Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-16

inventions which have become 1T
necessities in daily lives, from
the telephone to the trolley-Car, all
tend to strengthen this belief, which, 1t may
be said is rather erroneous.
Compared with what have learned and
what we have done in electrical science,
that which remains unknown and unaccom-
pshed is far the greater. 1t therefore =
may be of popular interest to point out
how much remains to be accomplished in
certain directions and to indicate briefly the
wide fields of discovery and invention which
yet await the experimentalist and the in
ventor and which inevitably must become
a source of great wealth and great benefit to
humanity.
One of the greatest problems and one which has
been attacked again and again, yet apparently
without yielding to large knowledge and high SKILL
is that of producing electrical energy without caus
ing great waste This statement is not applicable
to the use of waterfalls for the energy of falling
water can be converted into electrical energy with
only slight loss, But hydraulic developments are
expensive and all in all, form only small part
of power producing plants
By far the greater part of electrical energy is
generated in steam conversations and the process
is roundabout and inefficient. The energy wish
to obtain electricity is stored UP in coal To get
it we burn the COAL using the heat generated to
produce steam, and using the steam thus produced
to drive engine. The engine then drives the
dynamo and the dynamo gives out electrical energy.
Losses must take place at edCn Slep,
nately at step these losses great. Probably
the average proportion of the energy of the
stored up in coal which is finally converted into
the form desire is not more than one-tenth of
the total. Nine-tenths is lost. Why is this so?
Simply because of the method are forced to
Our apparatus is highly Perfected-it is the system
that is at fault.
Then why not change the system? you say We
have tried to change the system, but have not
vet succeeded. What we want to do is to take
COAL put it into something, which may be called
battery and which will convert the energy of the
coal directly into electrical energy with only slight
loss. We want to feed in coal at one end draw
the residue at the other, and through properly
attached copper rods obtain supply of electrical
energy in a desirable form. The thought will arise
at once, why not replace the zinc of the ordinary
electric battery by coal carbon in forrn3
This has been tried repeatedly. Tommasi has
tried it; Edison has tried it; Jacques has tried it,
believing at one time that he had solved the
problem.
AS far as know to-day we are nearer to
the solution than years ago. What
have learned is not how to do it, but few methods
of how not doing it. There is need to dwell
upon the magnitude of the problem. Not only
would save much of the nine-tenths of the coal
wasted, but the stations themselves would be
much simplifed. The boiler would be replaced by
the battery, while the engine and generator would
be thrown out. Think how greatly this would
reduce the of electrical energy for any purpose
whatever.
Of nearly equal Importance to the problem of
obtaining electrical energy directly from coal is
probably that of improving methods of illumination
How many who have not studied the subject know
that of hundred units of energy in coal less
than One-half of unit is converted into useful
rays by the incandescent lamp? This seems bad
enough and it is bad though to the credit of the
electrical engineer it should be said that his system