Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-05-26
Electric Science.

Speaking of the work of the electnda
ty division, and the recent marvellous
development of electrical. inventionsl
MI. +. NJ. Bentley, one of the Exam
liners of the electrical division of the
Patent Office, gives some very sugges-
tive facts. He says that about two
thousand applications for patents I'M
electricity were filed in 1882, of which
about two-thirds were granted. To-
show how the subject has grown in inn
portance within u few years he said that,
in 1877 electricity was a sub-class in q
division. Now It is the largest divisions
in the Office, and regarded as the moss
important: The astonishing growth gt ID
due chiefly to two causes: l. The in-
vention of the telephone; and, second
the development of the magneto-electri
cal machine. The telephone had
opened, directly or indirectly, . wide
field Of inventions. The minds of many
persons throughout this country werS
turned to this class of invention, and
not only were improvements upon the
telephone itself attempted, but attention
was given to a great many incidental
appliances useful in its successful appli-
cation. The second great stimulus to
invention was the development of tho
maeneto-electrical machine. For thirty
years the world had been awaiting =
cheap and convenient source of cleo
tricity. Immediately following the dis
coveries of Faraday and others, from
1880 to 1910, there was 3 widespread
effort to make practical use Of
them, and special activity was
manifested in the lines of electric,
lighting. The arc light was put into.
practical form, and the foundations of
i~ncandescent lighting were laid. But.
no economic source Of electricity was at.
hand; for the galvanic battery consumed
too much zinc for profit. The principle
of the magneto-electric machine had, in
deed, been long known; but it was left,
for the Italian Pacinotti, in 1860, TO-
perfect a machine wherein continuous.
and constant currents were generated
The idea literally lay on the shehl
however, until 1870, when Gramme re-
invented practically the same machine,
and pushed it into notice. He was
speedily followed by the Siemena
brothers of Berlin and by Mr.. Brush
and others in the United States. The
magneto-electric machine, affording q
cheap and abundant supply of electricity,
Immediately rendered practical all tho
half completed inventions of thirty
years and opened the way to many new
ones. Brush got his patent in 1877.
Weston soon after, and the growth Of
the STANDARDIZATION of the Patent o.
flee has been steady and marvellous evea
since. The invention had been, how
ever, rather in the application of known
principles than in the discovery of new
ones; for during the fifty years that
have elapsed since the Investigations of
Faraday little new has been added to"
the science of electricity. The present
activity springs from the application Of
well-known exhibitions of the still un-
known force; and moreover only a few
of these features of the science have
been as yet made of practical value.
One of the broadcast and most successful
patents appears to be the telephone
The man whose name is perhaps moro
widely known than any other in connec-
ton with inventions, in his line of inven-
tons, is Edison, and his most famous
achievements have been in the improve
ment in telegraphy and in the incandes-
cent light. :