zectric Power From the Air HE utilisation of {ree electrical ‘energy in the atmosphere sur- Founding, our earth, has proven the magic goal towards ‘which inventors have striven for several generations; but until recently there has been practically no headway made toward reaching the desired result—the obtaining Of power {rom the air for economic uses, putting to work this free energy of the Stmosphere.” Tt is said that he has suc: ‘cessfully demonstrated that if we send up tmetal-surfaced balloons or other surfaces 4nd tap the atmospheric electrical energy, at elevations in excess of 1,000 feet, we aha be able 0 realize an average of 200 hhorse-power per square meter, which area Hqutvalent to 108 square feet. It is st weather, the potential gradient ‘often riges to as high as 300 volts per meter, This may seem” somewhat hary and in fact. almost impossible of beliet to the average person, and there are two Feasong why we do not notice this sar ling difference of potential for every meter increase as we are elevated. One ‘Of these is that the electrical energy is Operas suaraccoentspous conren, ais SABER BARONS Song ign VOUTAGE TaaneMIsSion UNE odvmisure Exener oven eora soe HRLED OF TENNrTORTS PAO PACTORESE, Eree Klectrieal Energy, From tn ‘Bose Up Wake Breten In the early days of electric lighting. 5 is) backe in the 20s and. 80's. there were 2 number. of scientife ‘experiments Tantied out which received a great deal fof publicity at the time, and whore recitals Seseribed “how in. the immediate fatsre wwe would ‘undosbtedly ‘abtain our lee trical energy for lighting and. power pir. poses, from the atmosphere. But, as 2forementioned, there has been practically nothing done in this direction until the present time, and there isa very. good Reason. why. bat little hasbeen done. by ilentife investigators and electricians i endeavoring to harness the Gi Toceenofnatre, an render sphere, for the everyday utilitarian mmenis of mankind, ‘This reason ties in the fact that the electrical power feularly when so-called storms hover above susare not to be trifled with Recently there have appeared in a Ger- man publication, some notes on the new discoveries and experiments of a German Sciemist residing at Hamburg,—one named Flauson.” Pauson hap stole the subject ‘of atmospheric electricity and its utiiea: ton for many years, and he has recently ‘come forward with’a clever scheme for Agmonmnere Han “Time in Trying een che Dream of Electr ae "Teemeadon Marka The Pr E even claimed that in his latest experi- ments, as great a quantity of electrical ‘energy as 400 to 500 horse-power has been realized per square meter. ‘The atmosphere or air above the earth's surface, in normal weather. is charged with electricity, thus constituting an_clec- Erowatie Feld) 'which is almost. aniform and in which the surfaces of equal paten- {ial are parallel to the earth, of in which the lines of force are vertical. "In the event of violent atmospheric disturbances Such as before or after, and of course, during the course of electric storms, the atmospheric potential fluctuates and changes in polarity very markedly, as care- ful seientife investigation and measure- ments carried out in various parts of the world, have demonstrated. . tmospheric "Under nocmal wether an conditions, the potential gr CSlied, of the atmosphere incresses_with Comparative regularity as_we tise above thersurface ofthe ground” The atmos: Dherie potential per foot or meter of ae {ide varies also, as may be well imagined, with the season of the year, and this Potentiah or voltage has been’ found. 10 Brerage 100 volts per meter (328 feet) in fhe summer montis, while during the cold 1280 PaRINe tt CONOUCTIVE TO mostly in the form of high voltage stat electricity, but of small quantity, similar to that given off {rom large static. ma- chives. Tf'you have ever stood under the Gischarge terminal of one of these ma- chines and felt the electric breeze which Sometimes causes the hair to stand Verti= ily from the head owing to the very hhigh voltage (but relatively’ stall ampe: age or current present), the emf.. of which ‘may easily have been several hundred thousand volts, you were given @ practical demonstration of how the atmosphere may bbe highly charged electrically and yet be ‘unnoticed by the usual organs of sens: Another reason why we know nothing of this increase in potential with elevation {is that the experimenters usually do not hhave the proper instruments with which to measure the atmospheric potential, and therefore often lose sight of the fact that in the winter for example, wemay ave Present an emf. of 100 volts per foot These high potentials, owing "to the ie measured by a very di tic voltmeter. Those. in- phase of atmospheric elec ‘descriptions of the ap- frit will find des er paratus used, as well as results and meas- (Continued om page 1343)Science and Invention for April, 1921 } Electric Power from the Air (Continued from poge 1280) ro ee cra et cpt gl ks me ey ecbeatranes arg ty gh mes seed eas geen eae Nears 2a Sesame Sais Mommas ere Set ae seer ati ar soci sca rabeeaLinl ater ali sue ane enysl welt, Haws errs pony Hy wet aes ces etal ore bela a ate tat Resp eel cat of tee tons big coe by mein of fe Sh, ee a Gace secre rte tft ca gomet mae a eee ahineraet tl osreb Soe Coa ot rb eel wk, 200 be nile Er pl et ie eles el tae Meh eaten gk meee Sg ate hme mae ve Zuo ee thee nyo SE feat coca ein hoe balen ae shag oul Fe ug nie tee sed le, Ue alee able wee rss Meee Ti So en, ieoneaocinel esto ie a rate de earth, Dr. Plauson points out that the