The Opelousas courier., 1901-09-07
MAKING THE SUN WORK
A SOLAR MOTOR Is NOW BLAMING
AT LOS ANGELES. CALIFORNIA,

an AEIl8k BQIIeH in
Nhieh the Heat Generates Steam-Tbis
Steam is Used For Pumpins w.+.r
9cientlnc experts for many years
nave Deen striving to devise means of
se'tihg the sun to work. The problem
has heeh one OF the most tempting and
at the same time one of the most exas-
pefatlhg' owing to it's apparent sim
pliclty. or any with which scientists
nave struggled. Here, blazing in the
heavens, an inexhaustible. inextjn-
suishabie fire, was the great motor Of
our system of worlds, doing the labor
OF a thousand planets, and vet man,
WIN all his ingenuity, could not get
SO much as a horsepower, of work ont
OF this roaring furnace for any one of
MS millions of minor purposes. Even
as a practicable warming appliance
Tue blazing planet was useless for
many months Of the year to the great
er part OF the globe. Far-sighted, pa
tlene philosophers p~rophecied that
When all earth's. fuel should be used
up necessity would bring forth some
invention to put Old Sol In harness. or
at least to concentrate his vagrant rays
TO the purposes of the kitchen fire.
And now. in the birth year of the
new century, the harness has been
made, and in Los Angeles, Cal, a r
tcal sun-mOtor is making the orb of
day do a satisfactory amount of labor
In pumping water. This sun-motor is
Quilt on the principle Of concentrating
the power Of the suns heat rays. The
principle Is an old one. Experiments
have been conducted in various parts
OF Europe for years with burning
mirrors" Of one kind or another, but
nothing on the scale of the machine
just erected in California has hereto
fore been attempted. The capital
lists who have constructed this
ingenious s%un-engine are not claim
ing that it embodies In it's con-
struction any idea7 that are rad
ically new; indee' :, one Of their
strongest claims for its ultimate sue
cess is based on the fact that it simply
applies, on a large scale, principles
that have had acknowledgement in the
scientific world for a long time.
The whole plan of operation is sim.
pie in the extreme, although to the OF
binary spectator the machine lookh
rather complicated. Primarily the mo-
tor consists Of a great concave mirror
which from a distance looks like a
giant windmill Of sparkling silver.
This huge looking glass could not,
from its form, be made of n single
piece of glass, ven were this practi-
cable on the score of size, but the 1000
pieces of glass which make up the sur
face are Joined SO skilfully that the
composite mirror has every appear
ance of having been nodded solid. In
form the motor resembles a great UNI
brella, the ~concavity being pointed, at
an angle, toward the sun. Six men
standing on each others shoulders
would not span the upper diameter of
the reflector, and at the bottom 1t Is
half as wide. It's hundreds of little
mirrors each turned to exactly the
right angle, catch the solar rays, and
reflect them upon a boiler supported
by a skeleton-like structure, a sort of
miniature bridge that spans the refiec-
tor at its uppermost and widest cir
conference. Central as 1T Is to these
focused rays, the boiler is subjected
to their combined energy, whereby a
terrific heat is generated.
1t is, of course, essential that the
mirrors should be always so directed
so as to get the full force Of the suns
rays. This is achieved by an inge-
NOUS arrangement of clockwork
whereby the great structure is guided
to follow the sun, as that far off mo-
tive power supply traverses the face Of
the heavens. The continuance is abso-
lutely automatic. Having once started
it's operation in morning, the engineer
need give 1T no more attention than he
would a windmill. The boiler, sus-
pended in mid-air, devoid of furnaces
and smoke begrimed stokers, also
takes care of itself. The steam gener-
ated is transferred from the boiler
overhead to the cylinders of the en-
CINE through a flexible bronze tube,
and another pipe traversing the aerial
bridge, carries fresh water whenever
a supply is needed-thus obvfating the
danger Of an explosion which would
destroy the delicate though powerful
apparatus. Even the oiling is done au-
tomatically.
These automatic arrangements are
necessary, for any one coming within
range of this solar inferno to adjust
the machinery, or for any other pur-
pose, would be burned to a crisp. The
intensity Of the heat generated at the
apex of this solar reservoir Is almost
inconceivable. A great pole thrust
into the vortex of the sun bath flames
like a match. Copper or iron is melted
in a few seconds, and granite is fused
in a slightly longer period. Were it
possible for any living thing to make
Its way within this magic circle COM
plete humiliation would result almost
more quickly than the eye of a specta-
tor could follow the consuming flame.
That the boiler itself is not melted
into unrecognizable shape is due only
TO the fact that it is made of specially
prepared steel covered with absorbent
material. This novel steam generator
has a length of thirteen and a half feer
and holds over 100 gallons of water,
while still allowing a space of reason
able dimensions for the accumulation