, 1879-05-08
The Electric Light.

1t is known that Mr.. Edison has failed
in his experiments. The most that ne
has ever vet accomplished has been to
maintain 400 Coiled iron wires in a state
of partial incandescence with sixteen
horse power steam engine. The object
of this experiment was to ascertain the
number Of coils which could be brought
to a red heat in any given circuit: It's
upon this experiment that Mr.. Edison
based his claim that he could maintain
10000 lights burning from one electrical
station with 6oo-horse power engine
The conclusion was fallaciouS one, as
Mr.. Edison now knows. Platinum must
be heated to 2,7oo degrees before 1t at
tains the intensity of incandescence which
is required for illumination, and when
the metal is as hot as that it is just on the
verge Of melting. To prevent the lamp
from melting, this inventor has used
regulator consisting of bar OF metal
through which the current flowed, which,
when the current became too strong, ex-
panded end switched off a part OF the
current, and thus saved the lamp. In
practice the regulator has failed to per-
form the service required of it. When
the current becomes too strong, the plat
mum burner melts in the twinkllng OF
an eye, and the mischief is done before
the regulator can act. The inventor be-
lieyed that he could overcome this pract-
ical difficulty, but he has not succeeded.
His lamps have continually melted and
he has been unable to keep them from
doing so, and the result is there isgreat
Encouragement at Menlo Park. There
has been another difficulty. Fourteen
out Of Edison's sixteen applications for
a patent at the Washington Patent Office
have been rejected. This impusive man
took up the electric light last Fall as an
entirely new subject Of experiment, and
allowed himself to believe that he saw
a way TO make the light useful which
others had never thought OF; but when
he reached the Patent Office be discov-
cred that very nearly every idea which
he had embodied in his applications
had either been covered by the patents
Of other inventors or was not patentable
at all. This information is obtained
from the Patent Office, and is one ex
planation OF the Encouragement which
reigns at Menlo Park There is no
doubt that the Edison light would be
delightful resource for the illumination
Of dwellings if it could be depended
upor. 1t floods room as though with
golden sunlight, pure, brilliant and mel
low. But the inventor has never yet
been able to regulate his currents so as
to keep his lamps burning for any length
of time, and he has never Ventured on a
single public exhibition OF it. The
public have never seen so much as one
Of his lights yet. A favored few who
have been admitted 10 his laboratory at
Menlo Park have beheld tia single lamp,
inclosed in glass globe, beautiful as the
light Of the morning star But he has
refused to let any one inspect it closely,
and has never allowed the exhibition Of
it privately to last long. He has never
been able to depend upon its durability.
His apparatus is as far from perfection as
it ever was, and, in fact, well-informed
electricians in New York do not now be-
lieve that Mr.. Edison is even on the
right line Of experiment -Correspon-
dence London Times.
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