The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-11-15
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.
LOCAL VIEWS ON THE sUHgyECF OF
EDHsON'@ LATEST INVENTION.

The subject Of the electric light, which hos
produced such stir, both in America and Etl-
rope, amongst the holders of gas stock, has
not diminished In interest, and as day after
day news comes Of Edisons progress In his
experimentation the feeling a,1gments. The
electric light is by no means Il recent inven-
ton, 1t having been operated successfully by
Sir Humphrey Davy. The principle Of the
light is perfectly simple The two poles of o
strong battery or electro galyanic machine
arc connected, the ono with q piece of carbon
above, and the other with like carbon pencil
below, their points barely touching.
| When the electric current passes from the
battery or electromagnetic machine at the
points Of the carbon pencils there is given
out brilliant white light. Tho trouble
heretofore In the practical adaptation of this
light has been that these carbon points In q
short time burned away and the circuit was
cut OIL. Various inventions have been made
! by clock-work and otherwise TO SO regulate
| the movement Of the carbons that as fast as
they were burned away they would approach
one. another slowly, thus keeping up the cur
rent Of electricity.
ONE OF THE CHIEF OBSTACLES
| which has prevented the electric light from
coming into general use was that it was
found Impossible to subdivile the Intense
light SO that it would be endurable to che eve
IN our ordinary apartments, Its brillancy
and elfugsnCe as shown by the repeated ey-
hibitions In the open air, were too great for q
dwelling, aud the question then came. how
can this be reduced and SO subdivided that
the same quantity of light may be given to
different burners or cartoons.
Up to this time science has failed to accom-
plish, 1t. except Edlsons invention toward
which
THE WORLD rs LOOKING
proves successful. Speaking on this subject
Edison says:
Last December experlmented on the sauna
line that have struck now ] got together
all tho books that could find, and read IN On
It. and thought was loft. From what read
got an idea that my theory was utterly i'm
ace invited me to Ansonla. Vel, hos great
brass manufacturer, and has ~ laboratory
nearly perfect. He hns all tho different cleo
trio lights and tho different machines for
Ter wore with mo. saw for the first time
everything IN practical operation. II was ali
before me. ] saw the thing had not gone
50 far but that | had a chanea.~ saw
that what h NJ been fAlc55I1I955 had never been
, naao Fa@eeAE1ctTi1y useful. Tho Intense
could DO brought into private houses. In NIL
electric ig hts heretofore obtained the intensity
Of tho light was great. and the quantity very
low. came back home and made contiDu
GUS tAH6iHHlNA TWO iliEHtS Ill SUCCESSION. i
discovered the necessary secret, SO simple
that bootblack might understand it. 1t sud
denly came to nue., the same as tho secret Of
the speaking monograph. 1t was real. and
work as | was Chat the phonograp Il Would Would
work. / made my first machine. It was
success. Since then ] have made nearly
dozen machines, each different, and the last
ones improvements upon those first made
The subdivision of the light is Gil right. The
only thing to be accurately determined is It's
economy / am already positive TINT it will
be cheaper than gas, but have not yet deter
mined how much cheaper. To determine it's
economy, am now putting up q brick build
ing back Of my laboratory here It Ia to be
1875 feet long. ! have already ordered two
eighty horse power enginesfor this huilding.'
In opposition to Mr.. Edison's claims there
have come out many snpnnts, but as
EDIsoNs GENIUS
has so far -outstripped all science, it
may Dc he hasHn his possession the sought
for solution. Ono learned professor writing
on this subject says: "The principal diff
Guilty to be overcome Is the lack Of economy
In any method Of producing light by electri-
city, except by the voltaic arc between carbon
points,, and Us Mr., Ellison disclaims this
method, and limits himself to tho plan of in
candescence, he will find his path beset with
difficulties in this direction. This Is shown by
of given strength will yield about ten times
as much light when used to produce the vol
taic arc between carbon points Us 1t could by
being passed through pece Of platinum, 50
rs to raise it to q white heat and give the
light. In some experiments recently made |
In Paris by NJ. Fontaine it was found that q |
powerful battery of forty-eght elements |
would produce in one lamp light by incan-
descence equal to forty burners; but that |
when the same current was used In two lamps |
the light in each was only three to five burn
ers and when divided between three lamps |
only ono-quarter burner in each. Further
subdivision resulted in @ total extinction of |
tho light, similar result was reached
the same circuit or in derived circuits. In
using dynamo-electric machine in place of q
battery us the source Of the electricity the
same difficulty would present itself, with this
additional one, that whereas the elcctro-mo-
two force of q battery remains constant under
all changes OF resistance, that Of n machine
does not, but decreases as the resistance in
CreaseS"
In view of the interest taken in the subject
here, representative Of the DEMOCRAT
called upon Mr.. Theobald Forstall, of the
New Orleans Gaslight Company, to learn his
views. Mr.. Forstall was seen at the office of
questions asked.
He said that he had just returned from o.
visit to the Paris Exposition, to which place
ne went to Investigate the subject of the cleo
trlc light: re examined thoroughly into the
of the Exposition and in the
grounds there were number Of these lights,
but steam power to the above standard was
required to drive the dynam o-electric ma
chimes which furnished the fluid current.
These engines required the attendance of an
engineer, and in this there is loss of
economy.
ON ONE OF THE BoULEvARDs
there were several OF these lights in opera
ton, The boulevard was only some seven
hundred yards inElength, and In no case were
the electric machines distant from the light
more than two hundred feet He thought 1t
was serious obstacle in the adaptation of
the light that it was found so difficult to get
suitable conductors of the electricity to
transmit it any distance with sufficient vol
ume to give the necessary quantity for Ilumi-
nation.
When questioned upon the point as to
whether the introduction of Prof. Edison's in
vention, If successful, would or would not af-
feet the gas companies, he said he thought it
would not not In the first place, If the streets
not regret it, for the gas company had not
9een paid for over five years for doing it. AS