, or the 400 can-
dles claimed for ten lamps.
A yet more recent system is that devoloped or, we
might rather say, now in course of development, by
Profs. Elihu Thomson and Edward Houston, of Phila-
delphia, which they have themselves described as fol-
lows:
"As is well known, when an electrical current, which
flows through a conductor of considerable length, is
307
725, suddenly broken, a bright flash, called the extra spark,
appears at the point of separation. The extra spark
will appear, although the current is not sufficient to
sustain an arc of any appreciable length at the point of
separation.
"In our system, one or both of the electrodes, which
may be the ordinary carbon electrodes, are caused to
vibrate to and from each other. The electrodes are
placed at such a distance apart that in their motion
toward each other they touch, and afterward recede a
726 distance apart, which can be regulated. These motions
or vibrations are made to follow one another at such a
rate that the effect of the light produced is continuous;
for, as is well known, when flashes of light follow one
another at a rate greater than 25 to 30 per second, the
effect produced is that of continuous light. The vibra-
tory motions may be communicated to the electrodes
by any suitable device, such, for example, as mechanism
operated by a coiled spring, a weight, compressed air,
etc.; but it is evident that the current itself furnishes
727 the most direct method of obtaining such motion, as
by the use of an automatic vibrator, or an electric
engine.
"In practice, instead of vibrating both electrodes,
we have found it necessary to give motion to but one,
and since the negative electrode may be made of such
size as to waste very slowly, motion is imparted to it,
in preference to the positive. The carbon electrodes
may be replaced by those of various substances of
sufficient conducting power. In this system, when de-
728 sired, an independent battery circuit is employed to
control the extinction and lighting of each lamp,
"The following is a description of one of the forms of
electric lamp which we have devised, to be used in con-
nection with our system of electric lighting:
"A flexible bar, b, of metal is firmly attached at one
of its ends to a pillar, p, and bears at its other end an
iron armature, a, placed opposite the adjustable pole-
piece of the electro-magnet, m. A metal collar, c, sup-
ports the negative electrode, the positive electrode being
308
729
น.
MA
DH++
R
b
α
HOI
730
731
FIG. 46.
supported by an arm, j, attached to the pillar, p. The
pillar, p, is divided by insulation at i into two sections,
the upper one of which conveys the current from the 732
binding post, marked +, to the arm, j, and the rod, r,
supporting the positive electrode.
"The magnet, m, is placed as shown by the
dotted line the circuit which produces the light.
The pillar, p, is hollow, and has an insulated con-
ducting wire inclosed, which connects the circuit-
closer, v, to the binding post, marked
current is conveyed to the negative
trode through b and the coils of the magnet, m.
The
elec-
When
the electrodes are in contact, the current circulating
309
733 through m renders it magnetic and attracts the arma-
ture, a, thus separating the electrodes, when, on the
weakening of the current, the elasticity of the rod, b,
again restores the contact. During the movement of
the negative electrode, since it is caused to occur many
times per second, the positive electrode, though partially
free to fall, cannot follow the rapid motions of the
negative electrode, and therefore does not rest in per-
manent contact with it. The slow fall of the positive
electrodo may be insured either by properly propor-
734 tioning its weight, or by partly counterposing it. The
positive electrode thus becomes self-feeding.
may
"The rapidity of movement of the negative carbon
be controlled by means of the rigid bar, l, which
acts practically, to shorten and lengthen the part vibra-
ting. In order to obtain an excellent but free contact
of the arm, j, with the positive electrode, the rod, r,
made of iron or other suitable metal, passes through a
cavity filled with mercury, placed in electrical contact
with the arm,j. Since the mercury does not wet the
735 metal rod, r, or the sides of the opening through
which it passes, free movement of the rod is allowed
without any escape of the mercury. We believe that
this feature could be introduced advantageously into
other forms of electric lamps.
