A REMARKABLE ENGINE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 341, 1 March 1911, Page 7

A REMARKABLE ENGINE.

NEWEST THING UNDER THE SUN The problem of utilising the sun's heat as a source of power is one that has allured and baffled many inventors. The efforts have generally been in the direction of collecting and concentrating the heat ol the sun by means of reflected mirrors. The results have proved toe heavy in first cost and in maintenance to be of any practical commercial use. Professor Frank Shuman, a Philadelphia chemist, has, however, just solved the problem of making a solar power plant, and he now proposes to turn the tropical zone into a vast generator for all the rest of the globe, thus making coal mining unnecessary, dispensing with tht labour of tending fires in plants o! all kinds everywhere, and depending solely upon the heat of the sun to generate power for all the uses needed by mankind. In the Shnman machine no attempt is made to concentrate the rays of heat. It acts on the principle ol the forcing frame of the gardener, absorbing the direct rays of the sun and minimising the loss from radiation. The apparatus consists of a shallow flat box, covered with twe | layers of window glass separated by | a space of about one inch. Coils of I piping painted black are laid in \ this box and through them water or ■ some other fluid runs. The light rays of the sun pass through the glass without interference and are converted into heat , which, owing to the jacketing of the ! double glass and air space, escapes j by radiation or induction very slowly, and generates a heat which con- | verts the water in the pipes into ! stc-;m. This steam is used in the j engine, which is of the ordinary I steam driven type, and the exhaust steam is condensed and returned tc the black painted pipes, forming an ; endless cycle. POWER FOR THE WHOLE WORLD. We have seen photos of the " hotbox," or generator, of an experimental riant. With a glass area of 1,0?0 square feet it generated on a warm sunny day a load of 3-J hors?-power. Ether was used in the boiler and a pressure of 'JO pounds was shown. With water tli3 highest pressure obtained was 15 pounds ; but it is expected that water will prove Satisfactory in tropical countries, and, of course, tiie place for it is the tropical or subtropical /one. Plants are already under way for Egypt, Arizona, and one oi a thousand horse-power for the islands of Hawaii. The idea is to put up great generating plants in the warmer cli- ' mute.--, and from these points supply not only the local power needs, hut also those of the rest of the world. "I expect," says the inventor, " to see the day when the world will look to the tropics for all of its power. In this broad stretch of land where the sun beats down with a tremendous heat force thousands ol these solar heat conservers can be laid down at little expense, and •' these can furnish power so cheaply ; that the mining of coal and the ] tending of tires will become unne- ■ cessary." I In the hot box everything is simple. There is nothing very complij cated about window glass, water I pipes, and water. The after-cost ini eludes nothing but lubricating oil. iAs for attendance, you need only I one man who knows how an engine I works. That simplicity is the thing ! which makes Professor rihuman ex- '■ pert such far-reaching results. He never had any doubt about the possibility of getting po*ver from the sun's rays The tiling was to get it. witi'i.'iit s;u ndhi'.r more than it wa.j worth.—"Popular Science Si'tings."