The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-10

/ iEldLeflal out OF winch they are pIOuuCe1
! costs but a few cents. Their history and
! the way in which they are produced are
! known to but few except those who are
| Intimately associated with their produce
/ ton.
In the early days of experimenting with
| the electric light the current was passed
| through a thin wire of platinum. The
! reader may remember at that time Mr..
| Edison had agents looking all over the
/ world for new sources of supply of that
! rare metal Then, as now, nearly all the
! platinum of the world came from two dis
/ tricts in the Ural mountains in Siberia
| Had the people remained dependent upon
| platinum for their lamps they would have
| needed for each one a piece of wire $1,000
| inch in diamater and Is inches long, and
| this at the present price of platinum-$l3
an ounce-would cost 10 cents. The world
whole product of this metal in 1887 was
| but about $500 pounds, and would have
been inadequate for the present lamp sup
| ply. Even to-day, with a product of per-
haps 12,C00 or 1900 pounds, there would
! be but small margin left after making
| D,OO0,OOO lamps, and merely the cost of the
| hlaments would be 100000 1t was at
this junctui-e that Edison conceived the
idea of using a carbon filament
He confided his ideas to his chief as
sistant Mr.. Bachelor, and they began
work one evening. 1t is one of Edison's
peculiarities, that, once started upon a
piece of work, he does not stop for sleep
or sometimes even food. The material
from which he proposed to make his fla
ment was a spool of Clark rs cotton thread
All that night Edison and Bachelor
worked, and ali the next day, and then
again all night. Al the end of thirty-siX
hours they had produced a perfect fla
ment Mr.. Bachelor took it up and they
marched with it toward the beach where
glass blower was at work. Just as they
reached the beach the carbon broke. Ed
ison," cried Bachelor, I'VE won't sleep
until we make one" Back they went to
work, and late in the afternoon they com
pleted a second carbon loop Again they
marched with 1t to the glass blowers
bench, and placed it thereon safety, but
just then a jewelers. screwdriver rolled
over it and broke it. Bachelor was an
even-tempered man, but that was too
much.
I'm damned" he cried, Job got too
much reputation for patience on d small
capital
There was no giving up, however. Back
to work the two men went Experience
had been a good teacher, and before night
they had completed a third filament, got
it safely mounted in bulb exhausted the
air and set it glowing with the electric
current
For the great illumination a Menlo park,
which followed, the filaments, were made
of pieces stamped out of visiting cards,
and many after that were stamped from
paper. Others were made from siivers of
bamboo. Weston was the first, perhaps, to
use vegetable parchment for the purpose
but that is what the General Electric
company used to do. This is virtually the
material out of which artificial silk is
made. Just the materials and process
i7arv o1Ir mill al for
is one of the last of the trade secrets, and
the only one about lamp making. A mix
ture of vegetable matter rich in carbon
like paper stock or cotton, is taken and
is digested with sulphuric acid or chlor-
ides until it is gummy mass about as
thick as dough. This is forced through
dies Just as vermicell is made, and it
comes out in endless strings. For sixteen
candle power filaments the die has an ap-
erture 22-1OOO of an inch in diamater. The
string of paste falls into a
Jar partly filled with a secret
liquid, where it lies in coils. Then
it is run out, washed and partly dried and
coiled on cylinders to become entirely dry.
Then it is cut into proper lengths, with
allowance for shrinkage and taken in
punches and wound on shapers to give it
the form desired and set into form by be-
ing heated slightly Now it is ready for
carbonizing. This is done by packing the
punches in crucibles with sifted charcoal
or other carboniferous substances, and,
after sealing, by baking it in hot fire for
one and half days. When it is, taken
out every threat is black and shiny and
seems to have a perfect surface, but it is
not ready for use. Now each filament is
taken separately and clamped with each
end in a live electric current, and while
it is immersed in a vapor of gasoline the
current is passed through it. The effect
u. - 80 Ill.,. -
a coating of lamp black or carboniZed
gasoline, which gives it qualities not 9TH
erwise obtainable. In the early days of
their manufacture only eight 16-candle
power lamps could be lit by one-horse
power, but now fifteen are used. The fila
ment is now ready to be mounted in the
lamp.
There are thirty lamp factories in the
United States. Only about half of these
make their own filaments. The others buy
them from special manufacturers. One of
the largest of these filament makers is in
Newark, N. j. All the lamp factories in
the United States produce altogether
about II 200. 900 lamps year. OF this pro-
duct, 100000 are turned out at the fac
tory of the General Electric Company at
Harrison.
Unlike those fragile filaments which Ed
ison produced, the new ones are handled
easily, and although they break easily
when bent sharply, they are so springy
that they can be drawn straight out with
out danger and then allowed to fly back TO
shape.
With the development of the carbon fla
ment has come a gradual change in all
the processes of lamp making until the
price of 16-candle power lights has fallen
gradually from $1.25 each to 20 cents, or
even a trifle less whep taken by contract
in large lots.
Few Of the clever products Of human
skill can hold equal place for value with
these simple bits of charcoal filament.
Some which will compare with them are
to be found. however. in the Matchmaking
industry Two of these are the Jewels
which protect the pivot holes from the
wear and the delicate steel hair-springs.
Jewels for fine watches are made of sapp-
hire and the material has value Of per-
haps 81 an ounce. Outside of that all Is
labor Others, for common watches, are
made of garnet, and this material has
hardly any value. Just how much a
pound of the most costly of these might be
worth no one has figured, for they vary
greatly according to size and finish. Jew
elers keep them in little walls, each about
one inch long and a quarter of an inch
~, a,A Nj