The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-02-15
Cutting Wood by Fleet ric Heat.

The following item IS going the rounds
w tAa press
W. n curious invention has Just heen pa
tented fur cutting wood without a saw. A
raLvanlc current of sufficient quantity,
when passed over fine platinum wire, raises
It's temperature 10 white heat. The IN
yentor discovered that wood, compare
lively dry substance even when green,
could he cut I'D the same way. by arranE-
inv the wire with handles or other means.
~ a. tu guide II readily. trees. logs, or
blanks may he cut as desired There Is
here. therefore, a simple and easily applied
force. which may be- employed e. fell trees.
divide them into logs, and perform al the
operations nf the saw and AK. The surface
If the wood is slightly charred, bnt the
black layer Is very thin. The battery EN-
p..vrd uvrd only be VI thr simplest char
actyr
we remark W this. that tile heat pro-
duced bv a vultaic battery has several
years ago been used for heating platinum
wire, and applying Tins u place Of "A knife
loo surgery The inventor probably saw
surgeon use such wire ta amIutste a
tu.uor. ann then THE idea flashed upon
his mind III patent tue -Irrn- u trees In
tht~ Nav. without stopping rl rhuk ur tAr
great expense III sufficient battery, aAcA
is III uu consequence where sur-cs. opera
tIons are To be performed. ana tiae saving
# human life Is involved. but Is of great
Importance in cutting lumber. The state
tuent that the ''ha- terry employed needs only
ro be nf the simplest character ls au l.lu-
SION. 1t may be simple. rur Il must consume
considerable zlnc ana acid. If the eleCtrIC
current and the consequent heat, could be
obtained III a cheaper way, tins method
might compete with the saw and AK, which
are now, and viii long remain, the cheap
est means Theoretically, however. the
use of the steam saw IS a roundabout
method by means Of the combustion Of
COAL heat Is produced bv use " steam this
heat Is, by more Or less complex machIn-
erv changed into the motion Of the saw,
aud this motion separates the wood fibre
by mechanical force, while the application
of a heated platinum wire makes the heat
itself directly perform the work Of separ-
ating the flores
Experience has proved that electric light
and d ,lt can be cheaper produced by the
rotation 0f magnetic electric machine, ran
by steam engine than by a battery, and
for this reason some lighthouses are lllu-
minated IN this way this Is, therefore, an
economical improvement on the patent
mentioned above but it IS evident that
even this improvement can be no true
economy. IT. cause a steam engine 70 run
a magnetO-electrlc machine to heat a wire
and cut with this, Ill place u letting the
steam engine run simply saw, must cost
more.
There is still another way Of producing
an electric current direct by the heat Of
combustion, namely, with a thermo-elec-
tric battery, which does not involve the
Intervention Of a moving engine. I'm
provements in this direction are conf
IDENTIFY expected by all who have watched
the tendency Of the progress IN electrical
science Some time ago some kind Of
thermo- electric stoves we're used for cleo
troplating, but they recently have been
rejected 70 make place for the latest i'm
proved magneto-electric machines, driven
by steam power.