The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-09-29
THE ROANOKE TIMES, THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 20, 1892.

Nov all this is changed. Edison is
in the hands Of shrewd business men
who guard him and all his works as if
he We're the great Kohinoor diamond.
They are perfectly right in doing 80, for
Edison has little idea Of business; small
conception of his own commercial value.
To him money is, desirable only because
it is something taeAst can be spent in I'M
raveling more of natures mysteries, in
devising new blessings for mankind.
The business men who have surrounded
Edison say he has done enough for the
world, and it is time he were doing
something for Edison. They soy, and
truly, that there does not live upon the
face of the globe today another man who
has dono as much for his race as he.
"Unless l am greatly mistaken, Edi-
which will commercially be the greatest
OF oil his works. l don't presume to
know much about it, because, as have
said, the inventor is now carefully guard
ed and few hints of his operations reach
outside ears. But a few facts have ac-
cidentally come to my knowledge which
convince Inc that Edison is constructing
has in fact constructed and is now
perfecting-a machine which will pro-
duce electrical power at one-half or one
quarter its present cost. II he shall sue
coed in doing that, imagine tho com
mercial revolution which will follow"
Then he must have discovered just
what electricity is?'
~ doubt that. / doubt if we shall
ever know any more accurately than
we know at this time what electricity is.
Of course we know all its properties,
principles and phenomena, but we can't
analyze the thing itsolf. III tell you
what Edison says about this-and If any
one in the world knows what electricity
Is he does-Edison says the universe is
full of terrestrial and solar magnetism,
and that dynamo is simply machine
which pumps out this magnetism SO
that it runs in stream along given
line, just rs ono may pump water out of
she ocean and set stream to running
from it. have myself heard Edison
say this number Of times in response
to the question SO often put at him,
Mr.. Edison, what is electricity anyway
Now, this is what think Edison is
working on. He is building machine,
which Is nothing but Il steam engine, to
pump magnetism out of tho universe
without any intermediate dynamo and
in immense quantities in proportion to
the power employed. In other words,
instead Of a complex and somewhat
costly pump, which produces rivulet
or terrestrial magnetism running along
wire, he proposes to open up sort of
electric artesian well. How, / don't
know-that is Edison's we'll guarded Sc
cret-but l should not be surprised if to-
morrow, next week or next year the
| Wizard were to throw into the lap of
man plaything which would make him
almost omnipotent, which would give
him command of forces as yet almost
undreamed of, and revolutionize indus
try, mechanics and transportation n.
completely as did the steam engine
itself ..n only ouch moro rapidly"
mission of electrical power over long
distances practicableT
Yes. We are learning more about
that every day. For instance, in the
electric lighting business we have dis
covered that the heavier tho wires the
less loss of power. All wiring done
nowadays-properly done-is with heavy
wires. Builders of blocks or houses who
save money by having cheap wires put
In their structures make great mis-
take. The heavy wire saves power for
all time to come and pays for itself hun
dreds OF times over. Have you noticed
that the arc lights are burning much
steadier than they did few years ago?
They do not wink and sputter as they did.
but burn steadily hour after hour. That
is the result of heavier wiring. The cur
rent is SO strong that when belt slips
on tho dynamo, or anything else occurs
to interfere for an instant with the flow
of electricity, the small wire is without
any reserve force, the current is broken
and the light flickers or goes out. a
heavy wire contains a steadier and
stronger supply, enough to tide over the
temporary failure at the source. and the
lamps burn perfectly and constantly.
BY the use of heavier conductors the
cost of producing electricity for incan-
descent lights has been brought down
to about one-half cent per hour, as
against five-eighths, and arc lights can
now be kept going for u little more than
two cents an hour against 21% with
lighter wires.
Gin the opinion of most electrical OK
perts the question of economical trans
mission of power is largely one of con-
ductor heavy enough for the work. We
believe the day ID coming when the en-
ergies of Niagara will run factories and
locomotives hundreds of miles distant;
when all the great waterfalls in the
land will be similarly used. believe
moreover chat i'll n few years mining
farming and other operations in the far