The St. Louis Republic., 1903-09-20
FIRST PRACTICAL APPLICATION
OF WONDERFUL METAL SELENIUM.
Buoy Lights Turned On Automatically by New Substance When
Darkness Possesses Curious Property Of
Obsructing Electric Current in Obscury.

Buoys-those stationary floating signals
which mean so much TO the mariner-are
improved by the use of selenium, for by
tits aid the buoys are lighted as night
comes on and extinguished as daylight
approaches without the aid of any living
agency.
In the earlier days. before the intro
duction OF the gas-lighted buoy. these
floating signals. as well as the stationary
beacons, were lighted by oil. These re-
quired daily attention. and ship must
needs make a sound or supply a single
buoy If necessary. If, for instance, there
was only one within a radius of days
sail, and place within it a lighted lamp,
which would burn out the following morn
ing.
The invention of the gas-lighted buoy
using high candle power gas operating un-
der has proved ,s most ddnsS mpprsan, re
minimum the danger of running on rock
or other obstruction. The modern COM
pressed gas buoy. known as the Pintsch.
and made by the same company that fur
nishes gas-lighting, apparatus Tor railroad
cars. will burn continuously for three nun
dred nights sometimes without replenish-
ing. Its light Is brilliant ana penetrating
and may be easily seen distance of six
miles.
INCREASED DURATION OF LIGHT.
Now. the object of the selenium cell. In
combination with one of these gas buoys,
is to increase the number of nights the
light will burn, for in the ordinary type
the light burns both day and night con-
tinuously. BY means Of a selenium CELL
rs the prepared selenium Is called. the gas
is automatically turned on when darkness
descends and shut off when the bright
light of day lmpinges upon Its surface.
This is accomplished by the aid of con-
trolling mechanism actuated by electricity
through the seIeuium nelE-that is. when
the current Is opposed by the high re-
sistance of the selenium in the dark IL is
caused to flow through magnet, which
attracts bit of iron-or armature. In the
language of the eiectrician-and this turns
on gas valve. permitting the gas TO flow
TO the burner. Then in the morning. when
the sun rises and the light falls on the
selenium cell, ii is made conductive and
the current of electricity flows through 1t
and the opposite magnet. and the gas
Mr.. Runner is the inventor of this
method OF regulating the light of the buoy,
according to the variability of the resist
Of current flowing through 1t. One of
these Pintsch buoys, equipped with Sc
,enium cell. is in operation near Ham,
hnrS. Germany, In the Baltic Sea, at the
present time and giving excellent salts.
faction. The controlling mechanism shown
IN the accompanying diagram consists of
bdttcTy-Sucn as lS used TO ring
electric house bells-in circuit Witt, the re-
lay magnets and the selenium cell. The
.'attery ana mechanism are placed in the
bottom OF the buoy in water-tight COM
The selenium cell Is one OF the most
curious inventions imaginable. In the first
place selenium Is found in minute ouantj-
ties in Tesuyian lava, in sulphur from the
Liparl Islands. In iron ore from Norway,
In lead ore from the Hartz Mountains and
II occurs in the form Of a red powder in
many. other minerals and even in metcors
In which there Is iron.
Selenium was discovered by Berzelius n
Swedish scientist. in 1877, who obtained
the first of the new and rare clement n,
the form of a by-product by the distiiIa !.
ton OF suinhuric acid and iron, To tho
Substance thus produced its discoyerer
gave the name of selenium, from the
Greek ..selene." since he found n decided
similarity befween seienium ard another
rare metal KNOWN as teiiurium derived
from the Latin ,tellus." meaning The
earth. BY virtue of the ciosenesa OF the
earth and the neon Berzelius bethought