El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-02-28
A Novel Way of Utilizing
Sun Heat to Develop
Underlying Strata OF
Water and Irrigate
Arid Regions.
From the New Orleans Picayune.

From the New orleans flcdyuue-
Los Angeles.--'Hitch your wagon
to a STAR was the lofty counsel OF
the Concord sage to aspiring youth
And To- after more than a generation
practical farmers are accepting his adj
vice more literally than any one could
have imagined. They are hitchine
their engines to the sun.
The ostriches at the farm near this
city surrendered one of their paddocks
to a mechanical engineer and bust
ness man from Boston few weeks
ago and the newcomers proceeded to
set up a strange device which casual
onloOkers have variously considered
windmill. a searchlight, merry-go-
round, and a looking-glass of gigantic
size and fantastic design but which
proves to be a new invention of extra
ordinary interest and wide practical
usefulness 1t is the solar motor, and
it solves the question of applying the
suns rays directly to the production
of steam power
There were a good many attempts
during the past thirty years and, in
deed. more than a century ago. to make
a commercial proposition of sun pow
er. Some of the more recent of these
efforts have been announced in high
" sensational way as likely to furnish
ships and even for leveling down great
mountains. No such absurdities have
been associated with the solar motor.
which is now attracting the attention
of scientific men and popular crowds
at South Pasadena.
Indeed. nothing has been claimed
for it. The device speaks for itself in
the modest but impressive language
of actual daily performance.
1t drives a ten horse power engine
from an hour and a half after sunrise
to within half an hour of sunset. Its
performance has gradually Increased
with each days trial and the perfect
ing of details, and there is no reason to
suppose that it's maximum has been
reached nor that it will be with the
present model At this writing its
best record is the raising of 14O0 gal
Ions per minute at lift OF IL feet.
The average percentage OF sunshine
in the arid region as a whole is 70 per
cent, and this figure would correctly
represent the proportion of the year
in which sun power could be relied
upon. Making due allowance for the
hours of idleness after sunset. 140O gal
Ions per minute. which equal 155 min
ers' inches. would irrigate about 200
acres of alfalfa, about 300 acres of or
anges. or about 500 acres of deciduous
trees. Although there are large dis
tricts where water may be had at
depth of IL feet that is by no means
an average lift. SO that the actual ca
pacfty of the solar motor cannot fairly
be set so high. Its capacity Will vary
with the lift, with the character OF
crops. and with differences OF SOIL
How does it run and how does it
1ook1" will naturally be asked 1t
looks not unlike a huge umbrella. al
though this illustration should not be
construed to mean that the solar motor
is a frail structure. On the contrary.
it is large and substantial. weighing
$500 pounds But in shape it much re-
sembles an umbrella open and inverted
and is so disposed as to catch the suns
rays on the mirrors. which line It's IN
side surface. and to reflect both light
and heat with concentrated energy on
a long, slim boiler. which is where the
umbrella stick ought to be- 1t should
be noted that no lenses are used, but
that the heat is reflected from plain
mirrors and so centered upon the boil
er.
This reflector measures SO feet across
its diameter at the top and 10 feet at
the bottom. 1t contains exactly 1888
mirrors 3h by "a inches in size. Inc
reflector is set in meridian like a teies-
cope. the axis being due north and
south and the movement from east to
west. The boiler is tubular. IL feet 3
inches long. with a capacity for 100
gallons of water and cubic feet add1-
tionaI steam space. 1t is made OF fire
box steel, covered with lamDblack and
other absorptive material. Before this
boiler is thrown into focus its black
cylinder is but an inconspicuous fea-
ture of the novel mechanism which
stands face to face with the sun But
when, with a few turns of the crank.
it swings into the concentrated rays
reflected from hundreds of mirrors, it
suddenly assumes the appearance of
shining silver, or perhaps of great,
cleaning icicle. and becomes the ire