Evening star., 1899-04-01
POWER OF SOLAR RAYS.
French Scientist Says They Are Cana
BILE of Enormous Energy.

bie oI EnOrmOut Energy.
From the New York Herald.
Sunshine is to be brought to our aid IN
doing work, and the free and unlimited
force Of old Sol is to be made to serve a
dozen different purposes. BY means of
solar action alone il win be possible to sink
artesian wells in the most arid desert, TO
get water from any depth, bring it to the
surface and make use of il as we will Rail-
ways can traverse the Sahara desert and
the whirr of busy manufactures wake I'D
its silent echoes, while steamers plough the
waves without need to trouble about finding
fuel.
The apparatus that is TO do all this is the
invention of NJ. Mouchot, professor of phys-
les at the Tours Lyceum France and is
called by him the solar condenser. In con-
struction 1T is exceedingly simple, and ii is
asserted that 1t is so easy to manipulate
that a child of seven could learn how to
manage ii in five minutes.
1t consists of a large conical-shaped re-
fector, made of highly FURNISHED copper,
which has n its center q boiler made of
tempered glass. There is also a steam en-
glne whose slightest movement sets IN mo-
ton various conducting wires which lead to
the reservoir where the heat is stored. The
latter consists simply of a vast quantity of
sand. surrounded by a woolan covering,
which is able to hold the superfluous heat
until 1t is required. Other wires lead to
dynamos set at work by the solar heat,
concentrated and brought to focus by the
This conical-shaped funnel once set fac
ing the sun the rest goes by itself A lever
enables the reflector TO be moved backward
and forward horizontally, while a toothed
rack, by setting in motion two cogs. ele-
Yates or depresses It vertically. The heat
converges upon the reflector from all direc-
uons, and the dynamos are soon merrily
set going the superfiuous heat being con-
Quoted to the non-conductor
In experiments conducted in Tours Prof
Mouchot succeeded in grflling outlets and
cooking soup by means of his solar con-
denser, and. although the apparatus is not
made for France. as Prof. Mouchot ex-
plains in LIE Monde Scientific, IL is admir-
ably suited to the desert sands of Africa
where the sun shines uninterruptedly
through dry air. The invention of this
machine. 1t is declared. will completely rev.
olutioniZe the conditions of African deserts
and will render habitable many other desert
spots on the earth.
The amount of power that is theoretically
available In this way is almost beyond COM
putation-enough could be got from the
deserts alone to operate the machinery of
many worlds like this. As a matter of the
orettcal and demonstrated fact, II is possi-
Bile to get enough power from the rays of
sunshine on territory smaller than Long
Island to operate all the machinery of the
world
II, as Ericsson demonstrated heat enough
to make one horse power may be developed
from each square yard when the suns rays
rail- perpendicularly through dry atmos-
phere, from one square mile enough may
be collected to make as many horsepowers
as there are yards in a square mile. or g.
0Sa.6O0. At the outside, the city of London
does not use more than Se0oeo horsepower
and this would operate all its electric and
horse cars, motor carriages, and wagons
and carts; run all its steam engines tugs
and ferry boats on the river. and all other
machinery of every kind.