The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-07-28
A Newly Invented Battery Gets
Its Power.
Overcomes the Old Problem of
Fuel Cost.
AIR DRAFT NEEDED
The Motive Force Regulated by
Number of Cells
Of the Wonderful COntrivance
80 Per Cent Fuel Saved.

Pfttsbursr. July 2s-If the experiments
of an Allegheny inventor stand the test
of commercialism the liquid air motors
may not have the whole mechanical
field exclusively through low cost and
adaptability. Cheaply as the Hquehed
air may be produced and sold, the new
method Of producing electricity will
provide it just as cheaply if not at less
cost. In the case of liquid air the only
apparatus required is a condensing
mechanism and air and to get the new
electricity only a storage battery and
air are needed.
G. w. Frazier, the chemist and cleo
trician, Allegheny, believes he has
solved the problem of robbing the air
and it's moisture of it's power and stor-
ing it in a battery in the form of electr1-
cal energy. He has made experiments
for years, and in July, 1897, struck the
experiment which convinced him that
he was on the right road. He secured
the form Of apparatus which would
collect the electrical energy from the
atmosphere and store it. The earliest
battery would not ring a 3-ohm bell
and registered an extremely light cur
rent on the gaIvanOmeter. His later
experimental batteries have shown az
volts to each cell and an amperage
much higher than any storage battery
OF his work Mr.. Frazier says;
ct am convinced that my labor has
been along the right lines. In addition
to my small experim batteries
have constructed two large perfected
cells, which will be put to the test of
hard work in a short time in big
business block in Pittsburg. The cells
collect the electrical energy direct from
the atmosphere, and give IL up as
power Immediately AS the summer
heat produces electricity, so does my
new battery depend for its great power
solely on moisture, and a natural draft
or passage of hot air through the cell
The power may be increased to any re-
quired extent by simply increasing the
number of cells
the introduction Of the new battery in
commercial form the use of steam
would be abandoned. Electrical power
would be solely used, he said, because
of its greater excellence for most gen
eral purposes and its wonderful econ
Omy over the old style power with boil
ers and expensive fuel bills. When the
same power is secured with the cost of
boilers and engines eliminated from the
account, the influence will be greater
than can be accurately estimated now.
TOO MUCH WASTED ENERGY.
'"The problem Of getting electricity
direct from coal or the natural ele-
rnents has engaged the attention of all
the inventors in the electrical line
said Mr.. Frazier. Everybody TecOg-
nized in the case of steam that there
was too much wasted energy in the fuel
and every invention in that branch
tended toward reducing the cost of pro-
ducing power by devices having for
their object economy in the actual
quantities of coal used under the old
conditions. The numberless CRATE bars
and water heaters and feeders all had
this one point as their object. When
it is considered that about 80 per cent
of the energy Of coal is wasted in con-
Verting it into power the necessity Of
economy is seen at a glance. The saw
ing of this great waste will cheaper
the cost of everything, luxuries as well
as necessities Of life, and produce more
changes in time than can be figured
out at present. But it may be said
with certainty that when a power
economizing all that waste is in COM
mon use the effects will be greater than
were the effects of the uses of steam
and electricity when they were intro
duced with limited uses. Mr.. Edison
is on record as expressing the opinion
that this would prove the most useful
invention of the age. Mr. Edison said
that when power could be secured in
that economical form the problem of
aerial navigation would be solved. He
says that the energy which drives trac-
ton cars represents about 10 to u per
cent of the coal energy used In the
power houses"