"In order to prevent a break from occurring in the
circuit when the electrodes are consumed, a button, v,
is attached to the upper extremity of the rod, R, at such
a distance that when the carbons are consumed as much
as is deemed desirable, it comes into contact with a
736 tripping lever, t, which then allows two conducting
plugs, attached to the bar, v, to fall into their respective
mercury cups, attached, respectively, to the positive.
and negative binding posts by a direct wire. This
action practically cuts the lamp out of the circuit."
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 19, 1878.”
In a later publication (Journal of the Franklin In-
stitute for January, 1879), the same inventors describe
a further modification and extension of their system as
follows:
•
"The following apparatus was devised by the authors
310
for the purpose of obtaining induced reversed currents 737
for use in electric illumination. These currents we use
F
FIG. 47.
E
E
with a vibrating lamp, a de-
scription of which has already
been published.
"Our method of operation
is as follows: A reversed
primary current is caused to
induce reversed secondary cur
rents in secondary coils pro-
vided therefor. These second- 738
ary currents are caused to give
vibrations to carbon electrodes,
and thereby at the same time
produce a partial arc between
them. With sufficient strength
of primary current, a consider-
able number of secondary cur-
rents are obtained, each of
739
which is able to operate one of our vibrating lamps.
“The use of a vibrating lamp admits of a wide range
in the size of the carbons employed. When a light of
very moderate intensity is desired, the carbons are made
very small size, and are placed in a closed glass vessel
for protection from the atmosphere. To moderate the
brilliancy opalescent glass is used. To obtain the
highest efficiency of inductive action from a set of
primary coils, the following form of induction of coil
was devised :—the primary coil, P, surrounding the
core, C, is provided with a secondary coil, S, adjacent
to it. The ends E and F of the bobbin are made of 740
disks of iron concentric with the core, C, and slit from
centre to circumference. The outer extremities of these
disks are connected by wires or sheets of iron, L, to one
another, forming in this manner an induction coil en-
cased in iron, or one whose core has its north and south
extremities magnetically connected. The strength of
the current developed in the secondary coil is greatest
when the core, C, which is movable, is inserted so that
both of its extremities are in contact with E and F.
By withdrawing this core, the currents in the secondary
'311
741 coil may be weakened to almost any desired extent.
This coil is best adapted to the use of primary currents
whose direction is constantly changing. All the wire
being completely surrounded by iron, whose direction
of magnetic polarization if rapidly changed, the highest
inductive effect is thereby produced in the secondary coil.
"The variations in the intensity of the induced cur-
rents will, of course, be followed by variations in the
intensity of the light emitted by the lamp. The move-
ment of the core may therefore be made to increase or
742 decrease the intensity of the light."
743
744
With this notice of the newest, or, as we may say,
youngest system of electric lighting, which has its birth-
day with the new year, I may well conclude this hastily
prepared and imperfect notice of this very interesting
subject, and if what I have here thrown together may
supply at least material for a fuller treatment, or a
skeleton on which a completely organized structure may
be constructed, I shall have accomplished all that I
could hope.
Before concluding this address I should draw atten-
tion, in a more direct manner, to something which has
been developed indirectly in the course of my remarks;
and that is that the loss of efficiency in the electric
force as a means of producing light, when it is divided,
is not a unique phenomenon, but is exactly parallel in
the case of ordinary combustion.
If gas is burned in very small flames we may get al-
most no light from it, and, on the other hand, if we
burn it in very large flames, the amount of light de-
veloped will increase in a much higher ratio than will
the amount of gas consumed.
Thus I have here a new burner made by Sugg, of
London, with three concentric argand rings which burns
30 feet of gas, and yields a light equal to 196.4 candles.
The same amount of the same gas burned in six standard
five foot burners yielded a light of 114 candles. Here
is a gain of over 70 per cent. in the total light produced
by simply concentrating the combustion in one large
flame in place of dividing it into six small ones.
312
1
In the case of the ordinary lime-light we have another 745
instance of yet further concentration.
Here, with a consumption of about 7 feet of gas an
hour, in a burner with three jets heating a cylinder of
lime from all sides, we obtain a light equal to 260
candles in every direction.
