The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1906-10-20

Is the evil spirit of the old Saxon
miners destined soon TO revolutionize the
au,oma bile Industry
Back IN the middle ages, when the now
famaus mines oi Srhneeberg were op-
enti, the Saxon miners we're not long
IN discovering that the silver was nearly
always associated with strange mineral
and that it frequently replaced the pre-
cious ore altogether Specimens Of this
mineral were turned over to the wise
men OF the kingdom. One and all pro
nouncel il useless Thereafter, as they
mined, and their eyes fell on the con-
st4rt companion Of the silver they were
insustrious1y after, the miners, in con
tempt dubbed it kobold That is to say,
enome, or evil spirit; for, like an evil
spirit. they said, il "as present only to
give them trouble.
kybald. we oi to-day still call tins
metal, which is one OF the elements,
though the spelling Is nos cobalt 1t
was not Unit, the middle OF the SIX
ltt[ltlt NNt-LE4i .lttittt t-'r' r'N'N4~+-- N'N'
the manners Of the metal had been gath
cred to their fathers, that even slight
use for it was discovered Up TO to-day
its uses h4ve been limited when com
pared with other elements; il Is still the
gnome OF Old in large measure. But,
will this hold good OF it in the near
futurco
For a number Of years have been
working on my electric storage battery,
as you probably know sad Thomas A.
Edison, in substance, recently. 1t has
been my aim to build battery that will
take an automobile a hundred miles
without having to be reeharged. The
problem was battling until | introduced
cobalt into the battery cells Now be
lieve tha, have the battery all right,
and the only problem remaining to be
solved in order TO make the battery prac-
ticabie IS ior ne to find a way to ge.
cobalt in sufficient quantity and cheaply,'
k,w does Mr Edison employ cobalt
in Ms battery He su5hnsly keeps the
secret to himself But, he says, ii on.H
he can solve the one problem now con
fronting hin-that Of cheap sappiy-the
use OF his battery will cut down tie
present weight OF the Automobile bl
half This OF itself viii greatly reduce
the price OF the machine, thus tending
to make il a necessity instead Of the lux
ury that it now is. Ii will also increase
the speed possibilities, Last but not
least. the automobIhst will no longer be
dependent on gasoline. the iavorlte mo
tive power OF to-day. or steam. Both
are Objectionable for obvious reasons
Against electricity none OF these obJec-
tions can be raised it is noiseless,
odorless fuel"
Thus. Mr.. Edison's battery, il the
hopes Of lis inventor in finding cobalt
are realized, will bring about revolu-
ton in the electrical world as great as
that which took place in the world Of
water 81 hen Robert Fulton demonstrated
that boat could steam her way from
port to port even better than she could
make the same trip by sail.
Mr. Edison is now travelling about the
country, endeavoring to locate cobalt
sources Of sufficient quantity and purity
to cheaper it to the point where his bat
terry will be practicable. Cobalt now
sells for two dollars a quarter pound
A f. days ago it was worth twenty
FIVE cents more. A quarter OF pound
OF cobalt has about as much bulk as the
same atnoun: OF iron. Mr.. Edison's bat