The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-06-26
AUTOMOBILES FOR EVERYBODY.
Edison's Latest Invention Believed to BE
a Valuable One.

ford to purchase now.
The rich, of course, can afford to
pay any price, but what we want is
reliable automobile within the reach
of men with limited means. AS about
50 per cent. of the population fall
within the latter category, they are
the people want to see get their own
automobiles. At present the street
car is the poor mans coach, but it
will not be so much longer"
Thomas A. Edison thus announced
the purposes and results of expert
ments in which he has been engaged
for more than two years. In what to
all outward appearances is rectan-
gular tin can of the kind distributed
to their customers by peripatetic ven
ders of kerosene oil Mr.. Edison has
bottled up what he believes to be the
solution of a problem which has been
perplexing scientists and electrical ex-
perts for many years; in other words,
he believes he has perfected high
power and thoroughly reliable stor-
age battery which will revolutionize
methods of travel, abolish horses as
useless and slow, and place within
easy reach of men of moderate in
comes the swift running automo bile.
What l am aiming to do is to per-
feet a storage battery that will en-
able us to furnish an automobile that
will be within the reach of practically
everybody-an automobile that will
be absolutely reliable, capable of high
speed and equipped with a battery
that will run it for not less than one
hundred miles without being recharg-
ed, and which in point of endurance
will stand a test of not less than 1000
miles.
Il do not like people to speak of
this invention as a discovery. No
one has any conception of the genuine
hard work that has been done in the
matter of this storage battery. l
think the problem has now been solv-
ed and that the future will be clear
sailing
On the table before the inventor
were the disconnected parts of one OF
the storage batteries. When put to-
gether the whole is encased in a rec
tangular box of sheet steel II inches
high, 81 inches long and 81 inches
wide. The weight of the battery is
332 pounds. The battery has sue
cessfully wiihstood tests over some Of
the toughest roads in the locality, and
has propelled a runabout automobile
conveying two persons, with a total
weight of 1850 pounds, So miles on
one charge.
The cells are constructed of nickel
plated steel. Each plate is formed of
a sheet of steel about one-eighth of
an inch in thickness, in which rec
tangular holes are stamped, so as to
leave grid or frame somewhat re-
sembling a window frame. In each
plate there are three rows of eight
such rectangular holes or recesses, or
twenty-four in all.
Each recess is filled with a pocket
or shallow box containing the active
material. These boxes project slight
ly beyond the surface of the steel grid.
The active material is made in the
form Of racta po,1lor 40 rac on bri0,,a+
ties, and one such briquette is lodged
in each pocket, Each briquette is
placed in a shallow, closely fitting
nickel.plated box of thin, perforated
crucible steel. A cover of the same
material is then laid over it, so that
the briquette is closely enveloped by
the sides and walls of its perforated
steel box. The boxes are then placed
in the openings of the nickel-plated
steel grid. The assembled plate is
then placed in hydrulic press and
subjected to pressure of about one
hundred tons.
The positive briquettes are made
Wy lulAlHSS d llhcly ulNIu6u COIuDOuuu
of iron, obtained by a special chem
ical process, with a nearly equal vol
ume of thin flakes of graphite. The
graphite does not enter into any of
the chemical actions, but increases
the conductivity of the briquettes.
The mixture is then pressed into bril-
quettes in a mould, under hydrulic
pressure of about two hundred tons
per square inch. The negative bril-
quettes are made in the same manner
, by mixing finely divided compound
of nickel, with nearly equal bulk of
fine flakes of graphite.
81 have demonstrated conclusively
to my satisfaction that this battery
can be used with great economy in
commercial life, and that a vehicle
fitted with it will run approximately
100 miles on single charge said Mr..
Edison. "NoYehicle used for business
purposes in a city like New York can
by any possibility travel 100 miles a
day, SO that in this respect alone the