Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-15
HITCH YOUR WAGON TO THE
SUN.
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
Especial Correspondence of The Argus).

Washington, D. c., Oct. 12.-Ths sun can be
harnessed and put to work!
Civilization can be made forever tndepend-
eat of coal mines, oil wells and the other
sources Of fuel, which are so rapidly being ex-
hausted, and which require so much human Ia
Dor to convert them into heat power.
Methods for hitching the sun to the ma
chinery OF civilization, for making 1t run our
factories and our street cars, light and heat
our homes, have been worked out in the rough
They have even, to a limited extent, been ap-
piled with practical success and patents have
been taken ont on them.
Nothing stands in the way Of this great and
necessary development save the immense In
ertia OF habit and the lack OF human faith in
human ability.
This is the substance Of an interview with
several scientists who have specialized on prob
lens OF heat and power. They are conserva-
tive scientists, occupying positions Of high re-
sponsibility.
"You cannot quote me-" said one Of them
because If you did some kind folks would call
me a second Jules Verne and some who are
not so kind would call me liar. MY repu-.
tation for conservatism would be seriously
injured
But you can say that It is possible to har-
ness the sun and be we'll within the truth. No
scientist who has studied the problem will
dispute the statement I will go a good deal
further. I willing to say that II a compe-
tent physicist specializing in heat and power,
were given million dollars first class lab
oratory and corps of competent assistants.
he could within a year perfect practical ap-
paratus for converting sun heat directly into
either steam or electricity.
But it's no use telling the public this.
The public won't believe it until it sees the
thing done. and maybe it won't believe it then.
The attitude of the average man toward
new. and therefore incredible, is illustrated by
a story Orville Wright told me For months
he flew back and forth between two trolley
lines in Dayton in his newly invented aero
plane without even getting notice in the local
the field. He saw Wright fly. and wrote
piece about it. which he turned in TO the city
editor. The editor read it over and tossed it
aside
1T may be true, he said But there's no
use in printing it. Nobody would believe it.
We would lose cur reputation for conserya-
tism'"
1T will very likely be the same with this
matter Of converting sun heat directly into
power. Patents apparatus for the purpose
already exist in Germany. The method prob
ably will be in use over there while we are
still wasting man power in this country, goug
ing the remnant OF cur coal supply out OF the
bowels of the earth.
We have an ever-increasing need for q new
source of power Coal and oil are becoming
scarcer and harder to get every year. Every
thing we wear and use, most of the things We
eat. are manufactured The increasing cost OF
the power that is used in manufacturing is
one of the many causes of our high living cost
As long as aboriously dig coal in the mid
to factories in New England. we are wasting
man power and we have got 10 pay for that
waste.
"Of course, our great water power remains
We are slowly getting around to
that. 1t will solve the problem for some sec
tons, but that is all. The direct application
Of sun heat will then follow. when We all at
last realize that our coal and oil supplies are
about gone.
How can the thing be done? Well. one
method is to convert the sun heat directly into
electricity. The method was applied by DR..
". W. Coblentz of the United States bureau
Of Standards not long ago. when he made an
apparatus for measuring the heat of stars. He
made tiny 'thermo-couple' by connecting two
fakes of metal of different kinds. When he
focused the star light on one Of these, raising
is temperature an electric current was gem
Grated between the two different metals. on
he same principle that any other electric bat
cry works. DIR. COblentz measured the heat
1f the north star, which, he estimated, would |
raise the temperature of a gram of water one
legree centigrade in a million years.
Now this same method could be used in |
the heat of the sun into electric |
current. Make a thousand of those little Their |!
nal batteries make a lens to concentrate the I
sun heat upon them. provide storage batteries |
or storing the heat that a supply would |
De held in reserve when the sun was not shin /
ng, and you have the essentials of the outfit. |
patent on such a 'thermo-electric generator |
vas taken out by the bureau OF standards.
The number of this patent is 1,077,219, and |
{ is under date OF Oct %, 1913.
The making of this electric generator is |
-eally simple. 1t would have an enormous /
number of very small parts, but that does not |
present a real dificulty. A certain watch fac |
DRY uses screws of which AZ. 900 may be put /
n a thimble. while each screw has 240 threads |
Yet these screws are turned out by machinery /
n enormous quantities at a low cost The |
my metal elements and f1laments for this |
electric generator would be made with equal |
Ease. And once the machine was made there
would be little depreciation or upkeep charge |
md very little man power necessary for its |
operation.