The daily sentinel., 1901-02-04
SUNLIGHT AND SEA.
TWO GREAT FORCES NOT YET
MASTERED.'
Little or No Progress Made So Ear in
Harnessing Either of Them for In
dustrisl Uses-Solar Engine Would
Cheaper Manufacturing.

1.-THE two greatest forces in nature
are the sunlight and the sea-" remark
ed college professor apropos of moth
ing in particular the other day; yet
strange to say, we have made little
or no progress toward Harvesting
either of them for industrial uses. or
course, the effort has been made, over
and over again, and l dare say scores
of able men are wrestling with the
problem at this very moment, but
everything thus far suggested has
proven failure. The idea of utilizing
solar energy has generally taken the
form Of an engine in which the sun
does duty as a firebox A friend OF
mine at Washington tells me that over
hundred patents have been taken
out on appliances of that sort. They
are all more or less alike, the essential
feature being a mirror or combination
of mirrors which focus the suns rays
on boiler of water. Some small
models have been made that worked
perfectly, but nothing on practical
scale has ever been devised. 1t goes
without saying that a solar engine
can only make steam while the sun
shines, and consequently could not be
depended upon for steady work, but
the recent perfecting of the storage
battery helps to remove that difficulty.
When the engine is working it could
be used to operate dynamo and the
current bottled up for future use. or
course there would be a good deal OF
power lost in the transmission from
one form into another, but as long as
the fuel costs nothing at all, that would
be of no special consequence. When
the real solar engine is finally invent
ed, as it must be sooner or later, the
world will take some immense indus
trital strides. 1t would enormously
cheaper all manufactured products.
The same may be said of any practical
method of Harvesting the waves. That
problem has been wrestled with for
centuries, yet on the surface it seems
comparatively simple. The device that
suggests itself at once is some sort OF
buffer to receive the impact of the
water and transmit it to machinery.
Hundreds, yes. probably thousands OF
different types have been constructed,
but nothing has proven effective There
was always a hitch somewhere. A va
ration of the scheme, which has also
been tried repeatedly without success,
is based on the idea of rocking plat
form. 1t rests on the surface of the
water, and derives it's motion from
the constant agitation of the tides.
Young Edison, son of the great invent
or, was one of the last to experiment
with that plan. His platform was sur
rounded by a stout framework built on
piles, and as it rose and fell it actual
ed series of piston rods connected
with a machine for compressing air,
in which form he expected to deliver
the power. If he had taken the trouble
to read up on the subject in advance
he could have ascertained than an al
most Identical contrivance was put up
by a Savannah inventor before the
war, and failed miserably, after swal-
lowing small fortune. The Savannah
man proposed to use his power to oper
ate sawmill, but he miscalculated the
force of the waves. and, after jolt
ing his machinery into wreck and ruin,
storm came up and swept the whole
thing off the face of the waters. This
was some time in the SOS. / haven't
learned the exact fate Of the Edison
apparatus, and the silence in regard to
1t is ominous. Another recent device
was installed several months ago on
the coast near San Diego, Cal. 1t was
built on the plan of a striking ma
chine at country fair, and the waves
were expected to deliver the blows,
which We're then passed over gearing
to a dynamo. The waves were on
hand, and, at the first lick they knock
ed the entire plant into everlasting
smithereens, l am hopeful that the
right man will turn up eventually, but
at present the problem is no nearer a