San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-11-16

visit Ansonia with him, an invitation
that was at once accepted. Last Sun
day was the day fixed upon. The party
consisted of Profs. Edison and Barker,
Prof. Chandler, of the board of health,
and Mr.. Edisons assistant, Mr.. Bachel-
lor. II was an agreeable surprise to the
party to find TINT Mr.. Wallace had per-
fected his machine. Being exceeding
ly modest, and caring not for notoriety,
he had shown the instrument to few,
and these only persons whose lack of
scientific knowledge prevented them
from comprehending its usefulness.
Mr.. Wallace calls it Telemachon, and
he smiled with pride as he pointed to n
number of these machines, each one an
improvement upon its predecessor, and
each having required years to design,
and nearly $1,000 to construct. Mr..
Edison was enraptured. He fairly
gloated over it. Then power was ap-
piled to the Telemachon, and eight
electric lights were kept ablaze at one
time, each being equal to 1000 candles,
the subdivision of electric lights being
thing unknown to science. This filed
mp Mr.. Edison's cup of Joy. He ran
from the instrument to the lights, and
from the lights back to the instrument.
He sprawled over table with the SIM
plicity of child, and made all kinds Of
calculations. He calculated the power
of the instrument and of the lights, the
probable loss Of power in transmission,
the amount of coal the instrument would
save in LAY, week, a month, year,
and the result of such saving on manu-
featuring. The cool, impressive Prof.
Chandler also went about, notebook in
hand, informing himself upon the mi
nutest details. That man like Mr..
Wallace, after studying privately upon
the subject for years, should calmly,
deliberately, and without ostentation,
bring out before them an instrument
calculated to revolutionize the entire
manufacturing business, filled the party
with amazement. By means of it pow
er may be obtained from places where
the river power or tidal power is album
dant, or may be generated where fuel is
cheap, as at the coal mines, and by
means of an ordinary cable be trans
mitted hundreds of miles. The cable
may be tapped at any point and power
used therefrom. Some notion of the
stupendous results that may follow
should the Telemachon prove COM
pletely successful, is given in the opin-
ion of Prof. G. W. Siemens, of the royal
society of Great Britain, who has re-
Gently visited this country. In recent
address in Glasgow he said that in Eng
land means Of transmitting power by
electricity must soon be the important
problem of the day. What are the Eng
lish people to do when their coal is ex-
hausted? Of America and her great
water-courses he said:
"The amount of water falling over
Niagara is equal to 100,O00,000 tons an
hour, falling $50 feet. The amount Of
coal required annually to raise such o
weight up to the point from which it
fell, which is measure of the amount
of power yielded by the water falling,
would require the consumption OF $780,
100000 of tons of coal per year, which
is the amount now consumed by the en-
tire world. Now, if 5O7per cent. of the
power used to drive the first dynamo
electric machine may be recovered from
the second; and hence, if the whole
power of Niagara could be utilized, 1t
could be distributed over the United
States so as to give from that waterfall
alone power equal to the present en-
tire mechanical force of the world, esti-
mating that one-half of the coal used Is
solely for mechanical purposes.
As an example how the fall of such Il
body as the falls of Niagara could be
practically utilized by means of the tele-
machon, a gentleman who has studied
the subject for years gave the following
illustration last Sunday: A series OF
fumes could be constructed from the
edge of the descent OF the Americana falls
to the level of the water below of size
sufficient to carry all the water Of the