Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-27
GREAT FORCE IN A NUTSHELL

| Astonishing Results Said to Be Obtained
From a Tiny Electric Generator.
| From the San Francisco Examiner.
A procession Of row boats moving rapidly
| about Lake Merritt. Oakland, q few weeks ago
was observed with intense interest by Q few
people who had watched with eagerness the
| movements of one Of the men in the leading
boat. This boat was fitted with paddles, the
| rapid rotation of which urged the boat rapidly
through the ripples and drew swiftly the seven
| other boats in tow. The boating excursion was
| no pleasure party, but private exhibition OF
a motor which. if able to accomplish one-tenth
| of what is said Of it, is the most powerful APP
| plication of electrical energy devised.
Charles Sellender is the man who directed
| the movements Of the leader boat and he is
| the discoverer Of the chemical combination
l that produces marvellous results. The process,
the materials, the manner of combination are
secrets closely held, for no patent has been
| issued. To very few people has any informa-
ton OF the discovery or invention been COM
| sleep contemplating the -parvels which the
| young inventor claims for his motive power.
| Sellander is a modest mechanic. quiet and in
| dustrIous who is employed by the Southern
motive engines. He lives on Fourth avenue,
| East Oakland. and bears an excellent reputa-
ton among all who know him.
| The outward appearance of his apparatus il
| simple. His chemical compound is incased in
| alright copper vacuum bulbs. for it explodes
| on exposure to the atmosphere. Attached to
| the copper receptacles are wires through which
| the electricity is fed as on supply wires of
other electrical systems. The discovery is the
generating materials and their Imprisonment
One of these vacuum bulbs is no larger than
| walnut Yet with this enthusiastically small
generator he is said to have sent the light row
boats dancing over the surface of Lake Merritt
| as though they were shells moved by a Cam
bridge crew.
The inventor recently told friend that for
| three weeks he had supplied constant power
from his tiny generator to move a toy boat in
pond in his back yardand the battery showed
| no signs of weakening. To the same friend he
| said that he regards his invention or discovery
| as the nearest approach to perpetual motion
| yet attained.
If the young man is pretender he has sue
ceeded at the beginning in quilting some very
hard-headed business men, who are not in
| clined to swallow the idle tales Of fabricator
| of romance.
First. there is F. NJ Smith. cammonly known
| as the borax king of this coast from his bust
ness. Mr.. Smith is ready to back the inventor
| with money. To an Examiner man Mr.
Smith would say but little, but he referred
| with enthusiasm to the discovery or invention.
| He says that he has not been taken into Sell
lander's confidence and therefore knows moth
ing about the materials in the little battery by
which the marvellous electrical force is gem
Grated. Yet he is satisfied that the device will
| be great success. He says that the light pro-
| duced by the Sellander system is as superior to
the ordinary electric lights as gasiight is supe-
| rior to kerosene lamplight.
z. J. Baldwin {"Lucky' Baldwin of San
Francisco) is said also to be willing to supply
| money to the inventor. Another report Is that
the battery was tried for lights at the Baldwin
Theater and Hotel in San Francisco with conf
plete success.
George NJ. Pullman of Illinois, the great car
builder, is another who is said to have seen the
Sellander battery and to be convinced that it is
what it is said to be.