This shows very clearly the illogical character of the
comparisons so often made between the concentrated
light of the electric arc and the divided light of the or-
dinary gas burner.
Heretofore electric lights have only been practically 746
developed in their concentrated form, and it certainly
has not yet been shown that, when divided there will be
an enormous loss of efficiency. Gas, on the contrary,
has heretofore only been practically used in its divided
form, and there can be no doubt that its efficiency is
capable of much increase when it is burned in a concen-
trated manner.
It is here where the actual contest will come in, and
the relative success of the two sources of light in each
field will depend upon what it will accomplish in that 747
field and not in some other. In other words, we must
compare the divided electric lights (say Mr. Edison's,
when they become visible) with ordinary burners, and
the electric-arc light with the lime-light, or some such
concentrated form of gas burning.
THE END.
[25184]
748
JANUARY 8TH, 1880.
(C. E., VOL. 3, P. 10).
MAY 17, 1880.
(C. E., VOL. 3, P. 18.)
FEBRUARY 19TH
FEBRUARY 28TH, 1885.
(C. E., VOL. 3, p. 781.)
DECEMBER 4TH, 1884;
AND 20TH, 1885.
(C. E., VOL. 3, P. 775, 777.)
MARCH 13TH, 1885.
(C. E., VOL. 3, p. 787.)
MARCH 14TH, 1885.
(C. E. VOL. 3, p. 789.)
APRIL 21ST, 1885.
(C. E., VOL. 3, P. 792.)
Be it known that we, William E. Sawver,
a resident of the City, County and State of
New York and Albon Man, a resident of
Brooklyn, in the County of Kings and State
aforesaid, both citizens of the United States,
jointly have invented certain new and useful
improvements in electric lights or lamps, of
which improvements the following is a spec-
ification:
Our invention, speaking generally, relates
to that class of electric light employing an
employing an
incandescent conductor enclosed in a vessel
or chamber from which oxygen is excluded,
and constitutes an improvement upon the
apparatus shown in Letters Patent No. 206,-
144, granted to us June 18, 1878.
Our present invention especially relates to
the incandescent conductor; its object is to
secure a cheap and effective apparatus, and
our improvement consists in the employment
of an incandescent arc of carbon in the circuit
as the light-giving medium. The subject
matter claimed is hereinafter specifically
designated.
Beit known, that we, William E. Sawyer,
a resident of the City, County and State of
New York, and Albon Man, a resident of
Brooklyn, in the County of Kings and State
aforesaid, both citizens of the United States,
jointly have invented certain new and useful
improvements in electric lamps, of which
improvements the following is a specifica-
tion:
Our invention, speaking generally, relates
to that class of electric lamps employing an
incandescent conductor enclosed in a trans-
parent hermetically-sealed vessel or chamber
from which oxygen is excluded, and consti-
tutes an improvement upon the apparatus
shown in Letters Patent No. 206,144, granted
to us June 18, 1878.
Our invention more especially relates to
the incandescent conductor. Its object is to
secure a cheap and effective apparatus, and
our improvement consists in the employment
of an incandescing arc of carbon in the cir-
cuit as the light-giving medium. The subject
matter claimed is hereinafter specifically
designated.
The accompanying drawings show our im- The accompanying drawings show all our
provement as embodied in an apparatus sub-improvements as embodied in an apparatus
stantially like that represented in the patent
above-mentioned, being the form in which we
have practically used it, but it may be used
in connection with other forms of apparatus
with good effect.
Fig. 1. Represents a plan or top view of the
apparatus. Fig. 2. A side elevation thereof.
The apparatus being old and well known
except as hereinafter stated and constituting
no part of the subject matter herein claimed
needs no particular description.
Fig. 3. À side view or elevation of the
burner on an enlarged scale to show its de-
tails more clearly, and Fig. 4, a similar edge
view.
substantially like that represented in the
patent above mentioned, being the form in
which we have practically used it, but some
of our improvements may be used in connec-
tion with other forms of apparatus with good
effect.
