New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-03-27
HOFFMAN,, SCIENTIST.
THE VOTING PIANIST DEvOTEs MOST OF
HIS TINE TO MECHANICS
,,,, HAS INVENTED AN IMPROVED ELECTRICAL
BATTERY-A HORSELESS CAKRlA"h W."
pE1No BUILT AFTER HIS PLANS.

Tn his rooms in one OF the Broao""' No.
,berc sits n keen young fellow whose i'''''u "
hack IN his laboratory in Berlin. neap "
soion,iGc works and some roughly drawn
sketches on the top OF his piano heie "'
=, and pored over far more than the keyDoaru
- &c., riono ia touched This young fellow Is
rocof uofmann. the young virtuoso ana th'S
~,.o.,b of him is TO reveal little known Dut
o,or,o,v interesting side Of his life-hls scieh-
.iGo investigations and studies, when ne Is
r.osocrtine with a zeal that would be remark
ohio in any young man. and is much more re-
workable IN one who has already coihe INV
fame along quite different INES
tn a visitor he spoke recently Oh h'9 i"''
tory in Berlin, his experiments IN eiect'ioi''' III"
stuates in chemistry and the inventions ne hau
already perfected or had under way
rho young fellow, as he sat in his rooms theh'
talking over the things he really cared lor' was
Transformed and became a shrewd' p'"0''o"'
man of the day a student who had aug ~ TIC
| root Of things and knew the prima eici"e"'''
Scientific term after scientific term ca''e iio'''
his lips. his talk Of chemical ana hecn'i''o''
rrohIoms was fluent and without hitch OF
nause for the want of word, and' III pliei' d"
was the talk Of the enthusiast Of new IDEAS
sirglo ambition and the determination 10 accom-
psh it.
c,oo no loft this country some years ago
! since
mara HOY and n musical prodigy, 10 study the /
,ioro abroad he has been devotipy all ms leis-
,,ra hours IN science Berlin engineer Win
,vhom he struck up fast friendship hrst turned
his thoughts in this direction without IN the
! least negecting his music he set out 10 STUDY
deeply into the laws of exact science anu 'ooh
lessons in chemistry, physics, geometry anu
logarithms The further he went the more 'he
fascination Of the subject seized hlm' II was
NOT long before in the Holman apartment
specal room was set apart for his experiments
and when once the musical stint OF the DAY was
done he was allowed to work at his books and
apparatus all he pleased
For several years now this little laboratory
has been his main interest in life, and ne mas
spent a good part of each day within Its FOUR
walle Three or four hours a day sutilces MN
for musical practice and all this last winter IN
berlin he completed his piano work Tor the gay
before luncheon Then unless it happened 10
be such fine afternoon that the temptation 10
cycle could not be resisted he would go al once
into his laboratory, and study ana experiment
until night came. Evening, too has OFTEN iouiiu
him in the midst Of books and apparatus worn
ing on one of the problems that Interested hlih
Already these studies and researches nave
Welded fruit and out OF the laboratory VI 'oSei
Hermann pianist, have come achie'eiheH.s III
science and mechanical devices that are OIL In
| ,ortance A self-made telephone connects MS
/ ,horatorv with that Of his engineer frlehd-
mo ,,ords avav across court-and this teie-
/ =, l., not only q success but il cost far less
,hor the telephone of to-day does Electricity -
! ono If the branches OF science in when JOSEF
/ Uofmann hopes for great success WITHIN Il *"
wears Besides the telephone ne Id" 'e'"
electric lamps Of his own that nave d uouD'e
,norit-as he says. They give winter inner 1lsii'
.,,a,, .,oso IN ordinary use, and this light can
! be made at reduced cost .
A dynamo being impracticable IN the Berlin
anartments the Hofmann rooms being seNerai
flights up the young scientist SET H'i'''''A ~
! ,os,, = vear ar 60 ago Of devising a new sort or
battery. one that would cost little ana "ou'u
have no chemical odor to it, NOT only uiu nc
accomplish this. but he invented process
ut,Ia later of renewing these batteries, Oh re- |
charging them quickly and cheaply. This proc
ess he SAYS he has just brought to perfection
As he describes it, the process is extraordinarily
simple and should greatly interest scientihc
mon in every quarter of the world The eiec-
trodes of the exhausted battery are Immersed IN
chemical baths-the precise composition OF
.biob 10 NJ nresent a secret-and in half min |
uto they are recharGed. The battery renewed |
| in this manner he says becomes more power
full each time and the chemical baths may be
used over and over again.
This outline OF researches and experimenting |
merely goes to show the trend of this young
mans mind and his enthusiasm Electricity, |
| nevertheless. occupies his thoughts but a por-
ton of the time He has pretty turn for pure