The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1914-09-04
GREAT POWER
FROM sun
Experiments of Engineers
Now in Progress.
Twenty Thousand Square Miles
Would Supply World
With Heat.


various plans to procure power and
fortune from the rays of the sun
have led most Americans to view
such schemes with suspicion. engi-
neers of other countries are giving
serious consideration to at least one
method of making the sun run dyna-
mos, says the New York Times.
For several years number of Eng
fish engineers have been experiment
ing with a sun power plant at Cairo,
Egypt, and. according to Frank Shu-
man, of the Manchester Association
of Engineers, highly gratifying re-
suits are obtained.
unless sun power can be utilized
profitably," says MIR. Shuman in a
paper on the subject prepared for
the Engineering Magazine. there
is,of course. no incentive TO spend
work and money upon it. 1t is a
question altogether of the cost of con-
struction. upkeep and labor. If a
structed that an ordinary engineer
can run IL. and that it's wear and
tear will be reasonable, and further,
that excessive labor will not be re-
quired to handle 1t, then there is al
30 nothing in it,"
For the next twenty years or
So" he says, I'VE will all of us have
plenty of room for our sun power
plants reasonably near the equator.
! am told that all of the coal mined
and oil produced thruout the entire
world during the year 1909 would
be represented by 100000. 900 horse
power operating for twenty-four
hours per day thruout the year"
For sun power to produce an
amount of energy equivalent to the
above, he says, present experiments
prove that the planting OF heat alb
sorbers" over an area of 20,449
square miles Of surface near the
equator would be sufficient. and
this comparatively small amount of
land, about half the size of the State
OF Kentucky. could supply the earth
with cheap power.
At Cairo five OF the absorbers
have been built. Each is 204 feet
long and IS feet 4 inches wide at
the top, the widest part of the alb
sorber. Five large mirrors compose
the sides of the absorber and con-
centrate the rays OF the sun on
long, slender boiler in which there
is water. The devices resemble
large troughs, being parabolic in
shape, and their axes point north
and south. as does that of the earth
and they swing on their axes as the
sun rises and falls. so as TO be con-
tinually facing II as fully as posi-
BILE. The mirrors are set in light
steel framework, and are made to
swing automatically to follow the
course of the sun by an instrument
known as a thermostat, which is To-
Gated under the narrow boiler, and
which controls small friction
clutch. When the mirrors are in
the right position the thermostat is
just in the shade. When the sun
alters its position the rays strike
the thermsotat and cause II to re-
lease the friction clutch and shift
the position of the mirrors enough
to catch the rays directly.
The plant generates steam at low
pressure, which, according to Mr..
Shuman, gives greater return in
power than high pressure steam. II
would be possible, he says, to gen.
crate steam up to 500 pounds pres
sure to the square inch. which would
also cause considerable waste. The
engine used in Cairo is special
low pressure engine designed to util-
ize low pressure steam to the high
est advantage.
Comparing the cost of power ere
ated by the sun power plant and
boiler, Mr.. Shuman says: "The
steam producing part of the plant
will cost, erected in the tropics. ac-
cording to a careful estimate, when
constructed under proper manufac-
turing conditions by special ma
chinery. the sum of $500, being
at the rate of $155 per brake horse
power. The boiler. stack and build
ings OF a coai-burning plant to gen
crate the same amount Of power for |
ten hours per day turnout the year
would cost $3.50"
In 1911 an effort was made to
sell stock in New York City. in a So
called Arizona sun-power plant. but
the post office inspectors interviewed
and the president of the company
and one of the promoters were ar
rested after allegations were made