Figure 1, represents a plan or top view of
the apparatus. Figure 2, a side elevation
thereof. Figure 3, a side view in elevation of
the burner on an enlarged scale to show its
details more clearly; and Figure 4, a similar
edge view.
Unaltered.
Our invention, speaking generally, relates
to that class of electric lamps employing an
incandescent conductor enclosed in a trans-
parent hermetically-sealed vessel or chamber
from which oxygen is excluded, and consti-
tutes an improvement upon the apparatus
shown in Letters Patent No. 205,144, granted
to us June 18, 1878.
Our invention more especially relates to
the incandescent conductor. Its object is to
secure a cheap and effective apparatus, and
our improvement consists in the employment
of an incandescing arch of carbon in the cir-
cuit as the light-giving medium. The subject
matter claimed is hereinafter specifically
designated.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
(See after description of Figure 2.)
The apparatus being old and well known,
except as hereinafter stated, and constituting
no part of the subject matter herein claimed,
needs no particular description.
Unaltered.
Our improved burner or incandescent arc
consists of an arch-shaped or semi-cylindrical
piece of carbon A, mounted in its clamps or
supports in usual well known ways.
We have tried carbonized paper covered
with powdered plumbago, wood carbon or
charcoal, and ordinary gas carbon.
We have also used such arcs or burners of
various shapes such as pieces with their
lower ends secured to their respective sup-
ports, and with their upper ends united so as
to form an inverted V-shaped burner. Wejhave
also used arcs of varying contours, that is,
with rectangular bends instead of curvilinear
ones, but prefer the arch shape,
Our improved burner or incandescing arc
consists of a horse-shoe shaped or semi-cyl-
indrical arch of carbon, preferably of car-
bonized, fibrous or textile material, A,
mounted in suitable stationary clamps or
supports, and included in an electric circuit.
We have made use of carbonized paper,
covered with powdered plumbago; also wood
carbon, charcoal, and ordinary gas carbon.
We have also used such arcs or burners of
various shapes, such as pieces with their
lower ends secured to their respective sup-
ports, and with their upper ends united so as
to form an inverted V-shaped burner.
to form an inverted V-shaped burner. We
have also used arcs of varying contours, that
is, with rectangular bends instead of curvili-
near ones, but prefer the arch shape.
Our improved burner or incandescing con-
ductor consists of a horse-shoe shaped or semi-
circular arch of carbon, made of carbonized
fibrous or textile material A, mounted in
suitable stationary clamps or supports, and
included in an electric circuit.
We have made use of carbonized paper;
also wood-carbon, charcoal and the like.
We have also used such incandescing con-
ductors or burners of various shapes, such as
pieces with their lower ends secured to their
respective supports, and with their upper ends
united so as to form an inverted V-shaped
burnrs. We have also used incandescing con-
ductors of varying contours, that is, with
rectangular bends instead of curvilinear ones,
but prefer the arch-shape.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Our invention relates more especially to the
incandescing conductor, its substance, its
form and its combination with the other ele-
ments composing the lamp. Its object is to
secure a cheap and effective apparatus and
our improvement consists, first, of the com-
bination in a lamp chamber, composed wholly
of glass, as described in Patent No. 205,144, of
an incandescing conductor of carbon having
the form of an arch or loop in the circuit, as
the light-given medium, and also of an incan-
descing conductor composed of carbon made
from a vegetable fibrous material in contra-
distinction to a similar conductor made from
mineral or gas carbon.
The accompanying drawings show all our
improvements embodied in an apparatus or
lamp, substantially like that represented in
the patent above referred to, being the form
in which we have practically used it, but
some of our improvements may be used in
connection with other forms of lamps with
equally good effect.
Reference being had to sald drawings:
Fig. 1 is a top view of the lamp. Fig. 2 a side
elevation thereof. Fig. 3 a side view in ele-
vation of the burner on an enlarged scale to
show its details more clearly, and Fig. 4 is a
similar edge view.
