Chariton courier. (Keytesville, Chariton County, Mo.) 1878-current, 1879-07-19
DRIVING AWAY DARKNESS.

Solving the Problem of the Electric Light
| Madison Square to be Flooded with
Daylight.
From the New York SUM-
Thomas A. Edison is not the only man
who has spent fortune in an effort to
make the electric light serviceable.
Col. FL. B. Crosby of the law firm of
Crosby & Kent has laid out over $780,
900. The Colonel is the head and body
of the Fuller Electric Company, and
owns the sole right to the Gramme cleo
trio generator in the United States. He
first saw an electric light on the Parlia-
ment buildings in London three or four
years ago. 1t was so intense that he
read newspaper at Rose Hill, three
miles away. From that day to this the
Colonel has freely used a portion of a
| large fortune in an effort to muzzle cleo
tricity. Yesterday afternoon he sat in
his spacious chambers in William
| Street.
81 have heard that for two nights
Madison Square Garden has been light
ed by gas" said the inquirer. "Whv
have you Withdrawn your electric
light?"
"We have not done so," the Colonel
replied. "We are only changing the
position of the lamps, and perfecting
new arrangements. We shall light up
again in day or two. There is nothing
wrong"
In further conversation the Colonel
referred to the light in Place de l'Opera,
Paris. "It is never in darkness" he
said, 9" and is ever as light as day. We
propose to illumine Madison Square
and the plaza of the Fifth Avenue Ho-
Twenty-third Street, in similar man
ner. When the nights become longer
say in October or November-we intend
to put forty lights, each of 2, 500 or more
candle-power, in Madison Square, and
flood that part of the city with daylight.
Why, we could put light on the stee-
pie of Trinity Church that would enable
a man to read newspaper on Jersey
City Heights"
"But what about the oheapness OF
such lightsp" we queried.
"Well, I'll give you sample" Col
onel Crosby answered. "Pratt & Whit
ney of Hartford had their machine shop
lighted with gas. 1t cost them 80 an
hour. We put in two electric lights,
with five times the illumination of the
gas, at cost of eight cents per hour,
allowing for carbon, fuel, wear and tear,
and every thing. The firm was build
ing torpedoes for the Peruvian Govern
ment. By the aid of the two electric
lights they filled the contract 10 days
ahead of time. With the use of gas
they say they would have been 80 days
behind time. Since then we have put
lights in Colts armory, and are being
driven to fill large orders. The paper
mills at Bellows Falls are lighted
by our process, and the cleo
tricity is generated by water
power. Mr.. George Jones of the Times
saw our light in Madison Square Gar
den, and told me that he was greatly
pleased with it. 1t was the first steady
light that he had seen. All others flick
cred at odd moments, causing disa-
greeable sensation. Mr.. Jones wanted
to make arrangements for putting up
one of the lights in the composing room
of the Times, and l told him we would
accommodate him. The generator can
be run by the same engine that works
the printing presses"
Further questioning drew cut the fact
! that all these lights had carbon burners.
The Colonel also made the astonishing
statement that the company owned the
patent for an indestructible carbon
burner. Heretofore the carbon has
been consumed, and at intervals the
lights have been replenished. Last year,
however, Col. Archibald Henry Planta-
genet Stuart Wortley took out patent
| in England for an unconsumable carbon
light. This patent is now owned by the
Fuller Company. Before this discovery
the points of the carbon were burned
away by the formation of gases due to
the combination of the incandescent
carbon with gases in the atmosphere.
Under this patent the carbon points are
protected by hood or shield of as
| bestos, which prevents them from being
burned away. A second specification
in the patent provides for mixing the
asbestos with the carbon. Its effect is
to rctard the burning of the points.
Under this patent no regulator is used
to keep the carbon points together.
! As to the divisibility of the light, the
Colonel says that he has never seen a
light of less than 500-candle powder
made by the Fuller process. He thinks
there will be no trouble in reducing it to
15-candle powder. Experiments indi-
cate this. 1t, however, remains to be
proved.
Col. Crosby's house is lighted with
electricity. At any hour of the night,
by leaning out of bed and touching a
button, every room in the house is filled
with daylight.
1