The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-25
A NEW STORAGE BATTERY.
Edison Said TO Have solved the Great
Electrical Problem.


NEW YORK. Feb 24-Thomas A. Edison
has invented real storage battery With
out going into technicalities 1t can be brief
ly stated that in a storage battery is
stored enough chemical energy to produce
an elecric current.
Electricity can be tapped from a storage
battery. SO to speak. And, OF course. the
current can be used in any one Of innum-
cradle ways to do any OF the innumerable
things done by the current produced at q
stationary plant. A real. practical stor-
age battery such as Mr.. Edison has in
vented has been the dream, the desire. the
goal of electricians for many decades.
Such a storage battery must not be
heavy and must be compact. 1t must be
cheap. 1t must be so constructed as to
be easily and cheaply charged and able to
hold the charge for a long time. There
must be no danger of overcharging Il.
That Edison has discovered Just such a
marvellous storage battery can be posi-
lively stated, although the fact that he
has been working on 1t for six months has
been kept a profound secret. It can be
stated on the authority of Louis e. Bonn
eisler, of the firm OF great corporation
| lawyers. Dill. Bomeisler & Baldwin.
Mr.. Bameisler makes this statement:
Mr.. Edison is working on a storage bat
terry. he Ii..s been working on 1t for sew
eral years. and ne expects to put one on
the market. He has been blazing an en-
tireIy new trail His battery is in the
way of discovery, purely a discovery.
Though it would seem impossible, 1t Is
built upon an entirely different plan from
any other storage battery. II Is something
absolutely new.
Yes, | have some connection with the
affair. Mr.. Edison is going South, and
when he returns in the spring there will
be some storage battery talk The thing
will not be in commercial shape until the
fall. however, for It will be necessary for
Mr.. Edison to establish a factory"
The invention of a real, practical. cheap
storage battery, with the properties here
described, will revolutionize manuflc-
lures. commerce.
With such a storage battery in exist
enee. and cheap. coal will cost little more
than sand. for there Will be few uses to
which coal can be put Steam. smoke,
SCOT. ashes, will nearly disappear.
Sea travel, naval warfare will be won
derfully changed. So will the construction
of steamships, for the coal bunkers will
be infinitely smaller. Storage batteries.
not steam engines. will propel the steam
be longer. because there Will be more room
for provisions.
There need be no coaling stations for
these huge, floating fighting machines,
the modern battleships. A fleet can keep
at sea as long as its provisions last. So.
in all probability. there will be fewer wars
for wars will be more destructive.
There will be no more trolley lines. nor
trolley cars; locomotives will move almost
silently; steam and gasoline automobiles
will be Of the past.
Residences and Offices will no longer be
lighted by gas. but in each building there
will be a private power plant sufficient to
give all the light necessary. From this
plant, also. Gil the necessary heat will be
taken. The daily housework too. WILL in
great part. be done by the power from the
private plants.
Production will also be revolutionized.
Farmers will run their plows by electricity.
The produce will be raised on soil titled
by machines run by storage batteries.