The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-05-17 00:00:00

Mr. EDISON and the ELECTRIC LIGHT.

The American papers received by the last mail state that
Mr. Edison is still engaged in his experiments with reference
to the electric light, and hopes yet to overcome all dtffi-
culties and to make the light available for general use. In a
recent interview with an American reporter, Mr: Edison,
pointing to a number of carbon or voltaic arc lamps of
Wallace's pattern which hung near the ceiling, said—

"In a short time I am going to light those lamps by
the Wallace Machine, by the Gramme machine, and
by my machine, and anybody can come here, watch
the process and draw conclusions as to the relative
of each generator." "Why do you intend
the carbon lamps for purposes of illumine-
etoconemompyloy
tion instead of your incandescent lamps?" asked the
reporter. "Because everybody knows what the
carbon lamp is, and, besides, because it is not my
lamp," "How
.many carbpn lamps can you light
with one machine ? " "I do not know. That
is to be one of the tests.' I am going to put as
many lights in. a circuit as each machine will stand,
and then we will see how my machine will come out."
Being questioned as to the subdivision of the electric
the inventor said, "The question is very simple.
i
If you take a lamp in which the voltaic arc s pro-
duced from two carbon pencils, the more current you
put on the faster the pencils are consumed and the re-
sistance offered is lessened. There necessarily results a
great waste of power. If the lamp is limited to 250-
candle light, it costs too much. By my plan the re-
sistance is almost entirely at the lamp. The resistance
of the conductor is to the res.s: once of the lamp as 2 to
100. The resistance of my lamp is as 192 against 1 to tne
resistance of the carbon lamp. You may consider the
question most intelligently by taking a gas•burner as an
example.. If you have a half-inch gas-pipe and light
the escaping gas without putting on a burner, how
much gas-light can you get froi an adjoining burner?
Very little. But if you put in the half-inch pipe a
burner, with !I pin hole in it, you get a light without
interfering with !other burners. The same condition
obtains in electric lighting. The carbon lamp re-
presents the half-inch gas-pipe; the pin hole burner
represents my lamp." "But is not the electric cur-
rent exhausted, not with regard to the resisting agent,
but according to the square of the distance travelled ? "
"No. If you are supplying a mile of wire and then add
another mile, the current will be weakened equally
throughout the whole line, but not to that extent. If
you keep on extending your line, you will have to
make your conductor thick and add more power."
"How do you propose to cai ry this theory into
effect?" " I shall have, proceeding from the central
station, where a steam engine and a series of dynamo-
machines are placed, a cable, say about an inch in
diameter, composed of copper wires, each about one-
sixteenth of an inch in diameter. The cable will be
laid in a trench immediately under the flagging of the
side walk, and near the curb; every 251 t. a wire will
be dropped to carry the current into a house, and when
the terminus of the cable is reached there will be one
wire left. Of course it will be necessary to construct
the cable according to the number of houses in each
district. As a district increases in population, the
flagging can be taken up, and a section of cable can be
placed alongside the original cable, and joined to it at
each end. Thus the new houses can be supplied."
"Will there not be a loss of electricity by induction
or the influence of the earth?" "None whatever.
And now I will tell you another thing. It is perfectly
easy for me to get a light equal to 66 candles from
each of my lamps; but I limit them to six." "Will
not the construction of your station and your cables be
very costly ?" "No ; and if it were, the profits
would warrant the outlay."

According to the American papers, Mr. Edison ties
pezfected his dynamo-electric machine, and with that,
he says, he has solved the problem of the economical
generation of electricity. and the subdivision of the
light. The machine was tested on the evening of May
2. Wires were connected with five of Wallace's
voltaic lamps, and the moment steam power was
applied the lamps were lit. The machine did
not become hot, but it gave off a few sparks.
The lamps gave a steady light, although cur-
rents of air were not excluded, and the five
lamps were lit with one machine with one half of
1-horse power for each lamp. The experiment, although
imperfectly made, was entirely satisfactory and showed
that Edison's generator would allow of nine lamps in a
circuit, or would develops more dynamo-electric power
per horse power than any machine yet constructed. The
advantages of Edison's machine, so fares they have been
demonstrated, consist in obtaining &great amount of elec-
tricity with the development of little heat. The trans-
mitted power is, therefore, almost entirely converted into
electricity. These results are obtained by getting a
larger magnetic field and employing a superior method
of winding the bobbin with the insulated wires.
Edison will now have thirty of these machines con-
structed for the formation of his model station, which
will probably be at Menlo-park. It is estimated that
he can get at least 400 lights by mean of his 80-horse
power 'steam engine and thirty of his dynamo electric
machines. He will now devote his time to producing
a lamp which will be without flaw.

There were fifteen British and foreign wrecks re-
ported during the past week, making a total of 663 for the
present year, or an increase of 135 as compared with the
corresponding period of last year. The approximate value of
property lost was 000,000, including British £200,000.
The Golos says that a first party of 300 prisoners,
out of 2,000 arrested in Moscow during the winter, have
started for niberia. Nine thousand arrested in other towns
during the winter will pass throngh Mos,cow during the
Summer. At Warsaw an order has beep lasted prohibiting
etWents of the iptermedlate tohoole from leavitig twit
homes slier nine o'clock in the eYening.