The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-29
OCEAN TELEPHONY"
corporation Formed to Finance Al
legged New Scientific Discovery,

NF'AASHN' 10VA ny dtQOn fAWcett,)
Washington, Dec. ga few months
ago a corporation made up of shrewd
business men paid to Prof. M. I. Pupin
OF Columbia University a fortune
amounting to several thousand dol
lars for his invention of ocean tel
ephony," a deal based merely on theory
backed by preliminary experiment, for
there was no conclusive evidence that
the Pupin invention would result in a
single syllable ever being whispered
from America to Europe. This trans
action typit1es the new conditions in
the world of invention. The ablest in
ventor of past years have enriched
innumerable other men, but have
amassed for themselves little except
fame-and that mostly posthumous
Henceforth the inventors profit will
be great and sure, and not he but the
capitalist will assume the chances of
failure.
1t is very significant that the great
est opttmists as to the future of in
Ventions are to be found among the
men who have the best opportunities
of Judging the future along this line
the officials of the United States Pat
ent Office. In discussing the subject the
other day Frederick Allen, the United
states Commissioner of Patents, said:
Il certainly do not agree with those
persons who consider that we are ap-
preaching the end of invention. 1 be-
lieve that the whole creative realm
will go on developing and expanding
in proportion to the growth of the ma
ton The business of this office shows
it. During the past quarter of a centu-
ry there has been issued in this coun-
try more than half a million of pat
ents or over three times as many as
had been issued in the three-duarters
of a century preceding it. It is difficult
to predict along what lines inventive
genius will be most active. Certain it
is that the evolution of new things will
go on in constantly increasing proper
tons.
The imaginative mind naturally fore
sees the greatest possibilities of the
future in the fields of electricity areial
navigation and the Harvesting of the
great power forces in nature 1t is in
teresting to note that this popular view
has the support of the Hon. Charles H.
Duell, who but recently retired from
the position of United States Commits
sioner of Patents, and who stands as
one of the leading authorities in Amer
lea on the subject of inventions. In
discussing the matter, Mr.. Duell said.
I'm my opinion all previous advances
in the various lines of invention will
appear totally insignificant when COM
pared with those which the present
century will witness. 1 almost wish
that I might live my life over again
to see the new wonders which are at
the threshold. 1t will be but few
years until the residents of all our
larger cities will be consulting the time
tables of aerial bee lines to New
York, allured by such advantages as
no smoke, no dust, no heat each pri-
vate residence will be provided with its
own plant or cooling room and cooling
devices for houses will make bearable
any climate under the Stars and
Stripes; the sun and the wind will be
completely haTnessed, and possibly the
waves as we'll; automobiles will be in
universal use and quadruplex appara-
tus should bring the cost of telephone
service down to about ten cents a
month.
Probably the field which will give
forth the most wonderful inventions
during the next quarter of century is
that of electrical science. Within the
past few months devices have been
patented which will enable Americans
to talk with their cousins across the
sea: which permit telephone messages
and signals of various kinds to be
transmitted through the earth or be-
low or above the surface of the ocean
without wires; which cause telephone
messages to be recorded automatically
and repeated mechanically hundreds of
times; make it possible to transmit col
orded pictures by wire between distant
points and enable the dispatch of six
teen telegraph messages over a single
wire.
The future of electricity and of the
whole transportation world waits upon
the discovery of some means to har-
ness the magic current and house 1T in
light and compact form. For nearly a
third of a century inventors have
been seeking to devise a storage bat
terry that will answer all requirments
and the specialist in novelties who first
produces it has assuredly captured the
grand prize in the lottery of invention
"a winning that will bring him the
fame of a Solomon and wealth beyond
the dreams Of avarice. Lately it was
announced that Edison had sovled the
problem. and if his invention proves all
that he claims for IT, all the other mar
wells which have been brought forth
from the wizard cabinet of Menlo Park
will pale in comparison.
A cheap compact and durable stor-
age battery will make possible electric
arships, steamless locomotives and
horseless carriages of a character more
perfect than has heretofore been
dreamed Of. Automobiles, the popular
4
within a few months sustained de-
cline of hundreds of dollars in price
owing to the perfection of equipments,
but the discovery of the sorely needed
storage battery would eventually
make them within universal reach as
any vehicle may be. The discovery OF
a practical storage battery will open
new era for the electric railway and
hasten the day Of electric propulsion
for long distance express trains for
mail and passengers.
Even the subject Of electric lighting
has not been exhausted by any means.
Greater brilliancy and the saving or
the electrical energy now wasted so
wantonly in present-day lighting sys-
TENS are the goals to be reached, and
a beginning has been made by the re-
cent introduction of a modification Of
the old kaolin light, whereby the mix
ture of oxides as a light-emitting ele-
ment has served to produce glow
which is more brilliant than an mean
descent light and yet not so dazzling
as an arc Supplementary to electrical
inventions proper will be the discov-
cries which may be expected in the
field of electric chemistry-"the new
science" Already this new sphere has
pointed a way to fitch gold from ores
which no other process could induce to
release II and the newcomer among
the sciences has awaiting 1t limitless