Electric Lighting.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3084, 6 January 1879, Page 2

Electric Lighting.

EDISON'S ELECTRIC LIGHT.

The New York Herald of the 12th of October has the following on this subject:—

"The alarm among the English gas companies and the panic in their stocks on account of Edison's last invention iv ejectnc lights, as narrated in yesterday's Herald cable despatches, are nos f ithout good cause. America's great inventor has in truth solved the problem thick for years had puzzled the ablest electricians of the age. He has successfully 4ivid*d the electric light, and hts made it for illuminating purposes as far superior to gas as gas is to the tallow candle of the" past. His marvellous invention gives a mild, soft, yet brilliant light, pleasing to the eye, clear, steady, and without blemish, and at a cost less than one-third of that required for gas. Those who have seen the invention pronounce it wonderful. Already a company has been formed, composed of a number of wealthy espitalists, and Mr Edison's lawyers are engaged in completing the final arrangements for the legal transfer. Before long, therefore, the work of idtro. Suction will begin. The pAteot« for the United States have just been granted, while those for the various countries of Europe have not yet , been obtained. Today the Professor's solicitor! send by steamer the necessary documents to their London agents forprocunag'the British letter^ patent.,, The French and.other with the Engjr4- orieV m*n word is cabled Mr Edison that .the ~pa,ten£s have been granted h«rwill throw his 1 Invention open to the public gaze; buj until then he declines to make known its details, his recent controversy with Professor Hughes over the alleged stealing iof the mum* phone having made him cautious. When the other great inventions of Mr Edison were in progress, the laboratory was free to all vuitors. The telephone was seen by hundreds long before letters" patent were granted. The same was the case with the phonograph, the tasimeter, the megaphone, the quadruplet, and many other of his inventions. Hie case of the electric light is far different. Its place in the laboratory is one sacred to a fefored fe,w. Jf the host of visitors who daily swarm thy laboratory of the great inventor setrit, they see it only in a detached form, j The essence of the discovery is, misting. Mi ; Edison himself speaks-but little of fni subject, but he is almost^ constantly at work on it. Early morning sees Main the laboratory, and it is after midaight when he leaves. On Thursday last a 9 worked continuously from sunns? until sunrise on the following day, and ceaedi then only after the,earnest importuuitief ,of his assistants. All his energies seem wrapped up in the new invention. His megaphone' and phonograph lie idle, atff for the work done on them by. some of his numerous assistants. * A Herald re^ porter learned yesterday the.system proposed to be adopted after the patents *M all granted. First, the Professor will ligtit up all the houses in Menlo Park gratis, and from his laboratory watch the lights' progress from night to night. When all is in readiness for general introduction, oen* tral stations will probably, be.established . throughout New York city, each station controlling a territory of, perhaps, a radius of half a mile. Wires will then be run in iron pipes underground, after the manner of gas pipes, connectingdwellings, stores, theatres, and other places to be lighted. The gas fixtures at present used, instead of being removed, will be utilised to encase the wire. In the place of the burner will be the invention, and meters will be used to register the quantity of electricity consumed. The form is not yet determined upon. The light is to be of the batwing, 15-candle power character, To kindle it a little spring is touched, and instantly the electricity does its work. The amount of light can be regulated in the same way as can that from gas. To turn off the light the spring is again touched, and instantly all is darkness. No matches being used, and there being no flame, all the dangers incidental to the use of gas are obviated." The light gives out no heat. It is simply a pure white light, made dim or brilliant at the fancy of the person using it. The writer last night saw the invention n ' operation in Mr Edison's laboratory. The inventor was deep in experimental researches. What he called the apparatus consisted of a small metal stand placed on the table. Surrounding the light wai a small glass globe. Near by was a gas jet burning low. The Professor looked • up from his work to greet the reporter,' and reply to a request to view the invention, waved his hand towards the light, with the exclamation, ' There she it.' The illumination is such as would come from a brilliant gas jet: surrounded with ground glass, only that the light was clearer and more brilliant. ' Now I will extinguish it and light the gas, and you can see the difference/ said Mr Edison, and he touched the spring. Instantly ail was darkness. Then he turned on the gas. The difference was quite perceptible, ihe light from the gas appeared JncVinparison tinted with yellow. In a oaoment, however, the eye had become accustomed to it, and-the yellowish tint disappeared. The Prolessor turned on the electric light; giving the writer the opportunity of seeing both Bide by side. The electric light seemed much softer; a continuous view of it for three minutes did not pain the eye; whereas looking at the gas caused some little pain and confusion of sight. One of the noticeable features of the light, when fully turned on, was that all colours could be distinguished as readily as by sunlight. ' When do you expect to have the invention completed, Mr Edison P' asked the reporter. ' The substance of it is all right now,' he answered, putting the apparatus away and turning on the gas. 'But there are the usual details that must be attended to before it goes to the people. For instance, we have got to devise some arrangement for regis- . ' tering a sort of meter, and again there are several different forms that we are experimenting on now in order to select the best.' Are the lights to be all of the same degree of brilliancy P' asked the reporter. 'All the same/ 'Have you run across any serious difficulties in it as yet P' • Well no,' replied the inventor, ' and that's what worries me, for in the telephone I found about a thousand obstacles, and so in the quadruples. I worked on both over two years before I < overcame them.' Mr Batchelor, the professor's assistant, who here joined in the conversation, said, * Many a time Mr Edison sat down almost on the point of giving up the telephone as a lost job, but at the last moment he would see light.' 'Ofall things that we have discovered,

this is about tbe simplest,' continued Mr Edison,' and the public will say so when it is explained. We have got it pretty weD advanced now, but there are some few improvements I have in my mind. You see, it has got to be so fixed that it cannot get out of order. ' Suppose where one light only ia employed it got out of order once a year ; whvre two were used it would get out of order twice a year, and where a thousand were used you can see there would be much trouble in looking after them. Therefore, when the light leaves the laboratory, I want it to be in such a shape that it cannot get out of order at all, except of course by some accident.' Leaving Mr JEdison to continue bis work, the reporter accepted the invitation of Mr Griffin, his private secretary, tp view the generating machine. ' Mr Edison has just puchased a new one,' he said, • which gives much power, and ia a few days we shall have a 50-horse power engine to work it, as we do not get power enough with the present one. As regards the generators,' continued Mr Griffin,' Mr Edison has as yet given but little attention to them. The cost can by an improved generator be reduced to a much smaller figure.'" None of the other New York papers -Jhtve any leaders or comments on the discoveries, or on the gas scare in London, although telegrams from London respect* ing the latter event appear in their columns."