Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1922-05-17
WIRELESS LIGHT
is NEW WONDER
Only in Experimental Stage, but
Scientists Have Faith in Its
Possibilities.
SOFT ORANGE COLORED GLOW
Research Work at Massachusetts, In
stitute of Technology Has Sue
ceede4-in Producing Light
Without Wires.

Bost0n.-A ring Of soft orange
light, with no wires leading To it and
glowing in the darkness, sets up an
interesting train Of speculation as 10
the Illumination Of the future Nobody
supposes for al instant that our light
ing problems have been solved Com
pared with what the future will bring
forth the present Arrangement of
wires with bulbs that have to be
screwed into their sockets and renewed
frequently is cumbersome and inef
ticient. Research work at the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology has
succeeded in producing a light with
out wires; that is to say, the mean
descence Is set up by induction, where
the electric current bridges an inter
val purely by electric energy. To be
sure the light is only an experiment
and so far IS not practical for COM
mercial purposes but the method has
possibilities.
The Test.
The research division Of the depart
ment of electrical engineering expert
ments with a tube filled with neon gas
have been carried to the point where
the tube has been caused to give out
light, although no wires have been at
tached to it. In the ordinary form of
electric illumination the light Is usual
ly produced by an incandescent form
of tilament or by carbon electrodes,
The life of both of these types Is linn
tied by the burning out of the in
candescent element. OF course, in the
case Of the arc lamp this can be cas-
lily renewed, but at the cost of fire.
quent trimming. The type of mean
descent bulb in common use has been
improved through the substitution Of
tungsten for the carbon filament. Sew
eral types Of lamp using incandescent
yapor have been developed and have
been used both eXperimentally and
commercially. The Moore light used
dioxide or nitrogen, which were caused
to glow through the discharge of a high
voltage electric current through the
glass. This type was not much used
commercially, but similar lamp
Known as the Cooper-Hewitt mercury
vapor lamp is at present in general
use in a great variety of places
among them the motion-picture stu
dos. Both of these types require cleo
trodes, or terminals, sealed in the
oil Int n hn
cause there are no parts which wear
out or burn out.
The instrument
The experiments conducted at the
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
used a glass tube closed upon itself
in the form of ring. This ring was
slipped over an iron core wound with
the proper number of turns of wire
through which alternating current was
caused to flow. The magnetism, pass
ing through the glass tube, then in
duced a voltage in the gas contained
therein. and If the parts were properly
proportional this voltage ionized the
vapor and caused It to glow, giving
out light In a similar manner TO the
Moore and the COoper-Hewitt lamps
but of pleasing orange color. Neon
gas at low pressure was used, since
It has desirable characteristics for this
purpose. and a h-frequency current
of about 100000 cycles was employed
to excite the transformer
The new lamp is only in the ex-
perimental stage at present and the
amount of light given out is not large,
but the possibilities are interesting 1t
could be commercially made in the
form Of a standard fixture around
which the glass tubes could be slipped
The lamp will last indefinitely unless
the glass Is broken, and then 1t is
only necessary to slip new tube In
place, no electrical connections being
required. The quality Of the light is
soft and pleasing and as it is not of
a high intensity it does not strain the
ewes.