Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1893-01-12
4DYEHrisING ON TINE SKY.
a Successful Experiment by an English
Eiaptpittan.

The feat of writing on the clouds" has
become an accomplished fact. lii other
words, successful attempt has been made
in England by Captain Ronald Scott to
adapt the "search-light' apparatus to ad.
vertising purposes.
4 private view was given short time
ago at the Acton Hill electrical works of
what, it is expected, will probably soon be
all over London. The night for the ex~
pcrimcnts unfortunately was absolutely
clear. and the rays OF the search light
could not, of course, be thrown on any
clouds. The practicability of the scheme,
however, was demonstrated by directing
the search-light On cloud OF steam and
on other material objects, such rs Il bank
Of trees q house wall and the grass lawn,
and in each case the words stood out
clearly and well defined in letters of light.
The words even at q distance OF fully half
mile did not appear to lose any of their
distinctneSs,
curious effect was produced on direct
Ing the beam Of light on cloud of steam,
lii" letters being repeated again and again,
one behind the other, and Increasing in
size as each puff of steam drifted away.
sydney Hodges, OF Ealing, England, has
also succeeded i'll projecting Il large and
highly luminous letter on the clouds BY
means Of All invention Of his own. The
application OF the electric light for this
purpose vas witnessed by himself, u
colonel of tile royal engineers and an as
sistaut engineer of the electrical works at
the horticultural exhibition.
Interesting expressions Of opinion on
the subject of these experiments have been
obtained by New York Times reporter
from several well-known electrical experts
Of that city.
"Ihe thing is entirely feasible" said r.
II. Johnson, president of the interior Con
( no. t~tt IN
of the fact that the liues Of light projected
| from these powerful rGtectors are SO well
defined and do not become diffused until
they reach a great distance. You must
nave, of course, cloudy night and GER
| tain proximity Of the clouds to the earth
because ut two great distance the words
| would he illegible and at loo close dis
tnnce they would be presented to the view
| Of a comparatively small circle Of people.
| The whole thing Is simply "A stereoptir2n
| on large scale, with light sufficiently
| intense and focused to reach the cloud
canvas at proportionRtely great distance,
| The subject is entirely new to me- but the
| applications of electricity nowadays are So
diverse that don't believe the electrician
| live. who is familiar with everything that
| is being done"
Expert Schuyler S. Wheeler also declared
| that advertising on the clouds was per
fertly practicable. "You have noticed ~
course" Mr. Wheeler continued "that
the clouds oyer the city will reflect at
| night a red glare, and so anything that
| offers Resistance to the transmission Of
light will develop II SO that you can see it.
The sGarch-light On the tower Of the
| Madison square Garden for instance,
shows much more clearly on cloudy
night than on 4 clear one. You nave
noticed also that il you are sitting in u
room in which there is dust in the air if u
as lf,rI,
Is NJ once visible, while il the air was per-
iectly clear the light would hardly be per-
ceplibe.
The object in this use of the search.
light il put On a sheet of glass. leaving the
parts representing the picture clear, and
making the rest black, so thaI il will let
out the light in the shape of the picture
and in the colors Of the picture also. The
preparation Of the apparatus would be ex-
actly the same as that of lantern slide,
except on Il much larger scale, unless
special lenses were used There is nothing
novel in the principle OF the thing, al.
though similar experiments have never
hcrn made in this country. 1t IS simply d
very powerful magic lantern. and using
the clouds instead of sheet by this use
Of the search-light you could have dissolv
ing figures On the clouds, giants iightinl
each other in the sky, for instance, or yOi
could put up election figures that could BIZ
read 20 miles away
Professor +. u. Croker of Columbir
College, said there was no doubt OF tn,
fact that Il powerful search-light. WORKING
on the principle Of the magic lantern
would make an image on the CLOUDS tina
would be visible. "There is no Theoretical
or practical reason why it should not bl
done, the Professor continued. at woult
br a very striking application of the cleo
trio light on large scale, and would b.
very elective as an advertising agency
There IS no obstacle in the way of usiu.
the search-light for advertising on III,
clouds, except the distance of the cloud
from the earth and the particular kind o
clouds necessary to have--ClOudS of Ger
tam torn and character, and at n certain
distance from the earth, At very grei
distance il would be difficult to illuminat
: them; and IL they were too near, TIL
: illumination would not show over a sui
, Iiciently Wide area.
; "Search-lightS can be made to give
, strong illumination at 4 distance of 4 milt
or even more. Heights can be see
:, 20 miles or more il thrown directly On til
! eye, aud ordinary lighthouses can be see
G ~ miles, hut 10 illuminate clouds so thu
@ the reflected Light from them may /
5 seen is another matter, and the iiatanI
must be very much less. have no dOui
A whatever, AS | say, as to the praCticRbilit
y, Of this method OF advertising, rho searci
Z light apparatus and the rest would ii,
s. cost more than few hundred dollars, an
l. the running expenses would not be yer
l. great.
u FIG HTTSG FtDR rood.