The daily gazette., 1881-05-27
EI.ECTRICIrY = ~ RoxED. o,x1EgiD.
A Discovery Of the Highest import
ance Bearing ON the Electrfct.
Light Problem. .....,......f =

Discovery Of the Highest Import
ance Bearing ON the Electrfct-
Light Problem. .-.,.,,.,..,,f q,
The cable dispatch recently published
in the Herald concerning the transmis-
sion Of storedup electricity in boxed
up battery announces discovery OF pos
sibly high Importance in Its bearing on
the eleclric-light problem. One Of the
great difficultles in the way of cheaply
furnishing electricity for lighting pur-
poses u the impossibllity of storing the
current, A "batch" Of electricity cannot
be lAade during the day and accumulated
10 reservoirs to be drawn of As wanted
ct nlght---as may be done with gas--bul,
ON the contrary, electricity must be pro-
duced as 1t Is needed. The consequence
Of this Is that when company under
takes TO supply given district 1t must
manufacture aud send through the wires
enough current to supply all the lamps
therein, even though only fraction OF
the number Of the lamps be ofdisarily
used. OF course this wasted power is an
important item insths cost Of electric
illumination, first 70 producer and iulti-
mately TO consumer. al ns tls
Now comes N. Plante, and lately fol-
lowing him NJ. Camille Faure, with what
appears to be q feasible way Of storing
up electricity. 1t should be understood
thai this is not plan for gaining i'm
menss power, as nigh. be inferred from
the statements OF the London Times,s
correspondent quoted in the dispatch,
because nothing Is moro certain than
that not one jot more power can be got
out Of any contrivance than is put, into
II, Messrs. Keely x Gamgee apparently
10 the contrary Notwithstanding, but one
for accommodating weak energy over a
long time, and delivering the accumula-
ti0n In short time.
Plante produced his apparatus some
eight years ago, and last year published
results Of an extended series Of valuable
researches concerning it. His so-called
secondary element" consists of two
large sheets of lead kept apart by bands
Of gutta peIcha and immersed Id diluted
snlphuric acid. BY means of current
from Grove or Bunsen cell, for exam
pie, he oxidizes The lead by successive
charges and discharges until q coat OF
OXIDE and reduced lead Is II, form
ed on the surface of the metal, Then if
the battery Is taken away and the, lead
RA1sSo JoAACu Dy = WhCS y 5O-ChllCu 6tC-
ondary current is prodnced in the latter.
This current lasts but for a short time,
but It's total energy equals all that
which Is received from the battery by
Plante's contrivance for q long time.
Hence with two or three Bunsen cells
effects are ob,ainable which, otherwise
require for their production many hun
-dred such cells. These secondary cur
rents under certain conditions are con-
stant while they last, and an element
has been found to yield good current
after rest of two weeks after charging,
The ir heating effects are considerable.
Thus the discharge of one OF Plants ele-
ments with lead. plates about five aud a
half square feet IN area will keep plat
mum wire one-twenty- fifth OF an inch
thick and eight inches long red-hot tor
from ona 70 ten minutes Besides this
the current has been put To several odd
uses. Plante has employed 1t to produce
what he calls the "electric-silicic Hight"
by putting glass tube over the end OF
the platinum wire connected with sec
ondary battery Of six elements and i'm
mersing the tube Ina q solution of nitrate
of potash. The end of the wire becomes
enveloped in q globe of melted glass, and
q brilliant light is given out until the
cooling Of the glass finally isol-
ates 1t from the liquid.
Another application of the current Ii
to the engraving of glass, which is cover
ed with saltpetre solution and acted
upon by platinum wire connected rs
before with q sixty element secondary
battery. IL Is said that the work Is done
wi.h great rapidi yand delioacy and that
remarkably fine lines are produced to
any desired depth.
For many purposes Plaute's battery
has the objection Of bulkineas, and this
Is remedied by Faure's improvements,
The latter chiefly consist IN covering the
plates with layer Of spongy lead ferh-
cd upon them by the current while Inn
mersed In acidulsted water. The action
Is kept up until the whole of. the positive
plate Is transformed, and then the plates
are enclosed In felt. There are other
notifications Of the apparatus which
need not here be described. It's capacity,
AZ stated by the London Tinass' CORES
pondent, is meaningless. Electricity or
any other enerRy 10 no more measured
by the foot than II Is by the bnshel, and
thus to assert that "eieotric energy near
ly equivalent to million feet is contain.
cd within onbic foot OF space. signifies
nothing. find 1t rscently published,
however, that one Of Faurs's batteries,
weighing 1856 pounds viii store Quanti-
uty OF electric energy capable OF per-
forming On horsepower OF work in an
hour" which, though not at all clear,
presumably means that the energy thus
storedi 10 capable of doing in one hour
work equalto that req Quired to lift a..weigLt
OF 5000 pouSds one foot high in ono
minute. The bearing Of this invention
on the economical use OF electricity is
plain. II 1t can be demoEstrated' THAT
weak currents can thus be accumulated
on large scale, the possibility may reason
ably follow that one great advantage
which gas making has over the prod1c>
tion OF electricity for Dlaminating pur-
poses will be neutralizsd. - Park Benja-
min IN TIE New York Herald. .,.. : 5