The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-08-01
FRANKLlN'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.
Tho Old Philosopher More Than . Cen.
tury Ahead Of Edison.

Tho Old Philosopher More Than . Gem
tury Ahead Of Edison.
The department Of state lately re-
! ceived from Mr. B. f. Stevens, of the
United States Dispatch agency at Lon
don, an account of historical electrical
apparatus once owned by Franklin,
which he has recently unearthed in
that city. Among other things, Mr..
! Stevens says, according to the Boston
Herald, he has found that Franklin,
during his last sojourn in England,
made an electric light, and that he
could produce from it with his primi-
tive appliances sufficient electric light
TO read by. This antedates the achieve
ment of Edison by more than one hun
dred years.
The lamp is in good state of pres
ervation, and has recently been tested
by the owner, gentleman residing
near London, who finds that it works
as satisfactorily now as when Franklin
himself experimental with it. 1t is
curiosity of great value and impor-
tance in illustrating the history of
electric lighting. 1t is by no means
the arc light or the incande scent lamp
of modern times. Its principle, how
ever, is that of the arc light without
carbon points, this device-which was
invented by Sir Humphrey Davy in
1s13-first demonstrating the practica-
bility of electric lighting. The total
length of the cylinder, within which
the light is produced, is about twelve
inches and the diameter three inches.
Each end is provided with attachments
for connecting it with the positive and
negative poles of the machine, which.
it should be remembered, was the only
means of generating electricity with
which men were then familiar
The electric light in this rude but in
genious device was produced by the
leaping of the intercepted current from
the ball to the metallic point. The
ends of the tube are partly closed un-
doubtedly for the same reason that the
globes of the arc light are closed at
present, and the light given off is
brilliant and steady.
The machine with which Franklin
generated the electricity for this novel
experiment is turned by crank,
grindstone like, and was the most
powerful and complete in construction
Of any electrical machine of that day.
This crank turns ponderous cylinder
of glass, which is rubbed by brushes
with silk covers. These brushes con-
vey the electricity collected from the
cylinder to the positive and negative
conductors, supported on large glass
pillars, where it can be used for pur-
poses of experiment. The machine is
stanchly built, and is capable Of pro-
ducing spark twelve or fifteen inches
long. While simple in its construction
1t could hardly be improved upon by
our wisest electricians. 1t is especially
adapted for the advanced experiments
of various kinds which Franklin was
engaged with at that period of his life.
Baron Alphonse Rothschild. of Paris,
of a hunt which he gave on his estate
in France last fall one of his guests ac-
cidentally shot him in the eve. AL
though the best specialists in Europe
tried to save the organ, it was found |
impossible. The eve was taken out a
few days ago. It was feared that the |
sight of the other eve would be i'm |
paired.
The only sign of great age in Mar
shall MacMahon. who recently cele- |
brated his eighty-sixth birthday, is his |
lack of teeth. When a molar passes |
the time of its usefulness the ex-presi- |
dent accepts the loss philosophically, |
and refuses to call on dentist to re.
pair the damages. He attributes his |
green old age to temperate Irish an
cestors (the marshars name is PATRICK |
and to the absence in his own charac- |
ter of malice and ambition.
j. D. Garrison and W. j. O'Connell. |
of the international railway survey. |
have returned to Washington after an |
interesting expedition into Central and |
South America on the work of the |
survey They have been gone since |
April. 1921. and have traversed the /
country from Ecuador north through |
Colombia, the isthmus of Panama and |
costa RIca to San Jose. with an alter |
nate route to Carthagena. Colombia. |
They report the entire line practicable |
to build at reasonable expense
Lord Coleridge has been telling the /
following good story on himself. |
Browning lent him one of his works to /
read. and afterwards meeting the poet /!
the lord chief justice said 10 him: |
What | could understand heartily |
admired, and parts ought TO be inn /
mortal: but as 70 much of it really |
could not tell whether admired il or /
not, because for the life of me | could |
not understand it.' Browning replied: |
If reader of your calber understands |
ten per cent of what / write think I /
ought to be content