The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-08-31
Invention Calculated to Produce
Electricity Direct
From Coal.
DREAM SEEMS TO BE CAPTURED.
New System Would Rcvolutionize
Worlds Industry by Cheap
ening and Simplifying
Motive Power.
REPUBLIC SPECIAL.

REPUBLIC SPECIAL.
New York. Aug. 30.-Thomas A. Edison,
the electric wizard of the century is al
most ready to make public details of his
newest and greatest invention. 1t is ma
chine for the generation of electrical power
without the use of engines and dynamos.
This new invention is said to approximate
almost exactly the production of electricity
directly from coal If the machine is a sue
cess its effect upon all methods of propul-
sion will be incalculable. Edison himself
said six years ago that this invention would
be the greatest possible step in the advance
ment OF electricity
Electricity Direct From Coal.
In an interview published on October Is.
1894. he authorized this statement:
1.-The discovery of a way of converting
coal directly into electricity will be the turn
ing point of all our methods of propulsion.
Steam will be entirely superseded by the
current. There Will be no boilers. nor any
of the necessary materials which go with
steam engines.
We are rapidly approa ching the time of
the steam engines end. The large Atlantic
liners are slowly reducing their time on
their trips. but that must soon stop. Then
We shall have to wait urtil coal IS turned
come. and then We will cross the Atlantic
in four days or less We can get 30 per cent
of the efficiency of dynamo against or
10 per cent Of an engine"
Revolutionary Results.
This was Edison's dream in 1894 His vision
seems to have become a reality. Nothing
since F'rankln's discovery, that electricity
could be conveyed by wires will be OF more
far-reaChing Importance than this. The new
plan is expected to revolutionize the use or
electricity in homes. in offices and IN self
moving vehicles of all descriptions 1t VIII
make it possible for private electric light-
ing plants to be maintained in houses with
but small expense. 1t will make 1t possible
to store current in batteries of automobiles
without the expensive necessity of carrying
them to a city or electrical plant
The invention rs one that electricians have
been laboring upon for years. Electrical en-
gineers say that the machine now completed
will make the practical use or electricity
more widespread than has been effected by
any previous development ol tnis lily 7'eiiou'
force.
Invention Is Simple.
In the new arrangement simple por IA
Bile and inexpensive machine is to take the
place of the dynamo. An OIL stove Is 10
supplant the steam engine. The exact con-
struction Of the new machine Is still kept
secret. but the principle OF its operation
was made known to-day by man close
to Edison. and to whom had been en-
plained the method of construction ana
operation of the invention.
The principle of the machine is the very
simple one that cold contracts anu heat
expands any substance. In this machine
combination OF metal-a combination the
result Of years of study and experiment-is
to be heated by small stove.
The metals are so arranged and combined
that the heating of them starts In motion
an electrical current, which can be COM
municated Immediately to a storage bat
terry
The machine is small 1t can be carried
about In an automobile. 1t can be operated
in small country barn or in any other
convenient place. Whenever It is desired TO
generate a current or store battery. all
that will have to be done will be to light
the small stove, and the machine Will begin
work.
Ever since electricity began to be gener-
ally used the expense of purchase and op-
Grafton Of a steam engine and dynamo has
barred 1t from the use of any one not pos
sessing considerable money. To build an
electric lighting plant in a small city has
always been the origin OF burdensome
debt.
Prospective BENEFIT.
The Inconvenience of transporting storage
batteries, sending them back and forth
for charge. has practically deprived rural
sections of the world of the use Of electric
ity. monographs, automobiles, electric
launches electric lighting, etc. could be
used only by the wealthy. Edison's new
scheme is expected to revolutionize all of
this. Where automobiles are now used by
tens they viii probably soon be used by
hundreds, or even thousands. The phono-
graph Industry will probably take tre-
mendous bound. and elaborate electric IL
Eliminating plants can be maintained in the
remotest rural districts.
Although Edison has been at work upon
his new invention at his Orange. n. j.,
laboratory for nearly three years. every
suspicion of his plans has been kept from
the public. Only 4 very few were admit
ted into tho secret and they were pledged
to not disclose what they saw. If this ma
chine proves to be practically useful in gen
Grating electricity upon 4 large scale and
with but small cost Of production, it Will
tend to destroy the value of nearly all cleo
trio plants designed to supply currents to
the public. 1t will have effects in fact. up
on every industry in which electricity is
utilized in any shape.