Evening journal., 1912-06-11
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Lesson That John EriCS-
son Never Needed
By Holland.

There was one factor to which
John Erissson, to whose inventive
genius we owe the Monitor and the
modern revolution in naval architec-
ture, never gave any thought when he
was working out his Inventions said
the late Rear-Admiral George w. Mel
Vile to me as we sat chatting one
summer evening in 1895. "Ericsson's
inventions which, from the point OF
view of science, were absolutely sue
cessful, but which were, nevertheless
failures.
81 remember as a very young man
hearing a great deal said about an in
vention patented by a Swede named
Ericsson. recall that it was said that
this Swede was the same man who
had invented the screw propeller
which became available for ocean go
ing vessels
This invention was an engine, sta
tionary OF course which was to be
driven by the energy. of hot air Eric
sson worked patiently submitting to
all sorts of drurgery and hardships,
when he was perfecting the Ericsson,
or as it was sometimes called, the
caloric engine. The theory upon which
he worked was that II Watt was right
in presuming that the energy caused
by the conversion OF water into steam
vapor could be utilized in driving an
engine, theh it was equally true that
the energy caused by the conversion
Of cold air into hot air, which is ac-
companied by great expansion, could
also be utilized in driving an engine.
And at last he actually invented a
hot air engine which would drive the
piston rod in a cylinder just as effect
lively as steam vapOr does. Great
things were expected of the caloric
engine. But it proved to be a failure,
although Ericssons theory was de-
monstrated to be correct He had,
however. forgotten one thing.
Then. again, I remember passing
through St Johns park in New
York city ] think a year or two after
7 got back from Siberia (where Ad-
miral Melville went with the Inflated
Jeanette expedition) A friend point
ed out TO me an old-fashioned house
which he said was Ericsson's and he
furthermore told me that upon the
roof of that house Ericsson had built
small laboratory and workshop and
was at that time putting the finishing
touches upon an engine over which he
had worked for several years. HIS
theory was that he could capture the
energy that was in the suns rays and
then store them and so utilize them
for the production of energy. He
called It his solar engine, and he built
his workshop on tho roof Of the house
SC that he might have unobstructed ac-
cess to the suns rays
Il took a personal interest in this
invention and 7 was very glad when !
heard that Ericsson had at last con.
structed an apparatus which would
capture the rays and store the energy
that is in the suns rays and then feed
that energy out 10 an engine as II was
needed for power The Invention was a
perfect success from the point otsNieN
Of science. Ericsson accomplished ex.
actly what he set out 10 do And ye
il was a failure because Ericsson nae
given no head TO the lesson he hat
learned years before when he haC
perfected his caloric engine. h'
! learned then that his caloric engine
was a failure commercially, although
a success scientifically, because It cos
more to create hot air for power pur
poses than to develop steam. Ana !
was demonstrated TO him after he ha'
proved his solar engine TO he scien
iifc triumph that II was a commercla
failure because II cost too much q
operate it,
SCopyright. 1912, by f ]. Edwards
All rights reserved)