Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1881-07-30
STORING ELECTRICITY.
A Cleveland Mans Rivalry to the
French Inventor.

After years of patient and quiet in
vestigation and experimenting, says q
Cleveland paper, Mr.. Charles Brush.
the electrician, has completed new in
ventlon which he considers to be an
ample reward for his life of study and
work. He has succeeded in perfecting
a method of storing electricity. This is
a contamination to secure which the
greatest electricians of Europe have
been laboring for a number of years.
The use of electricity is no doubt in its
infancy yet, and the rising generation
is likely to see most astonishing things
accomplished with it. Mr.. Brush, in
his electric light, has already furnished
the world with one of its most practical
applications, but his new accomplish
ment bids fair to extend its use as q
motive power to great lengths.
Faure, a French inventor, very re-
Gently discovered a method of storing
electricity, and to use his method a
company with large capital has been
formed in Paris. Faure's invention was
an improvement over the invention of
Plante, made some years ago. Plante,
good many years ago, described and
used on many occasions what he calls a
secondary battery. Faure took that
secondary battery, made some changes
in it and additions to it, and called it
his invention. It was merely modifi-
cation of Plante's secondary battery,
though, of course better perfected.
The news that Faure had invented q
method of bottling electricity" as it
was called, attracted much attention in
England and America, and was much
noticed recently in the English press
What NJ. Faure describes as his in
vention was accomplished by Mr.. Brush
years ago, but the latter was not salts
fled with such poor results. What he
has since perfected goes far beyond
what any other inventor has yet accom-
plished. Mr.. Brush's invention is q
secondary battery in the same sense as
8 Plante's and Faure's. There is no
essential difference in the basis of the
three inventions. The improvements of
Mr.. Brush are in the methods of storing
and in the amount of electricity capable
of being stored in given time and in a
given space. The details of his method
are entirely different from those of the
French inventors, and do not infringe
upon the rights of either of those gem
tlemen.
Mr.. Brush uses for his storage reser-
voirs metal plates, so arranged that they
are capable of very large charge of
electricity, and of holding it for an in
definite time. The storage reservoirs
vary in size as desired, may be trans
ported from place to place, and used as
desired. They may be put to any use
of which electricity is possible. They
can be taken about in wagons by day,
and left Mt houses of citizens, like so
much ice or kerosene, and used at night.
Each citizen may then run his own
electric lights as he pleases. The plates
can be put on street cars, connected
with the axles, and made to run the cars
without horses. Steam cars may be
ultimately run in the same way. Mr.
Brush recently stated that in a given
space he was able to store double as
much electricity as Faure.
Mr.. Brush has been working at this
matter for years, and he is q man who
says nothing of his work until he is
satisfied with it. His last invention is
now only n case of economy. For some
uses it will be cheaper, for others more
expensive, than the pres ent methods OF
obtaining power. The practical charac-
ter of the invention is settled, and it is
simply a matter of expense. The en-.
gines can be run and electricity accu.
INFLATED during the day, and then al
night two sets of lights can be run, one
set by the power stored up. An indefi.
mite amount of electricity can be stored
in this way and used as wanted. The
details of the method cannot now be
made public, but will be published in a
short time.