balloons should be fitted with a multitude of sharp points in order to enhance their collecting Powers for the static electricity of the Rtmosphere, which, as is well known, always discharges toward or from a point more rapidly than with other form of discharger. “He even goes so far as to propose that we shall attempt the loniza- tion of the air in the neighborhood of each balloon by. suitably ‘coating or painting the surfaces of the balloons ‘with some radio-active salts—of radium, of polo- nium, or of other metals. Some interesting ideas in this direction were publisht several years ago. in this i here the process of producing Fain by, discharging huge quattities oi electrical energy from metal surfaced bal- Toons placed ina highly ionized atmos- phere, was described. “There the ionization ‘was created by powerful X-rays or by ultra-violet rays. Another very interesting question, but ‘which does not condemn the scheme neces- arily, is as to whether of not the elect eal energy. would be drawn off continu ously (under normal weather conditions for whether it would be discharged to the tral collecting. station peviodialy— to. the discharge of static elec- hich “most of us have probably: the receivers of radio telegraph stations; but in any event the main prob- em ‘which all atmospheric electricity vvestigators have been confronted with, i the danger of being annihilated or else of | 4 hhaving their plants destroyed when electric jorms are frequent asin the summer ‘months; when a lightning discharge is of | erordi tunusual severity, it may’ pass down the Dalloon feed wire or cable and destroy ) | creation of better 1343 If I Had But Two Dollars In The World I Would Pin Them to The Bottom of This Page! 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Chas St. Baim Md the machinery of the plant. hat go'with iy and many other vital eintee You | Rumimwcr's “Novice fin"'stere latent ‘as ped every day oo numereos to mention Ranier Wiihay Bah”Science and Invention for April, 1921 __ The diagram shown in the accompany- on of what we may expect in the [direction of atmospheric power planta, Needless to say, the first and. foremost mechanism we will have to design will be /a suitable and absolutely certain lightning Protector, and which ie indicated in the present iasram by the Gall epark ga. actcaly ail radio apparatus, at. least The Demand the commercial types, te ted with sa ; bie. micrometer” spark gape, 40 that for Good Wireless Operators fighing or esta heavy atic charges far Exceeds th the tee energy will be able to leap the gap and thus prevent burning out of the apparatas: ‘Ordinarily, the attnospherie electric car~ ents. will pass. down’ the balloon feed fable and thence thru the transformer primary winding. down to earth, at the Same time energizing or inducing electric Gurrents inthe secondary of the tran former, and from which the successive quotas of electrical energy may be stored ih suitable accumulators (of the condenser for other ype). The energy stored in the Sccumulators can then be drawn. off a3 sired and aiatbatd thra a eanaformer and transmission line, At the recel dof the fine poly in to. 20 mis way or more, the line current can be re arb sores fo «able po tential for operating motors lights, ete Tes wal to mention a wordt caution on this point with regard to experiment {ng with atmosphere static. Gectricey, Jand it may be said at the outect that this not a branch of science to be investi- gated by those untrained in such: matters, they may be clecirocuted,~particularly mn elecirfe storm happens to be in. the icin. ‘The writer has seen electric Sparks jump a gap of several inches accoss the blades of an aerial twitch in & radiow telegraph station, even ‘when an electric form was only approaching and not yet digectiy overheads = "To those ‘uninitiated in handling “ele= vated ‘aerial ‘conductors ‘suchas "radio antennae and balloon cables, et. 1 should ‘be noted that the only safe method and the one followed jn practically all cases sto ground such free elevated conductors i oe darn elect storms. 0 aaa Comree te red Free a it comes to pass that such plants AMERICA’S FASTEST GROWING WIRELESS INSTITUTE prove praca andthe hops of Dr. Pla fon and other investigators who are work Good ff |ine on this problem, are actually realized, joere Te ooke SBE ler corren, tun abazed from . atmoephere can be utilized directly in NEW TORK WIRELESS INSTITUTE, the preperation of mite acid and ozone apt 112, 268 Brondvay New York Cl From the ai, thus giving Gs a sure menps of refering the so = By suitably transforming thé carfeae’R | - can be further employed on a large scale nthe ‘realms of electro-chemisty and felectro-metallargy. ‘A French writer, Bd Matignon, has sated that by “means of the. electrical energy collected upon the eifice of aif sate Klometes (abo 2.6 square mies) wil resut in producing ae A five ae of cari within aso ‘This Aiaa farther points rif we ae OT pera Sree aoe an SS aree power - square kilometer, it will be possiblc to. Azvelop 100,000000 horse-power fron the total surface of France. ‘The German writer, who describes the invention of Dr’ Plauson, and whose ar tle appeared in Usber Land Und. eer, States Vest one of the engineers estimates Shows: that 720,000,000" horse-power pet fay can be procured {rom the atmosphere with an area equivalent to that covered by yar na ric gatecd Ott toe Eee Sister a coeaty the opettet Se ree Factor of the total production coet woe! Slane be: considerably. Tete than that. resulting aac from clectrie plante operating with coal oes pai