Evening star., 1895-06-15

terry or my own construction, and when l
graduated from there it was a curious thing
that my Grafton was on electric lighting,
and I prophesied that electric lighting
would be the light of the world, and that it
would be generated by means of dynamos.
Have you a copy of that oration?" I
asked.
Il don't know" replied Mr.. Brush. "I
have looked for it, but can't find 1t. You
see, 1 delivered it twenty-eight years ago,
and that is long tIme'
Where did you go to school after that?'
II went to Ann Arbor to the University
Of Michigan, and graduated there with the
degree of mining engineer in 1869. / then
came back to Cleveland and established a
laboratory here, doing the work of an
analytical chemist, but still experimenting
on electricity. l kept working on my dyna-
mo and the electric light, but it was more
as toy and to amuse myself than with
any idea of accomplishing anything of
commercial value.
The Series Arc Light.
when did you first appreciate that your
electric light might have a commercial
value?"
Il think 1t was about 1ST6,' replied Mr..
Brush ut was at this time that 1 COM
pleted my first dynamo-electric machine.
l showed this at Philadelphia the next
year at the Franklin Institute, and it is a
curious thing that Mr. Thompson and Mr..
Houston, afterward of the Thompson-Hous-
ton electric system were present at the
time The first arc-lighting machines had
10 nave one dynamo to each light. NV in
ventfon was the first that proposed a series
of arc lights working from one dynamo,
ana IL was upon this that all the street
lighting and all the arc-lighting systems
Oh ire present are based. We first made
two-light machines. Then we ran four
lamps from single dynamo, and this was
cohsidered WONDERFUL achievement. We
soon mad ten lights in series. Then we
found we could run sixteen, and it was not
long before forty lights were supplied by
one dynamo. At the present there are a
NUMBER OF dynamos which supply 120 arc
HSnts, ana, though the electric current
requisite for such a result is immense the
safeguards placed about the machinery are
such tEat they are no more dangerous than
a much less number of lights was in the
past with the old machinery 1t was in
1878 that invented this, the modern series
arc lamp with the shunt coil. This was
r,ne niiH invention that really made arc lighting
practicable and commercially possible"
Where was it first used?" I asked
some were first used for the lighting of
Stores and shops, and among those first to
introduce the arc light was John Wanna
maker of Philadelphia. One of the first in
stances of street lighting was here in
Cleveland. We put up twelve lights in the
PARK ana the people came out in force to
see them the first night. They had no .dea
or what the electric light was and many
OF them wore smoked glasses for fear that
1hey might be blinded by its rays The
street lighting soon spread and our lights
are now to be found, as you know in
nearly every great city of the world"
Electricity Directly From Coal
is there not great loss in the produc-
tion of electricity from coal for electric
lights?"
es, replied Mr.. Brush. I'VE only get
about 10 per cent of the force from the
coal in the production of electricity but
this Is in the production of the mechanical
energy In the conversion of the mechani-
cal energy into electrical energy by means
oI the Dynamo only from to 10 per cent
IS IS lost. and the modern dynamo is probably
, me most perfect machine that the world
has ever produced"
coal?" ioii'
Il think So" replied Mr.. Brush. In fact. I
nave already gotten it, but not in such a
way way as to make the invention commercially
prontabie. 1t is now twenty years since /
succeeded In getting electricity directly
from coal. 1t was in 1874. 1 used carbon
as the combustible element In a voltaic
battery, the electrolyte being fused salt
or oxide. capable of fusng the oxygen for
the combustion of the carbon. 1 tried fused
caustfc soda. bicarbonate of potash and
o@lte roIt T., OF lead and got good electric cur
rent In each case I have not pursued nv
experiments in this line of work because I
tnought saw other lines which promised
peter eet.er and more immediate results The
HeiaS OF invention are vast. We stand inst
on the threshold, and there will be new in
Fentlons as long as man has mind to Gre
ate and the will to investigate the great
forces of nature and the possibilities of
their combination"
The Possibility of New Inventions,
DO you anticipate many new inventions
In electricity in the future?'
"Who can tell?" was the reply ."rbe
electric force is still to large extent a
secret from Us ALL OF late years there
have been few new fundamental inventions
In electric lighting. There have been many
improvements and notifications of the old
ones. The light is steadily being made bet
ter, but 1t Is the same light, just as, for
instance we have had locomotives drawing
trains ever since we were born but the
locomotive of today is a far different ma
chlne from that of forty years ago Still
ciples.''
Where is the chief work being done in
electricity today?"
1T is in the field of thermo-clectricity
or neat electricity. 1t is now Thought YOU
Know, that all light and heat are produced
by electrical force, and 1t is in these
branches that the best work is now being
done"
Patents and How Brush Protects
Them.
"How about patents, Mr. Brush once
had an interview with Mr.. Thomas Edison
In which he said that he had spent $780,
900 in defending his inventions, but that
II.
You have had considerable experience with
the patent office. Does Uncle Sam run his
business on the square"
Uncle Sam may be all right" was the
reply. Il have 10 doubt that the heads of
the patent Office are honest, but l have had
a number of experiences which lead me to
believe that the subordinates sometimes
allow important information, to leak out.
have applied for patents again and again,
only to find interferences filed before they
were granted, and it is only through my
great care in keeping records of my work
that have been able to secure a number |
of my inventions. Take the arc light While |
1 was working upon it and attempting to |
make 1t commercially profitable I kept |
very full journal of all my experiments |
recorded everything from day to day. and |
dated it and had witnesses called in to sign |
the records. This found of immense value |
to me in my patent suits. had two hun |
dred of them, and gained all except one |
This l did not care to win, as there was |
little in 1t, and I practically let it go by |
default I hot a