Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1883-08-23
Utilizing Waste Force

a contributor to the ccisniitic American
b. s devoted two or three recent articles
to consideration OF sons practicable
u 7thod Of Harvesting omnipresent but as
yet almost unused forces of nature and
bringing them into regulsr and reliable
servitude to mankind. He computes the
horsepower of the winds that blow un-
tolled over our cities AID shows that it
would suffice to drive AL their machinery;
he meas ures the amount OF heat that the
sun sends annually to each square foot Of
our land and shows that il properly COLI
centrated it would heat all the water in
our boilers and still leave surplus heat
enough to make ice cream palstable dur
ing six months OF the year.
Some little has been done, 1t is true,
towards the utilization of these forces,
but it has been very little. Wind mills
have existed from time immemorial. but
their working has been very capricious.
They ran while the wind was blowing
and stopped as soon as it had oeased.
This, of course, would not suit the manu-
faeturer. He wants regular power,
which will drive his machinery in storm
or calm, by night or day, with uniform
and continuous velocity. That certain
area will contain enough wind mills to
furnish all the power ne requires with
the wind blowing at certain uniform
speed may be demonstrable, but the wind
won't blow that way. Sometimes it will
blow with such force that much of its
power is wasted, while at other times it
will provohingly refuse 10 blow at all.
But the writer argues that, taking one
year with another, the average force in
foot pounds Of the winds blowing over 8
given locality may be spproximsted, and
the problem then becomes one of gather
ing and storing the surplus force of strong
winds and with this stored power ekins
out the intervals Of light breezss snd
Gains. lie suggests several plans foi
doing this, but admits that they do no
appear to be practicable. Still he think
there is inventive genius enough in tn
country to devise some method whicl
shall be practicable.
In this idea the writer seems TO hav
been anticipated by some ingenious mine
out in Colorado or Nsw Mexico. Ha need e,
power to drive his stamp mills. Til
country WIS bare of timber aad coal 8
| that steam was cut of tine question
There wsre no streams worth mentioning
40 that water power was equally out I
the question. In this emergency h
erected number Of wind mills, not I
drive his stamp mills, but to supply san
for what he called his "astragals.
, These astragals are described as oversize
! | wheels driven by a stream of sand II
I stead OF water, and the wind mills al
1 | kept at work when there ia bree
+ enough 10 run them, 10 pumping" II
saud up into tanks, from which it i. d
. l.yersd through descending troughs wit
E power enough to turn thu astragsls.
s seems like crude arrangement, but ii
9 represented as furnishing sufficient pow
i tor the purpose, aud at a reasonable cos
= That the heat of the sun might
: harnessed for the use Of man WAS show
Ii at recent exhibition in Paris, where
q small paper was printed upon pre-
IS driven by steam from boiler heated
i. concentrating the solar rays by lar
Y eonesvs mirror. This is only begi
3. ming, but from less promising beginniu
is vastly important results have been d
Y ysloped.