The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-11-23
THE BRUSH ELEcTRlo LIGHr.
some Account or Its lnvenaIon and Pres-
ent State or development.

II accordance with our promise of yester-
Jay q reporter of the MINER interviewed Mr..
nuthfauf, agent of the Brush electric LIGHT,
'esaroihg The progress and origin OF that
wonderful invention, and from him learned
VIII lacts OF general interest. 1t would ap-
pear That while Edison has been doirg all the
o'o~ing, Brush has been quietly selling his
lights ard running them successfully, until
ITO" oVer 5000 are in actual use. Although
the Invention II is scarcely more than two years
oid' Dir. Brush, who is but 80 years old, has
realized a handsome fortune of nearly half a
million dollars from his genius and inventive
ability.
SIN the year 1882" said Mr.. Ruthrauf,
"faraday, the illustrious English philosopher
and scientist, announced that he had discoy-
cred what has since been called magnetic in
o~uctlon, or the induction of a current of
electricity in a coil of wire brought near a
permanent magnet and the phenomena at
tendant thereupon. The announcement Gre
ated great interest in the scientific world, and
almost Immediately instruments and ma
chlnes were made by electricians and others
10 test and utilize the newly discovered facts
and laws Among these early and very crude
machines may be named those of Clarke,
Nollet, Holmes, Wilde, Laid and others.
These were all imperfect machines, and it
was not until quite recently that very mate
rial progress was made in perfecting apparat-
us that should fairly represent the value of
Faraday's discovery.
The Gramme (French) and Siemens tAnglo-
Germany are types Of machines much more
successful than any of their predecessors, but
when MIR. Brush entered the field with his
machine in 1s76-after forty-four years Of
experience and research by others-there was
10 machine known, either here or abroad,
! that was in any respect a practical or COM
mercial success. No machine was then
known that would furnish a current for a
number of lamps and permit of their being
burned in one circuit with steadiness and
uniformity. Very soon after Mr.. Brush en-
tered the field, he presented to the public an
apparatus which was entirely clear from the
defects of all other systems, and, as the pub
lie were waiting for just such an apparatus,
they welcomed the new conner, and the result
is that to-day the Brush electric light
is practically the sole occupant of the field,
for at least forty-nlne out of every fifty lights
that have been sold in this country are Brush
lights. At this date 5000 Brush lights have
been sold for regular industrial use, and the
business has only just opened. An idea of
. the great superiority of the Brush system of
lighting NAV be obtained from the fact that
/ with the largest sized Brush machine power
, full electric lights are burned in one circuit,
with an absorption in the machine of less
than "a horse power"
E Among the many advantages of the light,
it may be stated that it is reliable, pleasant,
healthy and white. Its safe character is
universally admitted. The accidental fires
which so often occur in factories and mills,
and which so frequently are traced to the
careless use of matches, to explosions of oil
lamps, to leaks from defective gas pipes. to
faring and wind-blown gas flames, and to
: similar causes, may be expected to disappear
= at the approach of electric light, with its
, harmless copper wires, conveying currents Of
: electricity to the non-explosive and almost
non-combustible carbon points. These are
covered in exposed positions by the glass
!, globe, which may, if desired, be air tight, and
thus positively prevent explosive gases OF
t combustible materials from without from
coming into contact with the incandescen,
carbon points, incapable of communicating
fire to anything not absolutely in cOntdc
with their heated surfaces. The naked hant
> may be held within an inch of the spot FROM
9 which the immense light, produced by one o
our lamps, is emanating without any DANCE
> of burning it. 1t radiates far less heat thai
a an ordinary gas burner, while giving high
equal to an hundred gas burners.
In the matter of lighting outdoor space
: great progress has been made. About tW'
wears ago the city of Cleveland adopted it TO
lighting the park in the center of the city
and has been using it since with the creates
success. Then the city of Montreal adopte'
i it for lighting the harbor, so that the ship
~ are now unloaded as well by night as by day
:: Last April the town of Wabash, Indiana
secured the lighting OF the whole city b.
means of four lights of 5000 candle-powe
each from a flagstaff on top Of the court
! house, the entire elevation being about lo'
" feet. Galesburg, Illinois, Akron, ohlo' an'
several other eastern towns, and last weeKOe
den City, Utah, accepted my proposition 10
lighting Ogden for u period Of five years
$1,000 per annum. 1t is my intention to max
Of a similar proposition to the city of Butte, AM
{; also to organize a company here to turns
5. the lights to stores and saloons the same a
ii will shortly be done in Salt Lake and Ogder
proyidel the merchants OF Butte oher I'LL