The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-07-11
THE LIGHT OF THE FUTURE
PUBLIC Buildings, Rooms and
squares in Paris so Brilliantly
Lighted with the New Invention
that Even Sunshine is Rivalled.
rom the Bosto Trans r!pt

rom the Bosto transcript
PARIS. Juno 3-That a good and
steady hight can be obtained from an
electric current has long been known.
As a lecture experiment IL IL familiar
70 the studlous public, and In some
engineering works il has been pra,ti-
cally applied as a means OF ilIuminat-
ing large places where q number OF
men must be employed in the night.
] ms has been the sum 81 its value for
a long time. The cost Of tile batteries
ami the difficulty and danger attend
lng their Use. and the d"!4culty OF con
trolling the light, placed il beyond the
reach CT any save richly endowed col
leEeS. ana the general public regarded
u a. merely a. a curiosity. j wonder
ful and shining light that scientific
men obtained at times by means more
mysterious than the strange white
hight itself. OF course. the public
asked if it could be made available IN
daily lie but tie answer was that il
was too costly 10 be Of any practical
value for streets. shops or ships.
The gradual invention of a number
81 dXnamO-eleCtric machines whereby
a current Of electricity could be Oh
tanned from power in other words, the
discovery OF a means of turning power
INTO electricity put the light in a new
position. 1t was found that the DIV
namo electric machine gave a com
p~aratively cheap supply Of electricity.
and dispensed with the trouble and in
convenience of batteries. Now all
that was needed was power. ard that
the steam engine or any other form Of
motor could supply.
II this had been all. the electric light
would have been at once placed on a
commercial basis. It was easy to OBJ
tain a current. but it might flow for
ever through wire. and. to all appear
ance, the Wire would be cold and dull.
There must be some mean Of a est
ing the stream. some means of dam
ming It up. 50 that when it finally sur
mounted the obstruction. il would glow
at a white heat by the effort to over
come the obstacle. 1t was found that
sticks or pencils of gas carbon We're
excellent conductors of electricity.
and that if a pencil was broken and
then pulled a few centImetres apart
the electricity would leap through the
air owe this gap The effort required
to pass this obstruction developed heat
and light. precisely as the dam devel-
ops power in the stream and make its
available in the waterfall.
The engine having been harnessed
to the dynamo-electric machine. the
current sprang up. and following the
pencils, leaped over the gap in a mag
niticent arch in a binding. overpow-
ering glare that rivalled the face of the
sun. The electric light was now on a
commercial basis. 1t could be used
for lighting houses and streets. No
thing is at first wholly successful and
reasonably cheap at the same time.
The lamp III which the silent cur
rent burned with such briliiancy was
not reliable. The two pencils were
consumed as they burned away they
fell apart. the gap WAS too wide; the
current could not pass, and remained
dormant behind the insurmountable
dam. Push the pencils together and
it flashed up again. Ingenious clock
work was then devised whereby the
two carbons could be adjusted to each
other as they burned away. One pen
ell. it was found, burned twice as fast
as the other, and this caused still
further trouble the force of the cur
rent sometimes varied, and added to
the complicated clockwork must be a
regulating apparatus controlled by
means of an electro magnet, by the
current itself. In time the dynamo
electric machines became still more i'm
proved, but this complicated and cost
ly lamp was still a bar to the popular
use of the light. An electric lighting
plant cost too much, and that seemed
to be the end of the whole matter.
Then appeared the electric candle,
that at once placed electric lighting on
a new basis. The clOckwOrk and reg
ulating apparatus We're replaced 10y two
sticks Of gas carbon bedded in kaolin,
like a candle with two wicks. The
current passed up one pencil to the
top, leaped across, in its luminous
arch, to the other. and thence down
ware on its circuit. The kaolin insu-
lated the two pencils everywhere ex-
cept at the top, and as they burned
away the kaOlin was also consumed,
and thus the lamp was literally an
electric candle.
The stranger in Paris naturally de-
sires to see the Opera House, and if he
visits the grand square in front of the
building he may observe in the road
way groups of gas lamps. At the top
OF each group is one lamp larger thar
the others, and apparently made Of
porcelain or the Opaque white glass
used for lamp shades. More careful
inspection shows a number of large
wires twisted neatly around the lamp
post, all enclosing this strange white
lantern. Before the Opera House are
six of these lamps, and from one Of
the balconies extend heavy telegraph
cables to each of the lamp posts.
Farther down the avenue are tall posts
scattered about a hundred and thirty
feet apart along the way among the
gas lamps. Let the visitor wait until
about 8 o'clock. and suddenly, without
warning, these tall, white lamps
glow with strange fires. The dusky
street flashes into sudden glare, white,
intense and beautiful. The gas lamps
in the shops burn IN sickly yellow.
Every sign on passing omnibus, or on
the buildings. every detail III the archi-
lecture of the houses. every feature Of