Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1901-03-21
MAY HARNESS THE SUN.
Thomas A.. Edison Says the
Thing Can Be Done.
SOLAR ENGINE rs NOW RUNNING.

Reen In Operation at
Cal, Which Generates Its Motive
Power From That Orb-WOnderfuI
Changes That May Take Place.
$50 long as the sun shines man will
be able to develop power in abundance,
no matter whether there are coal mines
Or not, and when its rays have been
Quenched We'll need no more power"
So spoke Thomas A. Edison in a talk
with a Philadelphia Press reporter.
Mr.. Edison realizes thai the potentiali-
ties of steam are not yet exhausted.
lie believes in a future Of vast helpful
ness, for electrical and motor power,
In Mr.. Edison's opinion, will not have
come to the acme of its usefulness till
the tides themselves nave been har-
messed. But it is to the sun that he
looks for the first and probably the
greatest help.
at is from the sun that we get our
power now" said he. "Coal is only
stored up sunshine, and the ray that
fall upon the earth's surface today are
as full of power as ever they We're"
To put the sun in harness; to hitch
ones wagon to q star, as Emerson put
1t-this has been the aspiration and
goal of scientists and inventors for
more than a quarter Of a century. John
Ericsson, the designer of the first mon
itor, was at work on the problem and
had already attained results of con
siderable promise when death cut short
his labOrS. And there is 4 legion who
have followed in his steps only to Ii
years of earnest effort in empty visions
n financial failure.
1.-THE scientific data upon which all
would be inventors have gone are
these said Mr.. Edison; leach square
yard of the earth'S surface receives suf-
fcient- heat when the rays of the III
fall perpendicularly and through a dry
atmosphere to generate enough steam
to run a one horsepower engine. The
obstacles to the use of this mighty pow
er are that its rays fall vertically only
in midsummer, that there are many
days when the sun does not shine at
all and many more when the rays pass
through an atmosphere filled with an
invisible vapor which absorbs a great
portion Of their heat long before they
reach the earth.
"But," he continued, Gin those re-
gions where the sun shines uninter-
ruptedly for weeks and months at a
stretch, in some tropical regions and
m~easurably in our own southwest,
there ma be no reason why the SUMS
heat cannot be utilized directly in the
production of steam power.
GSTVh04 1~,Novsn,Cn+ in This 1irnafiOn
will some day result in success" he
concluded, Il have not the least doubt
Has such success already been won?
Pasadena, Cal, is of the opinion that
st has, and ii support Of that belief will
show the traveller a great machine that
looks at first sight like a s~earchlight OF
q merry go round. In reality is it q
solar engine.
For years those interested have been
busy with the development of this mo-
tor, and now at last they claim to have
achieved their goal. For two months
the engine with no other heat than that
of the sun has been daily pumping wa
ter, lifting from a depth of II feet
1,4OO gallons per minute, $4,000 gallons
an hour.
The machine resembles somewhat an
umbrella open and inverted, an I'm,
brella SO feet in diameter and lined
with 1,7SS mirrors. Where would nat
uraIly be the stick of this giant umbrel
la is a tubular boiler, 13 feet 6 inches
long and with a capacity for 100 gal
ions of water and eight cubic feet OF
steam. This boiler. glistening in the
reflected rays like a mighty icicle or {
piece of highly polished silver, is thu
KEY to the situation. 1t is the pole tt
the harness for the sun.
The actual workings of the motor are
matters of but little more than mere
detail. 1t is self adjusting, self oilins
and built to withstand the attacks o
wind and storm. 1t has, indeed, with
stood successfully the yer gales o
January. The supply of water to tn
boiler is automatic, the steam pressur'
is controlled by the usual safety valve
In short, there is no single feature bu
is both simple and practical.
Should this invention prove to be al
that it now so plausibly promises tn
next few years will see development
little short of marvellous. Consider tn
single point of irrigation. Half of thi
continent, most of Australia and Ney
Zealand, most Of Africa and Sout
America, a vast portion of Asia, includ
ing India. belong distinctly to the sur
shine regions. Here solar power i
bound to be extensively employed i
lifting water from under the groun
and from the deeply eroded channel
of innumerable rivers.
Here in the United States--in Kar
sas and Nebraska, in the two DakotaS
in the imperial domain of TeXas-suc
irrigation as would follow the success
full operation of the solar motor woul
mean an instant agricultural develoI