New-York tribune., 1878-12-26
ELECTRIC ILLUMINATION.
DIvIsIBILlTY OF THE LIGHT.

DlNlSlD Of
SOME NEW IDEAS on THIS BRANCH OF THE SUB
JECT-nOw FAR THE LIGHT HAS BEEN sUBDi-
vIDED IL PRACTICE-EDIsoN's CLAIMS.
Dlyisbitv and cost the two vital questions
in reference to the electric hight. Nothing il ex-
actly and finally known on either of those subjects
vet. Some very startling CLAIMS have been made III
reference to both, but the claims have been made
Oii-hand, without stopping 10 test them by expert
ment. They have been exaggerated, both
in respect to the thing claimed and III the language
in which the claims have been made. There mas
been nothing 10 base some of the most important OF
these claims upon except the fragncnt1ry notions
of the inventors and the blind confidence they have
entertained in their own ability TO solve, III the
course of twenty minutes Oh so, problems which
have defed men of science for thirty years.
Nevertheless the science of the subject has
lately received two or three interesting contribu-
tions. The inventors have been supplied with
money TO make experiments. Two or three ideas
have been hit upon by them lately, which are
worthy OF being placed on record. The later dis
coveries as 10 dvsibility are explained in the ac-
companying article.
1t has always been held that the electric
light practically ndIvisble What Is meant Dy ths
that if $4,000 candle power can be got from one eec
trlc lamp the same power cannot be got from number
OF lamps il they are supplied with the identical
current Ii one lamp will produce 900 candle power
five lamps with the current will only produce about
1000 or 900 altogether Up 10 the present year 1t has
been impossible more than ten lamps, lighting Dy
of the yoltac are, in any one circuit because
there would be no ght at all in them. In place OF the
lmpid suuke brancy OF the one great lamp OF 15''
600 candle power there would be utter darkness This
loss of light by subdivision OF the current has been re-
garded thing unique In science and really quite re-
markabe 1t has been held TO form an nsuperabe bar
rier TO the utilization Of electricity for lighting dwell
ngs. Fontaine, the engineer Of the Gramme Company
I'm Paris has been very emphatic on this point Using
galvano battery found that the total light given out
by five lamps was about oneffeth part OF the light
gwen when only lamp was used In the current
Fontane insisted strongly that the light indvisble He
printed book the subject and his word has been re-
ceved until recently almost without question
1t now appears, the first place, that the loss OF ght
by the subdivision OF the current Is not thing unique
and difficult be accounted for Exactly the same thing
takes place IN the subdivision OF stream OF umnat-
ing gas Professor Morton recently exhibited in HOBO
ken the sugg gas-burner from London burner winch
gives a very perfect combustion OF gas. 5Ooot gas
burner s found to give hight equal to that OF 3oo can
dies. The burner has been tried by many OF Tue
engineers OF the gas companies OF the city here'
and they find that a 4Ofoot burner gives light equal to
that of $50 caudes and 50foot burner one equal to
that OF 800 candles IT. this same stream OF gas DE
supplied 5OOt Sugg burners each Nght WOud DO
found TO be equal only TO Is candles the total not eX
ceedng 100 candles against 300 II the gas Was sup
Piled to 80 burners, little half blue flames would be
created which would hardly be lights at all. The expa-
nation is that In the large lights the particles OF carbon
are simply in state OF intense incandescence by
the greater heat The lower the heat the less
intense the nCandescence and the more feeble the light
This fact Of the loss OF light by the subdivision OF cur
rent OF gas Is fully established IL shows that the
loss OF light by subdivision in electricity is not at all an
Iftfar ztfNt los
electric lights and for exactly the same reason The
discovery Ia an portant one iu great many ways IL
Is especially TO the gas companies seems 10 sho"
how the cO-t OF lighting large buildings such as
churches public halls. some kinds OF factories rlnks
railroad stations like the Grand Centru etc with gas
may be choapened. For instance. when a building is
illuminated by circles OF 40 or 90 gs ets arranged un
der sun renectors the same l,5t would be obtained
with smaller consumption Of gas by using one or two
large Sugg instead OF the myriad Of little ones
IL is not desired however, 20 follow up that line OF
thought here. 1t is merely INTENDED TO point out the
fact that the very atesr discoveries In the science
OF is that the loss OF light by subdivision OF the
electric current is not thing apart. II has strict
analogy results obtained IN other modes OF Lighting
Fontaine has uised the electricians in another re-
gard The tables OF the results OF subdivision printed
in his book which has been the accepted authority on
electric lighting, based. before remarked on
the use OF galvanic battery, which at the best Is
machine II Is surprising that Fontane did not employ
Il Gramme machine. He is the engineer OF the Gramme
Company. He could have commanded the services OF
any number OF powerful machines. Why the results
obtained with a battery have been misleading may be
fact lately discovered which lie being acted
upon by Edison Sawyer Brush aud others In this coun
ty and by various OF the British inventors. The dis
ooyery is this: That II the electric stream divided
among a dozen more lamps, producing only mod
crate light in each, the brancy OF each light Will be
mmensely increased by very slight increase Of the
strength Of current Tho most striking result seems
to be obtained In the lamps where the hight Is produced
by ncaudescence but the result Is the same In prnc
ple whether one employs ncaudescence the voltaic
arc It claimed that in the Sawyer lamp, where the
light is made by incandescent carbon, the luminosity OF
the lamps can be raised from simple vhteness TO
power OF burners each by an increase Of one or
two sIteenths in the strength OF the current When
the carbons are heated to certain point the peculiar
Hmpd brilancy Of the light IL gained by the last six.
teenth or two OF the current This Is interesting re
suit II is only strictly analogous TO that obtained
by the burning OF but IL shows that had FOnalne
used a powerful generator OF electricity instead OF
gavano battery he would have come TO different con-
clusOn about the impOssiby OF dividing the light He
would have had To alter the propositions he made on
the subject Instead saying 1.-THE electric light Is
indvisble" (Which literally true but somewhat mis-
leading he would have mad 20 say, "There Is loss OF
light in subdivision. but the loss be overcome by
slight increase OF power" which is very different
thing both in scientific and practical point OF view.
The value OF this discovery is clear. Take tho
lamps using continuous current and an incandescent
burner OF metal carbon. Suppose that one lamp
after another De placed the current from machine
until the limit Of operation is reached II might be
found that one machine would sustain two or three
large Sawyer lights Suppose that 20 lamps were EN-
ployed. The light from each might be and would
be very faint Each would probably have not
mugh mo han tla UI n.
Ada 10 and all would be reduced 10 q white
,,ln,r Nm In nr,h hInc 70