The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-02
POWER FROM COAL AND AIR
n NEW ELECTRIC BATTERF THAT CON-
sUMES NOTHING ELSE.


The Chemical Action of That Economical
Machine, the Human Body, Paralleled.
A new battery cell which produces an electric
current by the consumption OF nothing hut
carbon except oxygen fTom the air. is described
! in paper by Willard +. Case OF Auburn, n. Y.
! read on June Is before the Royal Society In
| London. Before the reading of tho paper Mr..
| Case made experiments before acommittec OF
! the society to prove his discovery. as the so
| cicty will hot accept any paper the theories OF
! which have not been substantiated by actual
! proof to its satisfaction. AS the paper rs read
| is too technical to be Ineligible to the general
reader Il is not given here. but the following
| account OF the experiments will serve to show
| how Mr.. Case has demonstrated that electricity
can be produced direct from carbon without
waste OF any medium and without heat the
carbon being oxidiaed by the oxygen OF the at
mosphere through n chemical carrier. A strik-
ing feature Of this process is that the inventor
has contrived n cell which parallels the chem
cal action Of the most effective machine known
to science the human body.
To begin with. Mr.. Case set forth three
propositions upon which his process is based:
!. That carbon reduces ferric chloride solu-
ton to ferrous with the production Of carbon
dioxidc. This process is absolutely complete.
.. That the solution in this form takes up
oxygen from the air, returning to its original
form OF fcrric chloride solution. This is also
complete change.
3. That il into this solution be introduced
platinum negative elcctrode). connected by
copper wire with the carbon positive cleo
trodei. electrical energy will be set up
Each OF these propositions he proved by test.
having first shown the purity of the chemicals
used. Into the acid solution of ferric chloride
he introduced piece OF coal connected by cop
per wire with piece OF platinum. then blew a
current OF air into the solution to regenerate
the ferrous chloride. to which it was reduced.
back to ferric constantly. In these processes
electrical energy was generated. as shown by
the volt meter. The current was used also to
ring an electric bell and in other motor FORMS
When the electrical circuit was not completed
the chemical process generated fractional
part Of one degree Of heat. In this process it
is not the ferric chloride that attacks the car
lon. but the oxygen OF the air which uses the
ferric chloride as carrier. There is absolute
ly no waste or consumption ofthe solution.
Here enters in the likeness to the processes
OF tho human organism. alluded to above
When We breathe the oxygen OF the air taken
into the lungs is taken up by the blood and
carried through the arteries. This oxygen at
tacks the tissues-that is. the carbon absorbed
in the shape of food-and thus produces energy.
The artera blood. which is analogous to thu
ferric chloride, becomes ferrous by giving up
there to he again oxIdzod by the process Of
breathing and thus to return to ferric In this
THUS tho parallel between it and Mr.. Cases
cell is complete
With a few exceptions the forces OF nature.
the galvanic battery and similar electric
cells which are not practicable for the
PRODUCTION OF a high degree Of power. the
wise, is derived from carbon Carbon is the
cheapest material known that contains stored
I boz Antr ln
IS obta med by the com bustion OF coal to pro-
duce steam or BY means OF the gas engine. the
all this involves the tremendous waste. due to
the Intervention Of the all but universal sec
law is what Mr. Case is seeking in his Efforts to
derive energy direct from carbon. In a pam
Ehlet on the subject Of electrical energy pub
follows: .. " '''.' 40"
thermo- dynamics. the heat not lost. but which
ference between. the high and low temper
Now. to express this more simply. there is
heat. or an expansive force. in everything.
conditions we cannot economically use this
heat in any machine below the average nor
allure. up 70 that point to, which we are
limited by the destruction OF matter. Or. as
we might say, to that point at which we burn
out our boilers or melt our containing vessels.
tota range of the heat we have produced.
Lodge has shown US, that the energy in pint
amounts to, more than half a million foot
pounds, and even j. the water were quite
sGa d %a in ener s15 q cS1ns t wps
In Sned pint hG S9w this coal Water or zine o So
energy between that point and freezing could
range between the boiling point and absolute
zero. Let II be understood that this is a lay
in which We live No cunninGiy devised fur
mace or fecd-watrr heater. or cutoff or triple
this heat Tne most h any of hese e ds
vices can DO il TO save what would otherwise
be wasted oyer and above that which we must
In his experiments Mr.. Case has shown that
1t is tnrnoretically possible TO obtain ono horse
OF carbon weighing Il triti" over one tenth Of a
pound; In the best dynamo systems In use
every horse power hour OF electrical energy de-
veloped from the DYNAMO.
In the beginning the possibility OF convert
ing carbon into energy without burning it was
suggested 10 Mr.. Case by tho processes Of the
human body; chemist by education. al
he became deeply Interested in the chemical
processes Of the animal organism, and made a
study Of them, 1t seemed to him that an, in
animate i'm tatlon Of animate nature could be
achieved stl ihnt a sort Of chemical Franken;;
a DESTROYER. could be contrived
Taking carbon as the material for his ex-
periin"nts, Mr.. Case went to work in his pri-
yato laboratory to discover some way OF oxi-
di2nE "nrhon with u 'lirect production OF ener
Ey as in the body. and without loss Of the We
hlce. The difllcuity was to ilnd suitable carrier
for tho oxygen. Experiment followed expert
mont, all failures. with an occasional Rlimmar
OF hope. For II time the cXprrimenter gave
over his attempts to obtain oxygen from tho
air. In 1896 he invented reversible heat cell
to convert heat into electricity without con-
Sumng the elements ~ the battery, but this
wa. purely n scicutihr test. and there was no
hope OF making It a commercial possibility
Next he devised battery in which the carbon
was dccpmpOsed by the action Of chlorate
Of potash and sulphuric acid. but in tho
process OF deriving the electrical energy
which was accomplished without the pro-
ducton of heat. the chemicals wer" consumed
that was impracticable from a commercial
view. Then Yr. Case showed in 1897. before
the New York Electrical Society. an experiment
OF oxid2ing his carbon with oxygen from water
by means Of chlorine turned in AT tn" negative
polo. which d"compOsed the water. The OXy-
Gen attached and OXlhi2rd the carbon forming
the positive pole. The eNpermentcr aroused
much interest by using haemoglohin, which ia
the chemical carrier OF oxygen in the human
blood. and by its use deriving electric force
from the action of carbon upon this. In tho
lecture which accompanied these experiments
he gave this advice to the electricians:
Keep without the second law OF thermo-
la