The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1896-10-31
LAMP OF THE FUTURE.


4 x0e mt 0l 6Qe 1QtUkes UCCOkQ104IO
many electric prophsts, win Be ef still
another sort instead Of the concenr
tfated intensity Of the. incandeacent
carbon, the diffused glow Of vacuum
tubes, or heatless flame. Geissler, OF
Bonn, who devised the first mercury air
punp, obtained from huorescent glass
tubes, in which by his mir pump he kad
rarefied the air or had vsporized solu-
tions, on passing through them IN easc-
tric spark, . faint light Of lovely color.
varying with the kind Of vapor now
known AZ "0eissher tuhe" effects.
Crookes, Of London, made tubes Of .
high vacuum-less than one milliopth
Of atmospheric atmosphere and OBJ
tanned in these '4Crookes tubes" such
remarkable phosphorescent effects a.
led him to believe that he had discov-
cred 'fourth state Of matter" more
rarefied than gas. Tesla, an inventor
OF daring imaginative genius. . gradu.
ate from Edison's workshop. went .
step further by obtaining from current
Of extremely high frequency or quick
oscillation and also of extremely high
tension, An intense electromagnetic
field-that il, by "electrifying" sur
faces or terminals from this current, 90
that in the space between there was
intense electric 'stress'-he was able,
by merely placing an exhausted lamp
bulb within this field, to produce a
glow inside the bulb without use OF
conducting wires, and even to show
luminous discharges from his own per-
son at the fnger-tips. like the ''St. Ell
mos fire" observed at the mast head Of
vessels during electric storms. These
experiments led him to the develop
ment OF his mechanical oscillator-a
small piston vibrating with extreme
rapidity within stroke Of an inch,
which actuates at high frequency an
electromagnetic generator - and his
electric oscillator. not yet in CONNER
cial application, but from which great
results are hoped. Pupin, al Columbia
university. has produced similar lu-
minous effects, using his harmonic sys-
;em of condensers, by help of which he
expects 10 render ocean telephony prac-
ticable. Macfarlane Moore, while work.
ing upon an incandescent lamp in
which the light, as in TIE gas burner.
may be turned low, with proportionate
saving OF current. found that the oscil-
lating device which he had invented for
the purpose, thin strip of steel maxi
ing and breaking contact within q
vacuum bulb when actuated by low
tension current, produced like effect
in vacuum tubes. and he has been able
to light a room with pervading glow
so that reading is possible in any part
Of It. Edison. by coating the inner sur
face of glass bulb with fuorescent
material. has developed still stronger
light, with a consumption Of current
less than one-third that Of the incan-
descent lamp.
Tesla, the pioneer in this field. is ex-
pecting, in turn, to make his glow light
Of brilliancy corresponding rather
with the arc than with the incandes-
cent lamp, and the present year is thus
witnessing race between +he greatest
among American inventors as to which
shall first reach the goal. Any OF these
systems may. it ia probable, in their
practical development, be adapted as
house devices. obtaining their actuat-
ing current from the present. distribu-
ting and generating systems. and max
ing electricity at last rival with gas
in cheapress an well as in comfort and
convenience.-R. r. Bowker, in Har-
per's Magazine.