The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1897-06-25
A GREAT INVENTION.
IT is TO CARRY ELECTRICITY WITH.
OUT LOSS OF POWER.
The Only Thing Needed Is q vacuum-Ex.
haust the Air From the Tube Which
Carries the Wire, and You Have It-Ths,
Is, patil You Wake Up Again.

haust the Air From the Tube Which
Carries the Wire, and You Have It-Th.t
Is, Uotil You Wake Up Again.
I've got the greatest thing in the
world, remarked 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.
"What is it?" asked the engineer.
"I'll tell you," responded the pros
porous looking man. cts an inven-
tion"--here the engineer began to look
bored, but he smiled politely and his
visitor continued-"a 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.
tlon, said the prosperous man, "I'll
tell you what we've done. We've dis
covered a way to transmit power with
absolutely no loss in transmission-ab-
so-lute-ly no loss. Do you realize what
that means?'
1t means you'll own the earth if
you've got it, remarked the engineer.
"Correctl' 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
got. We have seen it work. There's
millions in itl''
"What tests have you made?''
"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 perfection! !!
Now, what I 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. eff I think you have a
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 man who jumps at conclu-
sions, sir. Now, I'll tell you what this
great invention consists of. It's va
COMMUNICATING but a vacuum. You
know vacuum is the most perfect in
sulation, don't you? Put vacuum
around 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 Oh the wire, won't it?''
The engineer allowed that vacuum,
II good one, might be of value for in
sulating purposes.
WELL" continued the prosperous
looking man, we just take this vaccu-
um idea and carry it to it's ultimate
conclusion, understandable it's last anal
ysis, SO to speak. It's easy enough to
surround wire with a vacuum. All
y W. w Sooo w wv 40 w puU UllS Wits III d
tube and pump the air out of tube,
isn't it? Well, suppose you pump away
until you've got all the air out;
you've got your wire 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 a copper wire Copper's made
up OF molecules, isn'tit? 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
Logical, isn't it?''
Ihe engineer was gettlnS falnt, but
he found voice enough to admit that the
theory was certainly ingenious.
II knew you'd say so, said the en-
thusiastic visitor. "Now, it only re-
mains to extract the air, and that's
what we've done-got an airpump
that II pump all the air out from be-
tween the molecules of copper wire.
We've done it--done it on a mile of
wire, sir. Took a mile and furlong to
cover mile, because the wire short
ened 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 report in writ