Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1906-11-29

Is the evil spirit OF the old Saxon
miners destined soon to revolutionize the
automobile industry?
Back in the middle ages, when the now
famous mines of Schneeberg were op-
ened, the Saxon miners were 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-
nounced it useless. Thereafter, as they
mined, and their eyes fell on. the con-
slant companion of the silver they were
industriously after, the miners, in con-
tempt, dubbed it kobold. That is to say,
gnome, or evil spirit; for, like an evil
spirit, they said, it was present only to
give them trouble.
Kobold, we of to-day still call this
metal, which is one of the elements,
though the spelling is now cobalt 1t
was not until the middle of the six
teenth century, many generations after
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 have been limited when COM
pared with other elements; it is still the
gnome of old in large measure. But,
will this hold good of it in the near
future?
"For number of years l have been
working on my electric storage battery,
as you probably know" said Thomas A..
Edison, in substance, recently. 1T has
| been my aim to build battery that will
A.take an automobile a hundred miles
without having to be recharged. The
problem was battling until / introduced
cobalt into the battery cells. Now be-
!, lieve that / have the battery all right,
and the only problem remaining to be
solved in order to make the battery prac-
! iticable is for me to find way to get
cobalt in sufficient quantity and cheaply."
How does Mr.. Edison employ cobalt
in his battery? He smilingly keeps the
secret to himself. But, he says, if only
he can solve the one problem now con-
fronting him-tlat of cheap supply-the
use of his battery will cut down the
present weight of the automobile by
half. This of itself will greatly reduce
the price of the machine, thus tending
to make it a necessity instead of the lux
ury that it now is. 1t will also increase
the speed possibilities Last, but not
least, the automobiles will no longer be
dependent on gasoline, the favorite mo-
tive power of to-day. or steam. Both
are Objectionable for obvious reasons.
Against electricity none of these objec-
lions can be raised; it is a noseless,
! odorless fuel"
Thus, Mr.. Edison's battery, if the
hopes of its 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 when Robert Fulton demonstrated
THAT a 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 quarter pound.
A few days ago it was worth twenty
five cents more. A quarter of pound
of cobalt has about as much bulk as the
same amount of IRON Mr.. Edison's bat