The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-04-13
POWER FROM THE SUN
I'M the San Francisco Bulletin.

From time immemOllal attempts have
been made to utilize the direct RAYS of the
sun ms motor for industrial purposes
During the last ten years considerable
progress has been made by Nj Muchot, a
professor in the Lycerm of Tours, + 'ance
which has arrested the attention of the
French and Algerian governments ana
scientific socis ties, and Muchot has re
| ceived from these high authorities golden
medals the decoration of the Legion of
Honor, HHd subscriptions aggrea ating
neatly Il &C, ~ 'cs.
A company WITH a large capital has
just been err ed in Paris for the purpose
of MAMIE .tr~iBg the solar machine in
vented by .of. Muchot, and over 100
| of the VIZ. Gus applications gre in actual
use in q ferent parts of he world, pump
ing water, cooking food running small
as ic' 'turol me hines, etn The appara-
tIs consists of concial reflector 114 feet
in diameter, from wi oh the solar rays
are reflect d upon bo''er three feet long
and siXi zen inches u famet II on the out
side, enclosed III a glass cover and placed
vertic" 'ly in the axis of the reflector A
battery of fOt such machines, it is claim
ed. gives thee horse power, the price of
which is, at ne shop in Paris 10000
francs. or $40 }.
Sin"a our attention was called to the
machines in France the information
comes that a company composed of some
of the best mechanics and engineers of
CHl fOi aia has been Incorporated for the
purpose of purchasing American patents
for util'"'rg soler heat for industrial pur-
poses, such as pumping water for irrigat-
ing and retaining lands, propelling all
Finds of machinery, furnishing steam and
hot wat er for canneries, cooking food,
the manufacture of berax, distilling alec
hol, drying fruit, the sublimatiOn of sui
phur and the roasting of ores.
An examination of the American pat
ents and the plans of the California com
pany shows that the old style of conical
| retlectOrs and vertical boilers has been
| abandoned, end that the new apparatus,
| which the company has already com
| menced to construct, consists essentially
| in "A reflector, cylindrical in form, having
a parabOlic cross section, and being
straight in loneitu6 nal direction, in
combination WITH a cylindrical heat
receiver, or boiler mounted on the axis
OF and parallel to the reflector, both
reflector and bo''er being placed horizon
tsllY, or nearly so, and provided With
81 table devices for setting the machine
in the proper position and causing it to
follow the suns apparent movement.
1t is confidently expected that fully
five horse power " III ref' lied from Z
q. m. to 5 p. m. 1t has been found that
occasional passing clouds have no
perceptible effect on the apparatus. All
know that the sun generates immense
quantities of heat. 1t has .becn demon.
strated by Ericsson, Muchot and other
scientists that the heat of the sun, after
oh TO
rather over one horse power per square
yard, and hat we get more heat (other
things being equeD on day in winter
zen in summer, for he sun is nearest to
to us in our northern " n Il by several
are millions of miles.
There are millions of acres of nc finest
land in the world in the San joaquin and
other v"'leys of Ca'ifo4 Tia sad f~izona
which land o. Y needs to be ''tickled
With wa r to make it laugh v til the
harvest" Only small pe"t of this l@1d
can be irrigated by the usu'' methods,
but water exists in ineXhaustible quantities
most local. .es at from 10 to 100 Feet
from the surface. By driving number
of tut ; wells, say fifteen feet apart, and
coupling them together at the tops and
apply ne a sun engine, a supply of water
can be obtained for irrigation and for
cattle which would raise the value OF the
land from So to So, its present price, to
so and ego per acre, and fill these
valleys with a prosperous and happy
population. This is a phase of the solar
engine business of the large ranches in
the interior valleys, where the conditions
are most favorable for the development
of this enterprise. We are not unmrnd-
full of the objection that the solar rays
are sometimes interrupted by clouds, and
that at best such an engine would be ay-
able only in the da time. but we answer
that in the summer time, during our
rair'es season, when their need would
be greatest, and ne sky is seldom OBJ
scured by clouds, and the power of the
ems re COZ d be used for COMPRISING
ar or generating electricity. which
+ ght he stored, and the electricity or
compressed air would serve to run the
macI merry in &c night. in this way the
cites on the rla;ns could also be lighted
by electricity at n 1imum cost.
The Solzr Heat Power company of
Califorra to-day filed articles of incor
poration IN tae county clerks Office, with
capital stock of 100000 shares of 800
each.