The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-04-11
AN INGENIOUS YANKEE.
James z. Mclaughlin Bids Fair to fivsl
Edison.
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From the Seto YOrl; World
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Voung YANKEE in this town who has dis
PLAYED such powers Of thought and inven-
i'm in the electrical line that his friends
believe they are safe in predicting tina; he
will net only turn out to be a second
Edison. but will in s0fne branches Of the
science Guido even the famous wizard him
self The young mans name is James f.
Mclaughlin. He Is a native of Waterbury,
Conn. but has lived here the greater part
nj his life. He is now tweafy-seven wears
NJ sre. aud for the last ten years has been
lent under cover through the greed aud
salfishuess of csrtain capitalists. who have
usad his brains to till their own purses aud
keep lis empty.
NeLaughlIn's inventive faculty is appar-
only iuexhaustible, and the rapidity with
which he evolves new ideas day after day
l. SIMPLY phenomenal. Between 1878 and
the pre.e 1t time he has devised and made
with his own hands the apparatus for no
less than 1000 separate and distinct appli-
cations OF electrical force. 1t would take a
volume TO recount them. even with
t6e most meager description Of each
Tnev include system of coast
defense for seaboard cities, whereby
one operator can defy the fleets of the world
and blow navies into kingdom come bv
merely touching a button: system of
night signaling for armies which viii defy
detection and sharpshooters and which
may be adopted by the Russian or German
government; motor by which man could.
he claims. elevate himself into the air and
remain stationary at any hight he de-
sired without visible means of support.
This, too, is intended for army use and is
Intimately connected with the signaling
device, which in Itself is marvel of inge-
nuity. A soldier is armed with an ordinary
knapsack, on the side Of which are four
buttons, one blue, one red, one purple and
one yellow. Carried inside the knapsack in
a separate compartment from the storage
batteries that furnish the electricity, are
four incaudescent globes, the glass
corresponding in color with the buttons
on the knapsack. TO each globe is
attached a small motor. something like the
propeller blade of a steamship, ana from
the motor runs a delicate pair of wires,
which are connected with the batteries.
When it is desired to signal, the globes are
elevated into the air by means OF the motors
TO a height of 100 or $50 feet. Then by
pressing the buttons, according to code
previously agreed upon, the signaller
flashes out different colored lights with
such rapidty that the most expert marks
man would be unable to find target.
The elevation of man into the air by a
motor attached to a small platform on
which he stands is intepde for taking OBJ
servations in hiliy countries at night The
aerial observationist has a powerful search
light either under his feet or over his head,
which he can flash IL any direction, and
with pair of powerful tield-glassas learn
many of the secrets OF the enemy. 1t is
only fair to say that this last-namei device
has not yet been proved 10 be of practical
utility, but the electrical knapsack is an ac-
complished fact. Before he was II years
old young Mclaughlin had a workshop,
and built with his own hands a tirst-class
lathe, three or four bench vises, machine
to punch holes i'll zinc plates, and,
in fact, all the coarser tools used by the
working electrician. Then he built a pho
nograpb with wooden cylinder, which
took the spiral impressions from the vbra-
ting needle in lead foil. He had not reached
his 18th year when he constructed a tele-
phone TO which he added a sounding board.
device that he will not make public ultil
alter the existing telephone patents ftave
expired. Many valuable improvements in
the telephone he disposed of for a mere song
10 men who have made fortunes for them
selves and have not rewarded him with an
extra dollar
Between the years 1880 and 1889 Nc
Laughlin devised several new ideas for the
Morse system of biography, in key-boards,
switches and the like, and in the latter year
be invented the Pneumatic tubs for the
transmission of packages, out Of which sew.
eral men have grown wealthy, although the
tube, while perfect, is not yet in operation.
Thea came the electrical type writer, and
after that the invention of an inge iious
system by which street car companies using
the endless cable as a means of propulsion.
could abandon 1T and turn tae cable conduit
into an electric conduit.
While these and thousands of other ideas
were taking shape. the inventor was press
ing steadily toward the goal to which all
and that was the perfect storage Of cleo
trlcitv, just as Edison made the incandes-
cent light his hobby while mis- active brain
was engaged III, studying out countless other
problems Mclaughlin had made out of
his earlier inv entious something like $25 900.
and after some three years Of experiment
was 50 confident that he had mastered the
secret that he invested every dollar he had
IN the world in preparing for a practical
demonstration. He was promised finan.
cial support by the management of
street railway Company if he could prove
beyond the shadow of doubt that it was
POSSIBLE to get as much electricity out of a
charged jar as was put in it. He COM
peted the task shout four weeks ago.
and performed not only more than he had
promised, but feat that will in all proba-
bility reyolutionize all existing motor pow
ers used on street and steam railways. By
on entirely new process of plate" max ne,
the machinery for which he built himself.
re succeeded i'll accomplishing what has
never been done before in the history of
electricity and that was TO charge lar al
the rate OF 100 ampereS for five hours and
obtain discharge Of fifty ampsres per hour
for ten consecutive ampere hours without
Leakage.
A street car on the Fourth ami Eighth
street line was fitted up with ninety cells.
and improvements were made in the motor
OF a well known system TO meet the new
conditions. The car was run for nine and
one half consecutive hours at about half the
cost of horse power. Mclaughlin showed
the boldness of his fertile mind by abolish
ing altogether the generally accepted
switch-board and substituting two levers
and introducing an entirely new idea to pre-
vent the creation Of sparks at the point
# contact between the drum and the
brushes, which has heretofore resulted in
the quick destruction of the latter. So
thoroughly successful was the test that the
inventor has since been invited by four
New York street. railway companies to
make similar test in that city it is not
Improbable that within a few weeks an
effort will be made to run car from Phila-
delphia TO New York with stored electric
Ity, at high rate Of speed. This, if done,