The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-05-31
Electric allnainatio.,.


PERTS.
While the scientific world. divided into
factions represented respectively by electri-
cians in the interest OF the gas-companies
and those whom the latter either could not
buy or thought too obscure to buy. has
been GisputiDe learnedly about the divisi-
biIity OF the electric current, one OF those
penniless persons styled inventors has gone
to work in his little attic. solved the pro-
blem, applied for patent. placed his model
on record in the Patent Office, and yes,er-
day received notice from the Examiner
OF Patents that his application bad teen aI-
lowed, and that the fee OF $40 for granting
letterS-patent must be rendered within 4
certain period, or the application will have
to be made over again. The history OF this
invention is somewhat curious. The in.
yentor OF this new electric light, in which
minute candles Of lamp-black are used in
place OF the ordinary carbon pencils, Is Mr..
Alfred G, Holcombe, who took ont letters
patent three years before Reuss bad COM
pleted his first crude telephone, for an
electrical instrument which covered the
telephone as subsequently developed by
Bell and others. The model Of this instru-
'ment--ihe first telephone eyer manu-
factured-was shown to the writer some
vibrating disk was formed by the cover OF
one OF those cylindrical cedar-wood boxes
in which certain brand Of smoking-to-
bacco was sold few years ago, and alto
gcther this Adam OF telephones Is very
primitive affair; but it is interesting as the
very first model of that wonderful instru-
ment ever put in operation. 1t was exhl-
bited by the inventor in tie presence OF
queer old DR.. Bradley, the man who kept
clocks in order, and few friends, in lit
tie room in Pine street, in this city, years
before the telephone broke on the popular
Imagination as new revelation OF the pos
siblllties OF science. 1t is worthy OF note,
also, that there is DOW OIL record ut the
Patent Office, as having been made
in 1870, the application for a pat
ent, OF man giving his residence on Staten
Island, whose specifications cover all the
points OF the now familiar telephone. For
some reason or other--poverty, probably
he never took out his patent, and thus the
honor OF an invention in which there was
a fortune slipped through two hands, and
was finally awarded, not TO the original ln-
yentor. nor even to the second in order, but
to the third, fourth, or fifth. The real in
ventor, whose quaint little model dates back
more than 6fteen years, has exhausted every
other means to obtain his rights, and will
soon bring an action for infringement. His
patent having expired nearly two years ago,
there was sufficient influence and money ar
rayed against him to prevent renewal, and
nothing remains except TO bring action for
his royalty during the period in Which bis
patent was valid after profitable manufac-
ture really commenced.
With the electric light our mapy-timeS
disappointed electrician has been more for
tnnate, not having TO create public inter
est in wholly new thing. 1t is a familiar
fact among electricians that the real value
OF Edison,s patent lies in the invention OF
a regulator by which the platinum is pre-.
vented from fusing-that is to say, by which
the temperature is regulated. The division
OF the current and the production OF q
light OF moderate intensity-of one-candle
power, say-remain as, apparently insur-
mountable. as ever. Edison's light is by in
candescence, which, for reasons that only
an expert would understand, is more eX-
pensive than the arc. . ~ ..
Professor Furmer has always claimed that
while light OF fiity-candle power might be
economically produced by electricity. 1T was
impracticable to undertake minuter SUBJ
division, and in this opinion Professor Nor
ton. OK the Stevens Institute, coincides.
Such light is available for the illumination
OF large areas, but will not answer for do.
mestie and social purposes, and hence, in
J the present state OF, the question, SO far as
public exhibitions and experiments and the
| inventions used for them are concerned, the
gas-men have nothing to fear. Only few
lays ago, in a conversation with the in
ventor whose work is under considera-
tion, Professor Farmer expressed the
opinion that such thing MS q one
L.
linexpcnsiye, was not to be accomplished
by electrical means. And yet, with a Gu
rious obtuseness, all these great electricians
have overlooked ore factor in the accom-
plshment. In trying to reduce the lnlen-
sty and to regulate il, it did not apparently
occur to them correspondingly TO reduce
the carbon pencils and The arc; and their
efforts to produce light OF one.candle
mower have been made with the same pen
ellis and arc that would have been used for
one thousand times the brilliancy. The re-
pIy TO this objection Invariably has been
that no reason can be assigned why smaller
points should be used, and yet it might have
been answered that the resistance OF TWO
given pencils OF carbon should be in some
measure proIortionate to the squares OF
their diameters, although it had never been
experimentally demonstrated.
Reasoning after this manner, our elcctri-
clan procured the smallest carbon pencils
TINT could be made. and commenced to eX-
ncriment with them. The result was that
the ends OF the pencils fused, and the arc
was cxtinguished. He next looked about
him for some form Of carbon which should
NOT be omen to this objection. and after
MANY trials hit upon lamp-black, had the
required pencils manufactured from If, and
was successful in producing steady, rella-
Bile light Of only one-candle power, upon
the principle pointed out In the preceding
paragraph. In speaking OF the sub.
feet Yesterday afternoon tIe gratlhed
inventor said that With, this prob
lem solved, and with the less expensive
form OF carbon tlamp-bisck) used in the
manufacture OF his points, it woald be pos
sible to light parlor a,S from one fifth to
one eighth the cost OF gas Tor the same
purpose. His first points could only be
used about three. eours, but he has recently
produced earboas that lasted fifty hours,
and has thus nearly dispensed with the
trouble OF renewal found to be so formlda-
bic In tns Jobiochkoff light, experiments
with witch have been tried on o large
scale Ia Paris. The real point OF tue fnTen-
tion consists in the regulation OF resist
a,lce, and the consequent employ Of no
more electrical force than is required.
The invention has been viewed 10 opera
ton only by q few experts as yet; but inc
latter speak OF IT. in terms OF the hlghest en-,
thuslasm, as segercoming In the simplest Rna
r