The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1902-06-18
AUTO PROBLEM SOLVED.
EDISON SAYS HIS NEW BATTERY IS
A SUCCESS.
The Inventor Expects Storage Power
to Be Good for a Five Thous-
and Mile Journey.

+; and Mile Journey.
at is now UP to the manufacturers
Of automobiles to produce cheap car
rage" said Thomas A. Edison the 9TH
er day. II have. after three years OF
hard work, solved the problem of an
electrical storage battery which can be
used for long distance work and which
will wear three or four automobiles
out before 1t will succumb ITSELF"
This statement was made to New
York Times reporter at the inventors
laboratory in West Orange, N. J. Mr..
Edison was evidently delighted over
the situation. On May % Of last year
It was announced that the inventor had
nearly completed his storage battery,
and work has been going on ever since.
On last Friday MAY 23l Mr.. Edison
equipped an ordinary electric runabout
with batteries of twent--one cells and
a total weight of $50 pounds net for
trial spin.
81 sent my two men, Fleiss and Bee,
out for the test" said the inventor in
describing the experiment. Il told
them to go over some heavy roads and
up some steep hills. They went to
Paterson, covering some sixty-two
! miles, the grades averaging from to
| II per cent. When the machine came
| back, only II per cent of the original
speed had been lost and but seven out
| of the original twenty-nne volts had
been sacrificed.
son Monday MAY 26l l sent these
men out again on roads that were
; heavy from the rain. told them to
run the machine until it stopped, but
they had gone eighty-fiye miles before
the battery gave out A few days be-
| fore | had gone over the same roads
in high power gasoline vehicle. but
when we got to the steep hills the gas
oline engine nearly stopped. The hills
made absolutely no impression upon
my electrical machine.
| The popularity Of most Of the bat
teries now used is that lead is used in
a solution Of acid. The lead makes
these batteries extremely heavy, so
that about 12o pounds Of weight is
necessary for each horsepower pro-
duced. The best of these batteries will
not run more than about forty miles
without recharging, and this process
takes several hours.
Il realized" continued Mr.. Edison,
''that the problem would never be
solved with lead battery, so set out
to secure some combination Of other
metals which would produce the de-
sired effect. At last hit upon COM
binatiOn of steel and nickel suspended
| in an alkaline solution. The principle
is entirely different from the electrical
batteries now in use.
'It was my idea to construct a bat
terry which would not be cumbersome
" heavy, which would have fine wear
ing powers and which would not need
attention. These hopes are realized in
the new battery. 1t is about the same
size as the ones now used, but the
lighter metals make it possible to Sc
cure one horsepower from every 53.3
pounds weight. / am now making a
battery for q bicycle. 1t will give a
horsepower for forty pounds weight.
and machines can be made still lighter,
but they are comparatively more ex-
pensive.
"These batteries will run for 100
miles or more without charging. They
can be charged in few hours. They
require no attention, for all that IS
needed to replenish the liquid is to
pour in a little water every now and
then to take the place of that which
has evaporated. l do not know how
long it would take to wear out one or
the batteries, for we have not yet been
able to exhaust the possibilities of one
Of them, but feel sure one will last
longer than four or five automobiles.
81 am going to start an automobile
out in q few days for an endurance
test of 5000 miles. l shall make five
separate tests of this kind with differ
ent machines, and if do not produce
battery that will last for more than
5000 miles | won't sell a single one OF
them"
LII Mr.. Edison's new battery the
plates are contained in u neat steel
case, IL inches high by by A inches
The interior of this case is lined with
an insulating material which resists
the action of the potassium hydrate
used in the cells. 1t is the intention OF
the inventor to begin Immediately the
manufacture of the new machines at
his recently equipped factory in Glen
Ridge, N.