The Sauk Centre herald., 1897-06-10
Ia GREAT INVENTION.
1T is TO CARRY ELECTRICITY WITH
OUT LOSS or POWER.
The Only Thing Needed Is 3 vscuum-E Ex-
Laust the Air From the Tube Which
] Carries the Wire, and You Have It-That
1 Is, Until You Wake Up Again.


1 Is, Until You Wake Up Again.
''I've got the greatest thing in the
world remarked a prosperous looking
individual who walked into the office of
one of the most prominent consulting
engineers and electricians in the coun-
try as an Express reporter was sitting
in the outer office.
'sWhat is it," asked the engineer.
"I'll tell you, y responded the pros
porous looking man. "It's an inven-
tion''-here the engineer began to look
bored, but he smiled politely and his
visitor continued-"an invention that
will revolutionize the business of trans.
mitting electric power.
Now if there is one thing that this
particular engineer is more interested
in or knows more about than anything
else, it is this same subject of the trans
mission of electric power He began to
look little more interested and urged
his visitor to tell him what the scheme
was and also to inform him what he
could do for him.
Well, before I describe the inven-
tion, said the prosperous man, "I'll
tell you what we've done. We've dis
covered q way to transmit power with
absolutely no loss in transmission-ab-
so-lute-ly no loss. Do you. realize what
that means?"
lit means you'll own the earth if
you've got it, - remarked the engineer.
Correct" exclaimed the prosperous
man. AS you SO aptly put it, we'll
own the earth. You will notice do not
admit that there is any doubt about the
proposition. We know what we have
get. We have seen it work. There's
millions in it!' ,
What tests have you nader
TESTS? Why, my dear sir, we have
made the most exhaustive tests. We
have built mile of conduit, sir, and
the most delicate instruments fail to
detect the slightest loss of power in
transmission. Oh, there is no question
that the process works to perfectioni
Now, what want you to do is to give
us your opinion on it. Study the SUBJ
ject, give your opinion in writing, and
we'll pay you handsomely.
well, tell me what your process is
and I'll see what / think of it, said
the engineer. IF / think you have
practicable thing. I'd like to see your
experimental line in operation
"That's the way / like to hear you,
talk, sir; shows you are conservative
man, sir. ! wouldn't give rap for the
opinion Of a man who jumps at conclu-
.ssions, sir. Now, I'll tell you what this
great invention consists Of It's va
= -cuum-nothing but vacuum. You
know vacuum is the most perfect in
: suiation, don't you? Put a vacuum
around a wire and the electricity can't
get away. Moisture can't get at the
wire. Air can't get at it. Vacuum'll
keep the current on the wire, won't it?''
The engineer allowed that a vacuum,
if q good one, might be of value fer in
sulating purposes
"Well," continued the prosperous
looking man, 1--WE just take this vaccu--
um idea and carry it to its ultimate
conclusion, understanding its last anal
ysis. SO to speak. It's easy enough to
surround wire with vacuum All
you've got to do is to put the wire in a
tube and pump the air out of tube,
isn't it? Well, suppose you pump away
until you've got AL the air out;
you've got your w ire insulated, haven't
you? Can't lose any current, can you?
But that's all. You've got the resistance
of the wire to deal with, and that's
where you lose energy. That is where
our discovery comes in. We know why
the resistance exists, and from that it's
easy to learn how to cure it.
Take copper wire. Copper's made
rup of molecules, ism it? Molecules keep
vibrating all the time, don't they
never stay still, never remain in con-
tact? You know all about that. Well,
there must be something between those
molecules, then, isn't there? There is,
and that something is air. That's what
the electricity don't like-can't pass
through the air. Now, suppose you take
the air from out between the molecules,
what happens? Molecules remain at rest
- stay in contact. Electricity goes
through without any obstruction, and
there you are-no loss Of current at all.
Logical, isn't it?''
The engineer was getting faint, but
he found voice enough to admit that the
theory was certainly ingenious
~ knew you'd say so,'' said the en-
thusiastic visitor, s.Now, it only re-
mains to extract the air, and that's
what we've done got an airpump
that'1l pump all the air out from be-
tween the molecules Of copper wire.
We've done it-done it on mile of
wire, sir. Took mile and furlong to
cover mile, because the wire short
aned up when the molecules crowded
together. That's what we've done, sir,
and think you'll agree with me that
we've got the greatest invention Of the
ages, won't you?'
The engineer gasped for breath and
then automatically told the stranger
that he would do little figuring in the
scheme to see how much money it would
save IN year and send a report in writ
ing on the merits Of the project As
the visitor bowed himself out the en-
gineer turned to The Express reporter
and remarked:
Did you get on to that? That's only
q sample If there's one crank comes to
my Office in day, there are dozen.