New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-10-29
The Revolution OF Lightning.


for the propulsion of machinery has been prose
cuted by thousands Of indoml.abe thinkers ami
dreamers. Thousands of contriyances nave oeeh
produced and have failed but the search mas never
fageed and where one soldier has disappeared
from this great army of exploration IN the INFINITE
unknown. ten have taken his place and continued
his labors; and though. from experience, the
world has learned to distrust every new an
pouncement of success in the search, II mas De-
come too wise to doubt that success wouia
vet be conquered And now we have no
doubt that an Important step has been made To-
ward the victory. This step has been maze IN
direction where there have been many ex-
perimenters, namely, with electromagnetic
il has been made by Or. PAGE, Of Washington
one more step and the end Will be gained, steam
will be bsnshed, electricity will come into use
as the great mechanical agent, and the Revolu
ton of Lightning will carry the human family
still nearer that goal OF beundless power over
Nature, and universal abundance and equal disiri-
button of wealth. toward which from the begin
ing it has moved.
We were present with AM audience OF some
hundreds at the Tabernacle last evening TO
witness the experiments of Doctor PAGE,
with the Acknowledgements Engines he has
invented We saw there the most eminent
chemists and engineers in the City. and heard
from all sides the expression of decided satlsiac
ton The Engines are twO-one horizontal the
other rotary The horizontal engine consists oil
A series of helices some fifteen or eighteen inch
Is IN diameter. arranged together so as to form
cylinder about seven feet IN length. Within this
PLAYS. like a piston. though without touching the
helces and without friction, rod OF soft iron
three and half feet IN length and OF suitable
size. to which is attached crank driving fly
wheel This. with slight rod attached on the out
side of the cy Under. playing with the piston and
arranged so as 10 cut off and let on the electric
curren, first at one part of the cylinder and then
at the other. constitutes the entire machine and
on applying the battery it is put in motion
Nothing can surpass its simplicity With bat
terry of fifty pairs of ten-inch plates, II has the
power of eight horses hast night smaller bat
tery was used and less power evolved, but for
all the purposes of experiment and observation.
it was equally satisfactory.
The great peculiarly in this application of cleo
tro.magnetlsm is. that movement Is obtained by
use OF attraction alone In previous machines
use has been made of attraction and repulslon
alternately and in this way, as the well-known
experiments of Jacob At 81. Petersburg demon
straed, 1t is impossible to arrive at any high
degree of power without extrayagantly lncreas'
ing the battery employed for the purpose IN
other words, there is no sort of proportion be-
tween the increase of the battery and the conse-
quent expense, and the increase OF power OBJ
tanned : and IN fact an engine working equal 70
eight horses, is something never attempted.
hardly ever conceived on this system the
recent experiments of Mr. DumOnt at Paris with
a view TO ascertain the cost of electromagnetic
force, having been made With machine OF only
one.hundreth of one horse power DR. Page, onthe
other hand, uses only attraction; and having,
by many experiments, ascertalned the relative
position of the heces and the magnet in which
the attraction OF the former upon the latter is
most powerful he has so arranged his machine
as 10 keep the electricity In the cylinder, or he
hces constantly at theTight distance ahead OF the
piston or magnet, III order to draw It most pow
erully in the direction desired. Thus, when
the piston has entered one of the helices COM
posing what we call the cylinder the current of
electricity is transferred TO another helix still
further on, till the piston has been drawn to the
end of the cylinder, when the current Is cut of
from that end and transferred toward the other
Thus the greatest possible attractive power is
constantly kept in action IN the machine.
The experiments last night with this machine
consisted smpyih putting It IN motion with
weight Of los lbs on the iy.wheel, without
this weight. and with a small circular saw al
tached by belt They were all, as we said,
highly satisfactory, and elected the warm
plaudits of the audience There could not be
doubt that the power was there-produced by
electro magnetism nor that the statement OF
Dr. Page was correct, that, by his arrangement,
instead of the force decreasing, as hitherto IN
large ratio in proportion to the battery employed,
until 1t must soon come to a iInit where It could
not be augmented at all, It here increases IN
large ratio, so that the larger the machine the
cheaper, relatively, 1t can be driven. Thus, the
first condition, for the use OF electricity as mo-
tive power, is trlumphanily realized by DR. Page
Very striking and beautiful were the expert
ments with the rotary machine This Is com
posed of four series of heices arranged circulary
at suitable distances upon large board
Through them plays, like a piston, ring or
wheel, composed OF alternate pieces OF iron and
brass some two inches In diameter. When the
electric current is applied the ring revolves with
astonishing swiftness, as 1t does not touch the
helces through which 1t rolls, and there Is no
friction to check its notion From this ring
power can be obtained by a contiguous cog
wheel. with It's cogs working IN the outer sur
face Of the rng Such wheel is seen IN the
machine exhibited last evening d. Page
of opinion that this will prove the most useful