The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-09-24
MARCH OF ELECTRICITY.
TIE STEAM ENGINE TO BE DONE
AWAY WITH BEFORE LONG.

Coal Is GSLJlnS SC6rC6-InereIOE
the Dynamo, Which Works With an
Efficiency of o5 Per Cent, Must Be
Made to Produce a Current d.
rec.ly From Coal-Submarine Tele-
phony and Other Prcbabilities-An
interesting Glimpse Into the Future.
From, the Neto York World.
The schoolboys of to-day know more
shout electricity thsu their grandfathers.
The electrical engineers of this generation
srs vastly better informed than those Of the
preceding generation. Twenty years ago
studies and researches in the workings of
she mysterious current were confined to a
few hundreds Of men who were then con-
sldsred savants, while to-day its wonders are
watched by thousands of skilled experts in-
ssrested in its commercial development
and its convolutions in hundreds of in
gtruments are backed by millions Of
capital. What then may not become posi-
BILE when the youth of to-day becomes the
wise man OF tomorrow and the children OF
our electricians realize the dreams of their
fathers for the benefit of futurityl Knowl-
edge in the subject is increasing in nearly
ge9metrical ratio. The schools which last
wear taught Greek aud the rule OF three
next year will mozart to the young idea
momentum in the direction Of the unsolved
fields of physics and the theories of wave
motion in the luminiferous ether.
Who then dares say we shall never know
what electricity isl Who dares wager that
che fluid, the substance or the effect we call
''elsctricitv" does not embrace within its
broad scope all the phenomena Of natureG
Light is electrical. That has been recently
proved. So is gravitational force, cohesion,
chemical affinity, and matter itself being de-
peudent in some way upon the ether of space
NAV come within the broad scope of things
electrical Therefore, as tho answer to this
great unsolved question, What is cleo
tricityF may turn out to be Everything, =" a
consideration of the possible advances in the
practical applications of what we to-day
call electric energy in the arts and sciences
cannot fail to be Of interest.
The first great step is to be the production
Of electric currents directly from coal or
some such form of heat energy; that is, the
steam engine as a means OF driving dynamos
for the generation OF current Is to be done
away with and the wasteful loss of
energy in transforming heat energy into
mechanical power by this means elimi-
mated. A steam boiler and engine Ia
their operations dissipste about 80 per
cent. Of the energy impaired TO them In the
form Of heat, while a dynamo runs at
an efficiency of 80 per cent. Therefore, by
eliminating the steam plant as a means Of
supplying power and dynamo as a means
Of converting it into electrical energy, and
putting in their place a direct generator of
electricity from heat, whose workings would
be reasonably economical, ten times as much
power can be obtained from a pound Of coal
sld electric currents produced at one-tenth
their present expense.
This thing lie bound to come 10 pass from
the very principle it involves Nature her.
sell is great and constant delineator of the
lawof the conservation of energy, and her
workings are much more economical than
any of mans devices. She has stored the
earth with Goals for his use, but cannot Of
ford much longer to allow him to use them
with the prohigate waste be has in the past
Therefore, this 90 per cent. loss must soon
be stopped and the way it will be overcome
viii happen in the production Of electricity
from total dust
The steam engine has been a very good
servant to man, but It is too expensive 20
use much longer. Its place will be taken
by electric generators working directly from
coal consumption. Gas and Oil lights will
be entirely done away with; old forms of
deattng devices may be decreased, together
with the supplanting of stationary and
locomotive steam engines, with all that that
implies.
Railroad and ocean trips will be greatly
shortened by the saving of weight and in
crease OF power OF the motive apparatus
Every house may have its own electro-gen-
orator and operate its lights. heat its rooms,
cook Its occupants meals, ring its bells, run
us sewing machines, washing machines
cream freezers and what not, work its tele-
phone, Its monograph, its burglar alarms,
wlnd and regulate its clocks, lock its doors,
open aud close its windows. ecuip its kitchen
complete with cooking utensils and fiat
irons and entirely supplant it's stove-all
IRON current generated in it's cellar at a
coat equal to that now experienced in run
ming its furnace.
All these we'll known practical applica-
Tons OF electric power can be utilized, to-
gether with others that are bound to spring
up Immediately current cost is reduced and
Hyou please, instead Of running your own
generator similarly to the way YOU
no" run furnace current
can be supplied from central
stlilons at merely nominal figure. Cen
!rai stations, instead OF burning coal under
Iuer boilers, will turn 1t in their genera
TORS, save ~ FER cent. on the cost of pro-
uuclon. exclusive Of the maintenance ex-
l'ease OF their steam apparatus aud be able
u pay handsome dividends on small cspi-
t4.zauons, besides supplying current at
torit. 81
Aen have been at work on this problem
t I several years, and because it is less a
uLesn to-day than formerly the best minds
~ ~ .Le world are actively engaged In trying
WWOrE out it's solution.
0'"Ie Ohls comes TO pass, however, the
present systems of electric lighting will
PROBABLY be radically changed. Progress
ua9 Oeen already made in this direction.
qua apparatus successfully operated on
PRINCIPLES evolved during the past year.
t tno interior incandescent lamp of the
tuIuFe Is to be burned without being con-
.et'eu with supply wires at all. It is
t " oe constructed and supplied with cleo
etT energy In a manner that will admit
a. III us being carried from room to room
+ +ae candle and lighted or extin-
sGsGed at will. IL seems visionary. but
,..!a Tesla, one Of the most brilliant cleo
D rm.ahs OF the age, has already proved ex-
pUiAehtally that such a system Of lighting
20 already possible and its adoption is only
yn OF perfection of apparatus and
coIi. Hs OF introduction such as every radi-
10 new invention, however worthy has
nj. "ntend with. The principle Of the
Sars stated briefly and unscientifically is
y r,enueht upon inductive effects of alter
11WSI ig currents Of high frequency.
"Hes are run between the ceilings and
rerts Of buildings. and the mere fact Of our
iesrs, this nature traversing these wires
81 ro Tu.iclent to make incandescent the inte-
eba, VI properly constructed lamp carried
N -'out III the room near fharn Tine a. ill