El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-05-02
Nv 7 ASHINGTON. D. c., May .,
W. The national bureau Of !

and scientifically considering its ways
In doing so it has found hat the hum
Bile lightning bug is so far superior in
| luminous efficiency to the average
| electric light that an electric light bill
! amounting to S24O under present con-
I dItlohs would cost only one dollar If
| the lightning bug could be used as the
| source Of our light The average cleo
| trio light of the ordinary fncandescent
! type gives off only fOur-tenths Of one
percent as much light as the FREELY, in
] proportion TO the amount of energy
| used in creating the light
| a prominent scientist has calculated
| that if the biologists OF America were
! given a laberal appropriation for the
| purpose they might so develop some
| species of tiny phOspOreScent sea ami
malculae that they would become the
worlds lighting agents. Lamps then
would consist of fish globes transform
| ed into aquariums containing billions of
/ these little light giyers. While lighting
| experts do not take great deal of
sick in such idea, the bureau of
standards does feel that much progress
/ the art Of light giving as displayed in
the FREELY
Improvements Needed.
With the glow worm and the FREELY
240 times as efficient as the avera ge
electric light. one can see that there is
much room for progress in the field OF
artificial illumination, in which such
wenderful progress already has been
made. 1t is said that the third most
Important ACTIVITY of the human race
is the production of artificial light
Millions of the earth's population never
use anything brighter than a pine knot
Other millions are still usin gthe little
vegetable oil lamps that were used by
the 10 virgins in the Saviour's parable
Perhaps a FOURTH of the worlds popula-
tiOn still uses Candles while 70 untold (
millions of people petroleum forms the (
principle source Of artificial light Yet /
in the United States alone there are :
approximately 100000 electric light /
globes of one kind or another burning /
every day and it requires at least $780,, /
100000 lamps a year to replace them.
The great problem of the present is I
to get a filament which Will last longer :
and give brighter light Every electric I
light laboratory in the country is seek /
ing TO solve this problem Recently !
system of drawing tungsten as other /
wires are drawn has been invented
Heretofore the tungsten filament had .
to be made up instead of drawn But
even this does not serve the purpose of 4
the small incandescent lights
ZOO Bulbs Per Day.
The process of making the ordinary
electric light bulbs is very interesting
One establishment turns out 1000 of
them every day, and each bulb must be I
handled at least 81 times in the process !
of manufacture. Not more than half
Of the glass made at any factory is fit
for use in electric light bulbs, so that
one may never find a glass factory and
electric lamp factory combined In the
process of lamp making, the glass is
first blown into a divided iron mold,
after the bubble has been whirled for
sufficient time. It is then taken out OF
the mold and 8 little tube attached TO
the large end of the bulb
The mounted filanent. which will be
described later, is then forced up into
the bulb. The flange on the neck of
the mouth is next brought even with
the edge of the neck of the bulb and
two glass surfaces are carefully fused
together. The bulb, after being care
fully examined for these, or other, I'M
perfections. Is exhausted Of its air
through the tube at the large end. The
lamp is attached to the air pump and
after the necessary high vacuum is OBJ
tanned is separated from the pump by
directing the flame of a blow pipe
against the end of the tube next to the
bulb, which makes the familiar httle
point on the large end Of the ordinary
completed lamp.
Making the Vacuum.
The method OF producing the vacuum
is also full OF interest. 1t is accom-
curry pump. This consists of sort OF
hour glass with a very long column be
tween the two large parts From this
column extends tube TO which the
electric light bulb is attached The
passing of the mercury through this
column gradually exhausts all Of tne
air from the bulb. In order TO- obtain
q higher vacuum than is possible by
the aid of mercury, a process of the
chemical exhaustion is afterwards en-
pIoyed Some substance is introduced
into the tube which has the power of
absorbing nearly all Of the remaining
gas in the bulb
The ffIament of the ordinary electric
amp is made from a preparation of
absorbent cotton When this cotton is
placed in a solution of zinc-ChlOride it
is dissolved into a sticky jelly like
mass. BY forcing this material through
small hole in a plate and leading the
thread which comes out into a vessel
filled with alcohol it soon sets, or
nardens sufficiently TO withstand hand
ing. This thread is next carefully
washed, wound on a large drum and
iried. when it strongly resembles cat
gut. The dried thread is then cut into
suitable lengths and carbonized In
-acuum, thus producing the carbon
'ilament. Il is inevitable in the max
ng OF these filamentS that there should !
De some imperfections and Irregular
ties in them To overcome this system
has been devised whereby the carbon
aay be made Of uniform thickness af-
er being placed in the bulb.
All Bulbs Tested.
After the lamp is completed it is test
ii by the operators standing near an
induction coil The current passing
through ne body causes a faint glow
n the fNament To test the voltage re-
Iuires the services of two girls One
connects the bulbs with a charged wire
md the light from II shines upon
screen through a small hole If exactly
bright enough a star shaped spot on
he screen can be plainly seen II this
s not seen the bulb is rejected I
Dozens of new kinds of lamps have
,een brought out, of which probably
he tungsten is the best. One firm
goes so far as TO assert that 1t has a :
light better than daylight. It points
'ut that the gas mantle and the mean '
descent begin to wane in brilliancy af-
er q comparatively few hours of serv-
&c. The arc lamp, it asserts begins to
in oft fpi