The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-04-15
new LIGHT SAID
TO Be LIKE sun
DISCOVERIES OF HELION MAKE
GREAT CLAIM FOR TIN AP-
PEARANcE 1T Is LIKE INcAN-
DESCENT LAMP.

Eugene S. Bisbee in the Technical Wbrld.
Pure sunlight is now being madd by
man. The incandescent lamp which has
been for twenty-five years the standard
of the worlds artificial illumination must
take a back seat or retire from CONNER
cial activity. The arc. the mercury vapor
and every form of illumination at pres
ent holding sway in centers of industry
are relegated to the past. The true, pure
commercially possible light has come and
after years of experimentation has been
brought to a practical basis of manufac-
ture.
1t is not too much to say that within a
| comparatively brief space of time there
will be in use in the homes, offices and
work shops of the civilized world millions
of tiny artificial suns which will shed
their pure white rays in place of the yell
low glow worms which for quarter of
century have stood for the highest ex-
ample of Illuminating achievement.
! The discoveries of the new light are
/ Herschell c. Parker, professor of physics
in Columbia university. New York, and
! Walter G. Clark, also of New York, and
the Phoenix laboratory at Columbia uni
versity was the scene of the achievement
| For seven years, by day and by night,
these two men, still in their youthful
manhood, have labored over their expert,
4 ments endeavoring to produce a, higher
degree of effective electric light at
lower cost to the consumer. After weeks
and months spent at the work they made.
the discovery that combination of ele-
ments, of which silicon was an important
factor, when made into the form of fill
= ment of about the size and shape of the
Edison carbonzed palm fiber in the lamps
with which the public is familiar. gave a
light that was much more efficient than
the Edison at a far less cost The fila
ment was made by introducing into a
chamber the several materials in the
form of vapors and depositing them upon
carbon flament a base. When the
new filament is thus made 1t Is removed
from the chamber where it has had its
birth and anchored in an ordinary glass
bulb.
The light of the new lamp also is ex-
actly that of diffused sunlight and has
none of the common characteristics of
the ordinary incandescent light. 1t shows
under the spectrum all the rays of the
sun, while the Edison is a distinct yell
low.
Using this fact as a basis, the discov-
erers named their new light "Helion,"
/ after the Greek helios, meaning sun.
The efficiency of the ordinary lncan-
descent lamp being about five watts per
candle power, a watt being 1-746th of an
electrical horse power, experimentation
| by Prof. Parker and Mr. Clark has en-
abled them greatly to Improve this and
they are now confident that they will soon
De able to make a 20-watt lamp give a
20 candle power light. At present the
na ha
lamp Is to produce a light where only
per cent of the power enters into illu-
mination, the remainder being lost in
/ heat.
In appearance the Helion lamp is SINH
lar to the incandescent lamps now In USE
except when burning, when instead of a
yellow glow, it gives out a white light
In series of demonstrations at Column
bia university recently at which the writ
er was present, Helion lamp was at
tached to the same wire that lighted an
Edison at sixteen candle power. Placed
side by side on the table, when the Edi-
son lamp was turned off the diminution
of light was not noticeable to the I'M
aided eye, but when the Helion was turn
ed off and the Edison left burning the
table could scarcely be seen. The test
showed power of eighty candles for the
Helion to sixteen for the Edison with a
voltage of about ninety.
Ordinarily the Helion will emit three
and one-half times as much light as the
Edison, of an improved efficiency by rea-
son of its spectrum color, as against the
yellow of the Edison.
The present rate of manufacture, there
being only two men In all the world who
can make the Helion filament, Prof Par
ker and Mr.. Clark, Is not greater than
dozen lamps daily company has been
organized, however, and preparations are
being made to begin the manufacture of
the filament at the starting point of a
thousand or two daily. AS improvements
may be discovered by the inventors this
output will be increased and the public
will have at its disposal the best electric
light, or, for that matter, the best light
of any kind that has ever been discov-
cred at a cost below old makesbifts.