The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-12-27

TIA practical theory" says Edson lis a good lead, but 1t is not sure thing"
 Last year you were sure that you had solved this problem?" he was reminded by a Times reporter.
 Yes, last year I was sure" replied MT Edson, but now am dead sure. There is a difference between the two. It's one thing for instance, to be sure, and another thing to be-Wall Street sure"
 There is a gayety about the wizard these days that is unmistakably in- dicative of new discovery, for when he is in a blind mood, when nature refuses to reveal her secret, he is as tragic and silent as the sphinx
 He says that he will be able to sell at the cost of $10 cell a storage bat tery that is almost indestruetIble It will travel 100000 miles before it is worn out. Twenty cells will be all that is needed for a runabout or brougham, and 60 cells will be enough for the largest and heaviest truck used. For $2O0 one will be equipped with motive power that will need no renewal for 15 years. i Now, it lies with rubber tire man. ufacturers to meet this commercial reduction of motive power" said MT. Edison, gayly,
 Gan they do lt?"
 ''They have been getting ready for it quite while. A lot of them are working at it quietly. That will come, of course"
 For three years 25,oOO storage bat teries have been constantly at work in the test shops of the Edison plant at Orange, N. J.
 q never believed that Nature, so prolific of resources, could provide only lead as a material ingredient of the battery" said Mi. Edison. T have always found her ready for any emer- gency, and, based on this con fdence that she has never betrayed. I communed diligently with her. One day l discovered that nickel rust was as good as lead. Then l thought had accomplished the task
 But he hand't to the satisfaction of his commercial instinct The ques- tion of the weight of the battery was most important, as was that of it's durability.
 You see, 1t takes about il months in experimenting with battery to be prepared for surprises in the phenomena of Nature" he continued; sometimes longer. So it has neces- sarily been slow work. A very prom ising battery would work all right that long, and then something would go wrong. The public doesn't under stand these things, and they get i'm patient, as if it was only a matter of experiement, and I could hurry it"
 Well, nickel rust failed, other things failed everything the ingenious Edi- son could, with his trained scientific mind, conceive, failed.
 Then I tried cobalt" he said, and punctuated the statement with broad smiles
 And it worked?"
 Tt certainly did; but cobalt being one of the rare metals, the problem was not solved. I secured the coun- try to find cobalt in sufficient quanti- ties to warrant it's use, and discovered lots of it in Canada, in Wisconsin in Oregon, in Kentucky Then l knew that I was all right" What are you working at now in connection with this phase of the discovery"
 "One of the most difficult problems in metallurgy is to separate cobalt from the ores with which it is assn- ciated. At present it is done only at great expense, and so for the last few months, we have been devising plan of getting cobalt out of the ore cheap ly, within the ratio of cost already calculated for the price of each cell
 And you have succeeded?" Completely, I can positively promise that the new battery will be on the market in the spring. The factory buildings are ready and the machin- cry is being installed. ."-New York Times ....,