Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-05-14
DISTINGUISHED CHEMIST
IS DUPEO BY EMPLOYEE.
DIR. Just Mistaken In Announcing
Discovery OF Wonderful
New Dry Battery.
ARE SURPRISED
Financiers Saw Many Possibilities in
Supposed Invention and HurricdIy
Formed Syndicate i'm Vienna To
Purchase and Develop II.

Especial Cable to The Times Dispatch.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY. May 10
DR. Alexander Just, the eminent Buda-
pest chemist and electrical scientist.
who recently announced tho discovery
OF new dry battery that would revo-
lutionizc electrical science. now sor-
rowfully confesses that he has been
dupcd by rcvcnGcful employee
Announcement Of the discovery OF
the new cell was made in April and
received widespread notice i'm the scien-
thc world. because Dr lust occupies
a commanding position among tho cleo.
trical scientists or Europe lie was
the inventor of the Wolfram lamp. and
one of the pioneers in other notable
electrical work. as we'll in chcmis-
try The announcement was that the
new cell was made Of iron and carbon
electrodes. whose clcctrolyte was COM
posed Of an organic substance which
renewed its viGor from tho oxygen OF
the air in short tme--a device that
would eliminate tho need of electrical
light and power stations and trans
miSsi"u lines. that arc now such "A
costly factor in electricity. With one
Of the new cells, il was announced
with plate area OF thirty square
inches, terminal pressure of twenty
five volts could lie obtained and "A
. sh"rt-crcuit current of five to six
amrhcrcs Small cells could. il was
said he made To furnish 100 volts. tho
amount necessary for ordinary honse
lighting. and slightly larger ones for
power purposes. In fact. the new cell
would mako electricity both for light
and power :" extremely simple and in
expensive that Dr. Just himself stated
that his discovery seemed to upset
electrical science entirely
F'inancicrs saw at once al! kinds OF
possibilities in tho invention. and u
syndicate was formed hurricdly in
Vienna I" purchase and develop it,
prominent Vienna trust lawyer pr
Felix Hitschmann. was sent Ia Buda-
pest to arrange terms with pr Just
hut instead he learned the startling
story Of the hoax.
1t appears that one IF pr Just's as
sistahts brought him FIRST a hcxcd-in
cell with iron and carbon electrodes
packed in coal dust. and demonstrated
that II brought a ll0-volt. 2Oo-candle
power, half-watt lamp to full bril-
liancy. Dr. Just WAS much impressed
with this. and had Two holes dug in his
garden. in his own presence and had
pia'Ch IN thcm TWO electrodes Of iron
aud carbon. respectively, packing both
round With coal dust. In this case.
also. strong current was produced
sufficient 10 light Il number of lamps.
Next. the experiments were carried
out before AN official commission of
experts. who. while showing great in
tcrest. were very skeptical. and uiti-
matcly they asked pr. Just to have
a hole dug near the electrodes. II was
ihcu, To the intense dismay If the
doctor, that II large humber IF dry hat.
terics OF the type used for pocket
lamps. connected together and To the
carbon and iron electrodes. were un-
carthed The boNed-iu cell then was
examined. and found to have a false
bottom. under which was a battery OF
cells of the same type.
Asked how - was that he had al.
lowed himself to be so deceived pr
Just replied that he had believed in
the cell, as he had experimental with
similar arrangements OF carbon and
iron electrodes in Il mass OF coal dust.
loosely piled up OIL q table. and ac-
tuaily had registered pressure up to
five volts.
trical discovery by u scientist of the
rank and world wide fame OF DR.. Just
Is almost unparalleled. The European
scientific world is amazed Ut the doc
tors suitability, and the Vienna finan-
cial syndicate is dissolved