The lamp or apparatus embracing our im-
provements being constructed substantially
as that described and illustrated in the pat-
ent above mentioned and constituting no
part of the subject matter
matter hereinafter
claimed, excepting as hereinafter stated,
needs no particular description beyond what
is necessary to point out the features of nov-
elty constituting the improvements covered
by the claims.
Erased.
In the practice of our invention we have
made use of carbonized paper and also wood
carbon, charcoal, and ordinary gas carbon.
Also used such conductors or burners of
various shapes such as pieces with their lower
ends secured to their respective supports and
having their upper ends united so as to form
an inverted A-shaped burner. We have also
used conductors of varying contours, that is,
with rectangular bends instead of curvilinear
ones; but we prefer the arch shape.
In making these carbons from the fibrous
material, our practice has been to cut the
burner to the desired form before carboniza-
tion, and this we found to be much the best
practice, although it is possible in some forms
of burners made from paper or other sheets
of fibrous material, to cut or form the burner
after carbonization.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Our invention relates more especially to the
incandescing conductor, its substance, its
form, and its combination with the other ele-
ments composing the lamp. Its object is to
secure a cheap and effective apparatus; and
our improvement consists, first, of the com-
bination in a lamp-chamber composed wholly
of glass, and described in Patent No. 205,144,
of an incandescing conductor of carbon made
from a vegetable fibrous material, in contra-
distinction to a similar conductor made from
mineral or gas carbon, and also in the form
of such conductor so made from such veget-
able carbon, and combined in the lighting-
circuit within the exhausted chamber of the
lamp.
Unaltered.
Reference being had to said drawings,
Figure 1 is a top view of the lamp; Fig. 2 a
side elevation thereof; Fig. 3 a side view in
elevation of the burner on an enlarged scale
to show its details more clearly, and Fig. 4 is
a similar edge view.
Fig. 5 of the drawings shows a vertical sec-
tion through the bottom of the lamp. In this
figure x is a glass flange on the bottom of the
lamp-chamber; y is a glass disk correspond-
ing in size to the flange, and is ground to the
bottom thereof to form an air-tight joint so
that the entire wall of the chamber is formed
of glass, the electrodes passing through the
glass disk in the manner shown to form the
lighting-circuit in the chamber, substantially
as in said Patent No. 205,144. The sealing of
the electrodes, where they pass through the
glass wall, is done with any suitable cement,
or in any of the well-known methods of seal-
ing glass upon metal electrodes previous to
the filing of this application.
The electric connections of this lamp are
made in the base thereof, substantially the
same as in our Patent No. 210,809, dated De-
cember 10, 1878, and the whole bottom is in-
closed in a cup filled with wax or other suit-
able cement, the same as in that patent, the
cement sealing in this lamp being also applied
in substantially the same way as in the pat-
ent last above mentioned.
Erased, and foregoing paragraph substi-
tuted.
In the practice of our invention we have
made use of carbonized paper, also wood car-
bon of different kinds.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
The invention making the subject-matter
of this application being improvements upon
the lamps described in the patents above re-
ferred to, to the extent of the claims making
part hereof (Added April 21st, 1885.)
In the practice of our invention we have
made use of carbonized paper, and also wood
Unaltered.
carbon.
Erased.
An important practical advantage, which
is secured by the arched form of the´incan-
descing carbon, is that it permits the carbon
to expand and contract longitudinally, under
the varying temperatures to which it is sub-
jected, when the electric current is turned on
or off, without altering the position of its
fixed terminals. Thus the necessity of a
special mechanical device to compensate for
the expansion and contraction which has
heretofore been necessary, is entirely dis-
pensed with, and thus the lamp is materially
simplified in its construction.
as the shadow cast by such a burner is less Another advantage of the arched form is
than that produced by other forms of burn-that the shadows cast by such a burner is
less than that produced by other forms of
burners.
ers.
