Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1914-06-19
WIZARD EDISON
PAINTS FUTURE
Calls His Work Small Compared
TO What VIII Come.
POSSIBILITIES BouNOLESs"

n Don't Know Much About Electricity;
Nobody Does" Hs says-Prsssnt
Ambitions csntsrsd Upon Generating
Vital Current Direct From coaI-eis
Results From Storage Battery.
Thomas A. Edison. who In 1875 sent
a current Of electricity through a vacu-
um and thus proved that light was a
form Of energy. stood under a myriad
Of the latest Improvements Of his first
commercial light and told experts Of
the electrical world In Philadelphia Of
the big things that are yet to be &C.
c0mplished by the harnessed lightning.
"Seventy.6ve per cent Of the electri-
cal problems are still to be worked
out" be said. FOR the next genera
ton Of Edisons there are millions Of
things. For this Edison should like
to be able to generate electricity from
coal without first changing 1t into
steam. But 1t will take too long to
perfect. and l am getting old
Electricity will come on all railroads
that is. where traffic is congested. I
remember when told Frank Thomp-
son thirty-two years ago. when he was
a vice president Of the Pennsylvania
railroad. that this would be true and he
laughed ut me-yes. laughed at me
and some Of the reports about my work
at that time by the railroad men who
are today using electricity were the
worst reports about anything that
have ever read.
Realizing Dream Of His Life.
II have been working upon my new
storage battery for over five years now
and believe it has reached the point
where the dream of my life to see ev.
erything in the cities electrified can be
realized. Four years ago l guaranteed
about a million dollars worth Of these
batteries to run for four years. Fully
100000 of these have stood that test.
and l am ready to increase the guar
antee."
Celebrating upon the process Of gen.
Grating electricity from coal. Mr.. Ed
son is quoted in the New York Times
as follows:
ut will require ten or fifteen years
more work. 1t has taken nearly hum
dred years to reach the point we have
now attained"
The new method, it was explained,
would ultimately eliminate boiler. en-
CINE and dynamo in the transforms.
ton Of thu. heat produced by the burn.
ing of coal into electrical power. By
the present process Of making electric
ity, in which these three middle proc
esses must be used, approximately 80
per cent Of the original power is lost
through the boiler. 70 per cent Of this
Is lost through the engine. and only 90
per cent Of the engine power is finally
converted into kilowatts. More than
four-fifths Of the original power is lost
through the intricate process, and
whereas one pound Of good coal should
produce four kilowatts for an hour. or
Eve and half horsepower, only three
fourths Of a kilowatt hour is derived
from It.
Electrically Propelled Ocean Liners.
When asked If 1t was possible to es
innate the percentage Of power which
would be saved Mr.. Edison said that
that could not be done at present
When the new process has been pre-
fected to the extent that more than 20
per cent Of the coal power can be made
use Of 1t will be equal to the present
process. and the equipment required
for generating electricity will be in
significant compared to the present
equipment
1.-THE possibilities are boundless." he
said. II can't anticipate them. don't
know much about electricity-nobody
dces We know only one millionth Of
all there is to be known about 1t"
A few of those who have made a
close study Of the subject say that
when the new process has been de-
veloped to sufficient degree It will be
possible to propel ocean liners by cleo
tricity. thereby saving the present
great waste Of power necessary where
boilers and engines are used and max
ing it possible for liners to travel with
a much smaller tonnage Of coal.
Speaking Of flying machines. Mr.. Ed.
ison said:
1.-The secret Of flying is the bee. The
body Of the bee weighs seven thousand
times as much as the wings which
propel 1t. When we can do this then
we will be doing something. The Sc
cret Of the air Is that 1t Is as rigid as