Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-03-18
so,.An HEAT FOB MOTIVE POWER.

The advance Of science has been So rapid during the past quarter of cen tIry. that we but fairly become acqualnt- ed with the solution of one great scien tifc problem when We are called upon to consider another The utility of steam power was rapidly followed by that of electricity, which is still but i'm perfectly understood, and it's further uses are constantly being developed; in- deed there seems to be no end tG the economical uses it may be turned to Tn the interest of the human race. A new motive power has, within the past ten years, come into use, which promises to be a worthy rival of electricity and steam. From time immemorial, attempts have been made to utilize tic direct rays of the sun for industrial pur- poses, with varying results, and 1t has occupied the attention of some Of tho ablest scientific men of past ages. but it WAS left to M. Muchot a professor m the Lycsum of Tours, France, to invent a machine for utilizing solar heat. The apparatus consists of a conical reflector eleven and half feet in diameter, from winch the solar rays are reflected upon boiler three feet long and sixteen in- ches in diameter outside, inclosed m glass cover and placed vertically in the axis of the reflector. There are devices and steam-pIpe connections, like ID Ericsson's, and in all other solar appara- tus. It will be observed that such an apparatus gives 104 feet of rehecting surface and twelve and a half feet of heating or boiler surface. A battery of four such machines, 1t is claimed, gives three-horse power, the price of which IS, at the shop in Paris, 10000 francs, or 5000.
 A company has peen orgaized Tn Cali fornia for the purpose of purchasing the American patents for Muchots machine for utilizing solar heat for industrial purposes, such as pumping water for irrisating and retaining lands, and for propelling all kinds of machinery. The San Francisco Bulletin in an article on this subject, says: There are millions of acres of the finest land in the world in the San Joaquin and other valleys of California and Arizona, which land only needs to be "tickled with water to make It laugh with the harvest" Only a small part of thls land can be irrigat- ed by the usual methods, but water ex- ists in inexhaustibie quantities in most localities at from ten to one hundred feet from the surface. By driving number of tube wells, say fifteen feet apart and coupling them together at the tops and applying a sun engine, sup ply Of water can be obtained for irriga- ton and for cattle, which would raise ihe value of the land from g. to s, its present prlce, to $50 and SG0 per acre and fill these valleys with prosperous and happy population. This is a phase Of the solar engine business which should commend itself to the owners of tht large ranches n the interior valleys where the conditions are most favorable for the development of this enterprise l We are not unmiDdfll Of the objection that the solar rays are sometimes inter rupted by clouds, and that at best suct au engine would be available only iu the day time, but we answer that in the sum mer time. during our rainiess season when their need would be greatest, the sky Is seldom obscured by clouds. and tLe power of the engine could be used for csmpressing air or generating cleo tricity, which might be stored. and the electricity or compressed air woull serve to run the machinery jn the night. h this way the cities on the plains could also be lighted by electricity at a mini mum cost. The public will watch with great interest the trial Of the Ameucau machine which the company inst torrned ! are ab..1t to make.