The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-06-19
4 Great Electrical invention.

|
ticular problem the public is prepared
to learn that the problem will soon be
solved, and an announcement that Mr..
Edison has perfected this thing or that
is never received with doubt nor in.
crcdulity. This wonderful inventor
is cminently practical as we'll es sue
ccssful. He is thcorist who can put
his ideas into practice. To news
paper man who called upon him the
other day, Mr.. Edison said he was
"not scientist" BY this he meant
that he laid no claim to that renown
which is accorded the speculative or
didactic scientists; the men who ex-
pertinent and investigate and put their
results into books. That is not Edi-
sons way. lie is constantly giving
to the world some valuable invention
often the outcome Of years of study,
investigation and experimentation.
just now it is being heraldcd abroad
that MIR. Ellison has perfected an cleo
trio storage battery that combines
great potcntiality, slow depreciation
and inconsiderablc weight. AS de-
scribed by the Philadelphia North
American by an unscicn:ific writer
the new invention is indeed marvel,
possessing qualities that almost stagger
meeting of the American Institute of
Electrical engineers in New York the
new Edison battery was for the first
time described, and according to The
Evening Post, "was vouched for by
this body of experts which is pretty
conclusive. "Thc qualities claimed
for this apparatus, continues The
Evening Post, "arc little short of re-
volutionary, but the reception accord
ed the new invention by the Institute
"a body composed Of the most emf.
nent specialists in electrical engineer
ing-goes far towards removing any
doubt as to the ability of the inventor
to substantiate his claims for it,"
To attempt scientific description
Of the invention would be out of place
here and would probably only weary
the average reader, but the following
simple explanation by The Evening
Post will not be urinteresting:
"1n brief, the new storage battery is
able to do two and one-half times as
much work for given weight as the
most powerful batteries at present in
use in automobiles, while it shows
even larger proportion of increase in
output for weight over batteries used
in stationary work. In addition, the
simplicity and strength Of its mechan-
ical construction, together with the
nature of the chemical reactions upon
which it's operation depends, are such
that its depreciation in service will BE-
insignificant. The battery is made of
steel plstes, containing pockets in
which are compressed mixtures of
graphite and powdered iron and gra-
phite and nickel oxide, the liquid ele-
mont being solution Of caustic pot
ASH"
In further considering this inter
esting subject, The Evening Post sum-
marizes the difficulties which it is
claimed the new battery Of Mr.. Edi-
son 8 invention will remove, review
ing the history Of the storage battery,
as follows:
"Since the invention of the storage
battery by NJ. Plante, in 1873, there
has been an urgent demand for the
perfection Of this muoh-neeGed ad-
junct Of eleotrictrical installations. But
progress has been discouragingly slow,
and the accumulator has Jagged far
behind other varieties Of electrical ap.
paratus in development. 1t has al
ways been hampered by It's great weight
-an almost fatal obstacle to its ap-
plication in automobile or traction
work-its fragility, and it's rapid de-
probation in service. And to these
unfavorablc qualities, the high initial
cost of storage batteries has often pre-.
VENT their use where otherwise they
might have been employed to advan-
tage.
Ever since the announcement Of the
invention of NJ. Plante, popular inter-
est, no less than technical apprecia-
tion, has marked any progress Of the
storage battery, however slow. The
idea Of boxing electricity and distri-
buting it, much as milk is sent about
in bottles, was from the first very fas-
cinating, and the electric automobile
appeared within very few years after
the battery had been made CONNER
cially practicable" But notwithstand-
ing the extraordinary advantages Of