The age-herald., 1901-06-21
NEW STORAGE BATTERY
 INVENTED BY MR. EDISON

or any other vehicle that travels ever land or on water When battery ,s full 1t is asid to be charged. Heretofore tte storage batteries were very bulky and heavy, which naturally are serious draw backs, but this new Edison battery changes all this and gives wider range of usefulness to the invention. Tn tae old battery there was deterioration when used, and 1t is easily destroyed, but when Edison started out to solve the problem of the storage battery and develop ma chine that had higher efficiency ho reai- ized that a successful battery must pcs- sess absence of detiorizalon by work; large storage capacity, caRabillty of being rapidly charged and discharged; capabili- ty of wtthstanding careless treatmun., and 1t must be inexpenAve.
 The new battery is made up of cells known as nickeI-ceIls and the electrolyte is potash. The charging and the discharg- ing rates of the cells are alike. The cell may be charged at a normal rate in three and half hours, or it may be charged at the relatively high rate of one hour with no apparent detriment to the cells. ex- cept for a somewhat lower electrical charge efficiency. In other words, the cells do not appear to be injured by the overcharging or the discharging. and only suffers in electrical efficiency under such treatment.
 Another advantage claimed for the cells of this new battery of Edison's is that they may be subjected to very low tenn peratures without danger of detriment Moreover, the electrolyte-potash does not attack any of the ingredients of the cell. nor are any of the ingredients soluble therein. The battery is therefore theo- retically indestructible. An instance of the indestructibleness of the cell Is this: cell was not only completely discharged, but it was recharged in the reverse or wrong direction, and after bringing 1t back to it's originally charged current. the storage capacity remained unaffected. From this it would seem that the cell should be capable of standing much abuse.
 The public is greatly interested in the development of the automobile industry, and 1t may be remarked that no recent invention will do so much to shove the automobile along the road to further pop ularity than this light, efficient battery of Edison's invention.
 In the electricity building at the Pan- American exposition the Edison space Is near the west end, and 1t is there space has been reserved for the new invention. Few things on exhibition will command more attention than this wonderful bat tery. It is twenty-four years since the telephone was exhibited at the Centen- nial in Philadelphia, and visitors to the Pan-American exposition will naturally wonder if the next quarter of century will show an equal popularity for tho storage battery as the last has for the telephone.
 Prospects are that within twenty-five years storage batteries of all sizes will be purchasable at the stores in packages, the wrappers on which will rival those of the various food products for beauty. It is this possibility and its revolutionizing tendency that excites such widespread in- terest in the marvellous storage battery that Is first to be exhibited at the Pan- American exposition.