The Osceola times., 1880-01-10
Edison's Electric Light.
Cincinnati Commercial.

| perfected his electric lamp and made il a
/ complete success.
/ 1t will be recOlectod that premature
announcement Of this discovery agitated
I England in the fall of 1873. and caused a
/ panic among the holders of gas stock.
/ This happened owing to the unauthor-
lied publication of few enthusiastic
1 phrases from a private letter.
! As a matter of fact. at that time Mr.,
/ Edison was far from the solution of the
mystary of producing and diflusing
/ light by electricity. He had not then
earned the splendid success he has now
achieved
Then there were interviews of Edison
/ by enterprising newspaper correspond
ents of American and English journals,
all expressing great expectations, and
/ giving the most picturesque accounts of
/ the mighty inventor and his mystical
workshop.
After period of almost total silence,
as Edison began to refuse to see inter
viewers, for the reason that they took
time and strength, and committed him
to inaccuracies that excited the mockery
of men of science, we heard of the lamp
in which platinum was employed, and
its complex gearing TO prevent the flow
of too much electricity.
The general effect of this was to re-
duce the anticipation of Edison's success
to 4 minimum. The panic in gas stock
passed away altogether. The appeal to
American miners 10 find enough platin-
um to make it a cheap metal excited
amusement rather than alarm among
the holders of investments in illumina-
ton.
The point of the discovery now made
known is that carbonizcd paper answers
the purpose that ii wasthought platinum
alone could serve, and is not only as
cheap as ashes, but better than precious
metal
All difficulties but this of the compost
| ton of the wick of the electrical candle
had been overcome. The generation of
/ electricity has become familiar, There
are many well known electrical ma
I chimes. The diyisiblity of the current
| has been found possible. Ii il as divi-
/ sible under Edison's process as a volume
/ Of gas.
/ What of the Edison lamp? 1t can be
made at 4 cost of twenty-five cents. In
/ its simplest fom as cheap n a gas tip.
I 1t is plain glass globe, about the size
of a small orange or large lemon. In the
/ bottom is fitted metallic stopper,
| through which the copper wires pass,
and strip of carbonized paper, shaped
| like a horseshoe, connects the wires.
/ The air Is exhausted in the globe. Turn
/ on the electricity, which is quite as sim
I pie an operation as turning on gas. and
! the carbon becomes and remains lumin-
Gus, giving out soft. brilliant, powerful
| light, and the wick endures. No limit
! to its endurance has been found. No
matches are needed to strike light.
You touch your key and there is your
/ illumination. The glass globe does not
become heated. Ii grows warm, but by
no possibility can there be any combus-
ton. Break the glass, and the light is
instantly and utterly extinguished The
moment the air enters the light is out.
II would be perfectly safe, therefore, TO
use such light in a powder magazine,
1t will be of inestimable advantage on
shipboa ri. 1t can be employed with
the happiest results in mines heretofore
extra-hazardous. II will, by at once
abolishinC the use of matches in our
houses, and introducing light that nei-
ther heats nor enkindles, vastly reduce
the liability of fires, and thus speedily
put down the rates of insurance. This
light will do away with the necessity of
heat in well-lighted apartments. One
can produce a dazzling illumination
without changing the temperature.
As there is no combustion. there is no
smoke, so that this is the light long
sought for picture galleries. Wherever
a wire can be stretched light may be
produced. so there will be no excuse for
dark alleys. This will be the terror of
burglars, for by the noiscless touching
of a key not only an apartment, but an
entire house, may be flooded with light,
to the terror and discontinue of all who
seek darkness that they NAV do evil.
1t is light that does not harm the
eyes, and that may be shaded and regu-
lated at pleasure-combining the softness
of the oil lamp with the splendor of the
burning of carbon points.
The opinion is not entertained that an
entire city could be supplied with cleo
tricity from 4 single establishment.
New York, for instance, is to be divided
into twelve districts, each receiving the
magical current from an independent
center. From tour to six districts under
this system would comprehend the COM
pact portion of Cincinnati.
Edison's favorite theory on the subject
is that the gas companies will be glad to
buy the right of lighting under lis in
vention, and that the wires will be con-
veyed through the gas pipes, the new
lamp being simply screwed on where the
gas tips are found. Very fine insulated
wire will suffice. All the appointments
are simple.
Agents are already here for the pur-
pose of introducing the Edison lamp,
The object is not to sell the right to indi-
viduals, but to employ capital in supply
ing districts. II is Edison's careful esti-
mate that the cost of the electric light,
according to this system, will be some
thing less than one-half the cost of coal
gas. He is sure it will not exceed that
figure. Beyond that, he proposes to use
electricity as motor TO run sewing ma
chimes and the like, and has prepared .
meter for the exact measurement of the
electricity furnished to each house. We
need not dwell upon the importance OF
this discovery. 1t is revolutionary.
Christian +. Funch, New York ship
ping merchant recently dead leaves $50, 900
Danish crowns to his brother Emil, and
i25, 900 to his sister Caroline. He also d.
I Il L.l ,., La ,o1,. a.. 81,