We have used such burners in close trans-
parent chambers in a vacuum, in nitrogen
gas and in hydrogen gas, but have attained
the best results in a vacuum or attenuated
atmosphere of nitrogen, the great desidera-
tum being to exclude oxygen from the com-
bustion chamber, as is well understood.
The operation of our improved apparatus
will readily be understood from the foregoing
description.
We claim as of our own joint invention:
FIRST. Incandescing arcs for electric lights
made of carbon, substantially as hereinbe-
fore set forth.
SECOND. Incandescing arcs of carbon in
combination with the circuit of an electric
light.
We have used such burners in close or her-
metically-sealed transparent chambers in a
vacuum, in nitrogen gas, and in hydrogen
gas; but have attained the best results in a
vacuum or attenuated atmosphere of nitro-
gen gas, the great desideratum being to ex-
clude oxygen or other gases which are capa-
ble of combining with carbon at high têm-
peratures from the incandescing chamber, as
is well understood.
(Unaltered.)
We claim as our joint invention:
2. The combination of an incandescing arc
of carbon for an electric lamp, of a arch or
horse-shoe shape, and a transparent hermet-
ically-sealed chamber, from which oxygen or
other gases capable of combining with car-
bon at a high temperature are excluded.
3. The combination of an incandescing_arc
of carbon for an electric lamp, of an arch or
horse-shoe shape, included in and forming
part of an electric circuit, and a transparent
hermetically sealed chamber, from which
oxygen and other gases capable of combin-
ing with carbon at a high temperature are
excluded.
THIRD. The combination substantially as 4. The combination, substantially as here-
hereinbefore set forth, of the circuit of an inbefore set forth, of an electric circuit, and
electric light, an incandescing arc of carbon- incandescing arc of carbonized paper included
ized paper included in the circuit, and a close in, and forming part of said circuit, and a
transparent chamber in which the arc is en- transparent hermetically-sealed chamber, in
closed.
which the arc is enclosed.
FOURTH. An incandescing arc made of car-
bonized fibrous or textile material.
1. An incandescing arc for an electric lamp,
of carbonized, fibrous or textile material, and
of an arch or horse-shoe shape, substantially
as hereinbefore set forth.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Claim 2 erased (Feby. 19th, 1885).
Claim 3 erased (Feby. 19th, 1885).
Claim 4 unaltered.
electric lamp, formed of carbonized paper,
5th. The incandescing conductor for an
substantially as described. (NOTE: This claim
was added Dec. 4th, 1884.)
1. An incandescing conductor for an electric
lamp of carbonized, fibrous or textile ma-
terial, and of an arch or horse-shoe shape,
substantially as hereinbefore set forth.
An important practical advantage which is
secured by the arch form of incandescing
carbon is that it permits the carbon to ex-
pand and contract under the varying tem-
perature to which it is subjected when the
electric current is turned on or off without
altering the position of its fixed terminals.
Thus the necessity for a special mechanical
device to compensate for the expansion and
contraction, which has heretofore been neces-
sary, is entirely dispensed with, and thus the
lamp is materially simplified in its construc-
tion.
Another advantage of the arch form is that
the shadow cast by such burners is less than
that produced by other forms of burners
when fitted with the necessary devices to
support them.
Another important advantage resulting
from our construction of the lamp results
from the fact that the wall forming the
chamber of the lamp through which the
electrodes pass to the interior of the lamp is
made wholly of glass, by which all danger of
oxidation, leakage or short-circuiting is
avoided.
The advantages resulting from the manu-
facture of the carbon from vegetable fibrous
or textile material instead of mineral or gas
carbon are many. Among them may be men-
tioned the convenience afforded for cutting
and making the conductor in the desired form
and size, the purity and equality of the car-
bon obtained, its susceptibility to tempering,
both as to hardness and resistance, and its
toughness and durability. We have used
such burners in closed or hermetically-sealed
transparent chambers, in a vacuum, in nitro-
gen gas and in hydrogen gas; but we have
obtained the best results in a vacuum, or an
attenuated atmosphere of nitrogen gas, the
great desideratum being to exclude oxygen
or other gases capable of combining with car-
bon at high temperatures from the incan-
descing chamber, as is well understood.
