The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-03-27
THE ELECTRIC AGE.
Wonderful Things Which Have Been
ACCOMPLISHED


Professor A. Z. Dolbear of Tufts College
contributes an exceedingly interesting arii-
Gle TO a Boston magazine forecasting the
possible and probable accomplishments of
electricity. Professor Dolbear is well
known as a careful and conservative inves-
tigator in the field of physics, as he is the
author of several works, including
one on the telephone and a popular
treatise recently issued on Matter, Ether,
Notion" He is not likely to indulge in
loose theories or wild speculations. and
for this very reason his ideas of the future
accomplishments of mans mysterious
agent" must command respect and con-
sideration.
Professor Dolhear begins by telling US
what we may not expect to accomplish.
One thing is that there remains very little
II any Improvement i'm the dynamo and
motor as far as their mechanical efficiency
Is concerned. The dynamo returns 90 to
80 per cent of the power put into 1t,
and 1t is hardly to pc expected that the
very small margin of loss Will he much re-
duced by improved dynamoS. The CONVEX
sion OF one form of energy into another
without some wastage is one of those
things which the seekers after perpet-
ual motion have always sought in vain.
There may be great improvements, how
ever, in the ways of generating electricity.
The steam engine, which we must now de-
pend upon for the production of power, is
most wasteful device, so far as the
natural forces are involved. Only one
sixteenth the heat energy bound mp
In the roal which we burn in the
fIe-box is reproduced in the driving wheel
of the engine. Here Is a clear loss of SO
per cent. One of the greatest FIELDS now
open to inventors and discoveries is to learn
how to convert this heat energy directly
into electrical energy without the interven-
ton of the engine ard dynamo. This is one
Of the problems that Edison is working on.
Until something OF this sort is discovered
the principal opportunities for lessening the
cost OF generating electricity will be found
in utilizing water power, wind power, wave
motors and other natural agencies which
will be cheaper than coal.
Foremost among the accomplishments of
the future Professor DOlbear places tele-
graphing without wires. When the tele-
graph was first put into use the operators
thought that it was necessary to have a
complete circuit of wires for the outgoing
and incoming circuit. By mere accident
they learned that single wire connecting
two instruments and connections between
the two instruments and the earth would
do just as well. The ground served for a
return conductor just as effectively as a
wire. The next step was to learn, In an
expert mental way, that the single connect
ing wire might also be dispensed with.
There is n bility for great improve
lately worked out some most interesting
problems in this line, and has been able to
light an incandescent lamp held in his hand
with an expenditure OF energy not so much
as One-tenth OF that spent in an ordinary
lamp. This means that with proper appli-
ances ten times as much light can be got rs
we now get with a given expenditure of
power.
Heating rooms with an electric current is
also entirely feasible and the only reason 1t
is not now In common use is It's cost. When
methods of producing electrical currents
are cheapened there will be no reason why
houses should not be heated as well as
lighted by the energy that comes from the
wire.
Cooling, as we'll as heating, may be ac-
cOmpished by electricity.
Another possibility Of electricity will be
the manufacture of diamonds, sapphires,
rnbieS. emeialds and other precious stones.
The writer says: Faust with DYNAMO
can turn out product as good us Vulcan
with his forge, and, if he be encouraged,
will soon bring TO the poorest in the land
the most beautiful things. and will make
the distinction between the rich and the
poor to be only one OF quantity, not the
quality, OF ones possessions"