Evening star., 1895-06-15


ing with him not long since at his big man
sion on Euclid avenue. He has one of the
finest houses in the United States, and one
of the most comfortable homes. 1t is To-
Gated in the best part of Euclid avenue,
which Is, you know, one of the finest streets
in the world, and it is surrounded by seven
acres of magnificent lawn, where the land
is so valuable you have to carpet it with
greenbacks to buy it, Looking into the
grounds from the street makes you think
of one of the old English estates. Immense
forest trees shade the velvety green and
winding walk leads through these up to the
house. This is massive structure OF
Berea sandstone, the whole front of which
IS covered with carvings, save where, here
and there, magnificent windows of stained
glass show out. 1t is an immense building
of three stories. with many turrets and
towers Heavy stone columns uphold the
wide portico in the front, and easy stone
steps lead you to the wide front door. The
portico is lighted by an opalescent globe
which hangs over you as you pass in, and
the mahogany-walled vestibule contains
another diamond globe, whose rays bring
of San Domingo and the mosaic floor of
Roman pattern, which might have been
tranSplanted from the famed baths of Cara
Gala at Rome. AS you look into the rooms
beyond you note that, though it is night,
everything Is as bright day. Mr.. Brush
has not invented the electric light to live In
darkness, and his house is perhaps the best
lighted palace in the world, and there is
certainly no other which is lighted in such
curious way. 1t rs provided with nearly
400 incandescent and number OF arc
lights, and the electricity for these Is fur
nished by storage batteries.
The Windmill and Its Dynamo.
There are, so he told me, ten tons of
storage batteries in the house, and the
power which charges these with electricity
is an enormous windmill which he has
erected in the rear. Every breeze that
blows 1.yht for
the batteries are so large that if there
should be a dead calm for a whole week
they would still contain enough electricity
to run all the lights. The windmill itself
is in large part the invention of Mr.. Brush.
1t Is the biggest windmill in the world, and
1t Is operated by wheel which has sail
surface Of about 1,SC0 square feet. The
tower of this windmill is as high as a six
story house. 1t is set in heavy masonry,
and SO made that it can turn with every
wind that blows. Within it there is an
enormous dynamo, connected with the
tower by system of belts and pulleyS,
and the whole machine is SO automatic in
ITS makeup that it needs only little Oil
now and then to keep it perpetually at
motion with the wind. 1t has been in
operation now for more than seven years,
but 1t is so made that it works well
when it was built. 1t produces enough
electricity to charge the hundreds of cells
OF these ten tons. of storage batteries, and
1t furnishes the light for the house and
Brushs laboratory, which is located in the
basement. 1t costs him. Mr. Brush told me,
much more than If he used the electric
light furnished by the city, but he prefers
TO be independent and the machinery is a
pet invention of his own.
New Features in Electric Lighting.
The arrangement of the electric lights
in the house is after the plan of Mr..
Brush and his wife. Some of the rooms
lighted he hay
lights so shaded by opalescent globes and
refectors that only the "softest rays sur
round you. and OF the magnificent paint
ings which cover the walls, each has an
electric flame In front of 1t, SO covered
by green reflector that you do not see
1t and you know of Its existence only
through the rays which are thrown back
by the work OF art behind In the top
of the building there is great hall in
which Mr.. Brush has one of the finest
magic lanterns in existence and this he
operates through an electric light of three
thousand candle power. The average cal
cium light, or that produced by oxygen
hydrogen gas for magic lantern use is, he
tells me, 800 candle power. His electric
light for this purpose is six times as strong
and he has a dissolving apparatus of his
own invention in which all his slides are
registered. During my talk with him he
referred to the wonderful work which the
Japanese have been doing in coloring Ian
tern slides, having seen some which l used
in a lecture recently delivered in Cleve
land or Japan, and I told him 1 could
give him an address where he could get
his slides colored. He replied, Il do not
want any one else to color my slides. l
would prefer to color them myself and 1
hope to have time to experiment in this
way later on. 1 think there might be as
much art shown in coloring slides as in
painting pictures, and the artistic effects
of the best lantern work are yet to come"
Charles F. Brush in 1895.
But before give you our conversation
let me tell you how Mr.. Brush looks.
met him in enc of the large parlors on
the ground floor of his house. He is
physical giant, but so well proportioned
that his form commands your admiration.
When Gambetta saw him at the Paris
exposition of 1881, he said: II don't know
which to admire most in Mr.. Brush. his
mental attainments or his magnificent ply
sique." Mr.. Brush Is about six feet two in
his stockings He is broad-shouldered and
big-boned. His head is large, and it is
fastened to his frame by strong, we'll
shaped neck. He stands straight with his
shoulders well thrown back, and his chest
is deep and full. He has dark complex
ion and dark eyes, which show out from
under heavy brows. His forehead is high
and full, his mouth strong and character
istic. and his under jaw firm and indica-
tive of strength. He is now forty-six years
of age and is in his intellectual and phys
1Cal prime. lie rellreQ from active DuSi-
ness several years ago, and at that time
expected to devote five days out of every
week to his laboratory work and one to
his business. The demands of his large
property, however, are SO great that he
has almost reversed the order and is now
devoting about five days to business and
one to his laboratory. He is working to
get away from business, and he hopes in
the future to devote more of his time
to scientific investigation and experiment.
The day of his laborng hard for the
dollar has long since gone by and while
his good business brains will lead him to
get all the money possible out of his future
inventions, still his work will be more that
of scientific experiment thsa money grub
bing for new patents.
boy Inventor.
During my talk with him I asked him
number of questions about himself and
his first experiments in the field of inven-
ton. He has been an experimenter all
his life. His father was farmer, who
lived near Cleveland. and he gave his boy
a good education. He showed wonderful
aptitude fer chemistry, physics and engi-
neering. Said he to me the other night,
"I can't remember when 1 was not inter-
eSted in nhySicS / began to study them