Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1905-1906, 1906-01-03
A GREAT EPOCH DAWNING
Inventor Predicts Electric Power
Direct From Coal-Power
House az Mines.

III Tie Opinion ci 1lOlldS a. l-lisoL5
the famous Inventor, wonders are yet
to be unfolded in the world of elec-
tricity. Ia recent interview with
James Creelman, the New York Worlds
correspondent, he said in part:
''We are cropping on the verge of an
other great epoch in the worlds his
tory. 1t would not surprise me any
morning to wake up and learn that
some one, some group of the 100000
scientific men who are investigating all
over the earth, has seized upon the
secret of electricity by direct process
and begun another practical revolution
IN hnmpn affairs,
: cit can be done. 1t will be done. ]
expect . see It before | die.
'The LIST great change iii the produe
ton Of electricity will abolish carry,
Ing coal for that purpose. Instead of
digging gross material ont Of the earth,
loading it on cars and carrying IL, say,
500 miles, there TO PIT it under Il boiler
and burn and so get power, we shall
set UP plants at the mouths of mines,
generate power there and transmit it
wherever it Is needed by copper \ re.
cit is preposterous to keep on put
ting coal mines on wheels. 1t is too
clumsy. 1t is too costly. There is no
necessity for it. 1t is easier to carry
molecular vibration by millions of
waves a second than freight ears full
of crude matter. We can ship 100000
hnY ltn .,,,I
more economically than we can send
the equivalent in coal over railroad
track.
We must eliminate the railroad alto
gethei from this problem. What's the
use of ii? We don't want coal any
how. 1t does us no good to look ut it
What we want is the resultant Of the
utmost energy that can be produced
And there is no sense in carrying
around millions of tons of raw mate
rial like coal when we can get Il prod
uct delivered to us by wire
Everything points to the fact that in
the near future electricity Will be pro
duced for general consumption by>great
power houses ut the mouths of coal
pits. That is the logical and common
sense outcome of present events.
"Now, the truth Is that it will cost a
third less to transport electrical power
by wire than to carry it in the form of
coal I'm railroad ears Assume the price
OF coal to be 81 Mt the mouth of a mine
and assume the freight to be Si.90.
Now. we can turn coal into electricity
at the mine ana convey il by wire for
less than half of the cost Of the freight
age of coal
80, in years to come, the great cleo,
trio power plants Will he set mp in the
Goa fields. Electric power will largely
do away with steam power Electric
light Will become cheaper than gas
light | believe firmly that all great
trunk railroad lines will 20 to electric.
ity inside of fifteen yearS. | don't
mean simply passenger traffic but
heavy freight traffic also.
ELECTRICITY will take the place of
horses. 1t will solve the vehicle and
traffic problem of cities. My new cleo.
trio storage battery itself will make
electricity cheaper than horses. In the
spring we will be ready to furnish new
batteries. Not only will they take half
the space Of horse traffic, but they will
go twice as Fast. They can be stored
on upper floors by means of elevators.
The saving of stable space in New
York will cover at least $200,000.00C
worth OF property.
"Not only win electric power be de,
veloped and distributed from coal
mines in the future, but all the water
power in the world will he used for the
production OF electricity. nat move.
ment has begun and is advancing rap.
Idly In California, where men have
nerve enough to overcome habit. they
are transmitting electric power ia
miles hy wire and running street cars
and lighting cities by it. That is tile
sort OF spirit that will wake the world
mp one OF these DAYS. | wish that spirit
In California would spread everywhere
"From practical standpoint the
(. most tremendous thing in the problem
of electricity is the fact that we only
get about Is per cent of the energy OF
the coal we burn. Eighty five per cent
goes UP the chimney Now, If we could
find way TO get The energy out of the
coal by some direct process without
wasting So per cent of j., the result
would be that ii would so .nultiply and
so cheaper electric power as to inau
gurate new epoch in the history OF
the world
when that discovery is made the
steam engine will he driven out of use
1t will then be possible to have air
ships. expect TO see airships flying
before my Death. | do not think that
they viii fly very .l'esi. but they VIII b'
able to 20 little higher than tho trees