The nature of our inventions and the opera-
tion of our improved lamps will be readily
understood from the foregoing description
and the following claims.
Unaltered.
II. The combination, substantially as here-
inbefore set forth, of an electric circuit and
an incandescing arch of carbonized fibrous
material included in and forming part of said
circuit, and a transparent hermetically-sealed
chamber in which the arch is enclosed.
Unaltered.
No especial description of making the 11-
luminating carbon conductors, described in
this specification and making the subject
matter of this improvement, is thought neces-
sary, as any of the ordinary methods of form-
ing the material to be carbonized to the de
sired shape and size, and carbonizing it while
confined in retorts in powdered carbon, sub-
stantially according to the methods in prac-
tice before the date of this improvement, may
be adopted in the practice thereof by any one
skilled in the arts appertaining to the making
of carbons for electric lighting or for other
use in the arts. (ADDED APRIL 21ST, 1885.)
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
II. The combination, substantially as here-
inbefore set forth, of an electric circuit and
an incandescing arch of carbonized fibrous
material included in and forming part of said
circuit, and a transparent hermetically-sealed
chamber in which the arch is enclosed.
Unaltered.
Unaltered.
inbefore set forth, of an electric circuit and
II. The combination, substantially as here-
an incandescing conductor of carbonized
fibrous material included in and forming part
of said circuit, and a transparent hermeti-
cally-sealed chamber in which the conductor
is enclosed.
IV. An incandescing electric lamp consist- IV. An incandescing electric lamp consist-
ing of the following elements in combination: ing of the following elements in combination: ing of the following elements in combination :
IV. An incandescing electric lamp consist-
First, an illuminating chamber made wholly First, an illuminating chamber made wholly First, an illuminating chamber made wholly
of glass hermetically sealed and out of which of glass hermetically sealed and out of which of glass hermetically sealed and out of which
all carbon-consuming gas has been exhausted all carbon-consuming gas has been exhausted all carbon-consuming gas has been exhausted
or driven; second, an electric circuit con- or driven; second, an electric circuit con- or driven; second, an electric circuit con-
ductor passing through the glass wall of ductor passing through the glass wall of said ductor passing through the glass wall of said
said chamber and hermetically sealed there- chamber and hermetically sealed therein as chamber and hermetically sealed therein as
in; third, an illuminating conductor in said described; third, an illuminating conductor described; third, an iiluminating conductor
circuit and forming part thereof within said in said circuit and forming part thereof with- in said circuit and forming part thereof with-
chamber, consisting of carbon having the in said chamber, consisting of carbon made in said chamber, consisting of carbon made
form of an arch or loop, substantially as de- from a vegetable, fibrous or textile material | from a fibrous or textile material having the
scribed for the purpose specified.
having the form of an arch or loop, substan- form of an arch or loop, substantially as de-
tially as described for the purpose specified. scribed for the purpose specified.
(Claim 4 of May 17th, 1880, erased.)
electric lamp formed of carbonized paper,
III. The incandescing conductor for an
substantially as described.
lamp of carbonized, fibrous or textile ma-
1. An incandescing conductor for an electric
terial, and of an arch or horse-shoe shape,
substantially as hereinbefore set forth.
electric lamp formed of carbonized paper,
III. The incandescing conductor for an
substantially as described.
lamp of carbonized, fibrous or textile ma-
1. An incandescing conductor for an electric
terial, and of an arch or horse-shoe shape,
substantially as hereinbefore set forth.
electric lamp formed of carbonized paper,
III. The incandescing conductor for an
substantially as described.
lamp of carbonized, fibrous or textile ma-
1. An incandescing conductor for an electric
terial, and of an arch or horse-shoe shape
substantialy as hereinbefore set forth.
Reviewed 1985 Preservation
"
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 07496 4019
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