To the Editor of the Norra-Cuixa Dairy News."
Stn,—Referring to the paragraph which appeared in to-day's paper on the new storage battery that Mr. Edison is said to have invented, without questioning his great inventive genius for a moment, I Fenture to think that a great many of the things he is reported to have said have had their origin in the fertile brain of some gentlemen anxious to obtain copy. For instance, assuming that the heavy vehicle mentioned by you takes 8 electrical H.-P. per hour to drive it 1 an hour, it would be running for a 100 miles 6.66 hours; an electrical H.-P. being equal to 746 watts, we 746 x 8x 6.66 or 39,746 watts consumed per diem, Now the cheapest place that I am aware of where electricity is supplied in the United Kingdom is Glasgow, where the rate is 34d. per Board of Trade unit of 1,000 watts. The cost, therefore, of obtai the necessary amount of electricity from the charging station for the accumulators to run 100 miles would be 39.7 B.T.U., above, x 3hd., or 137.95 pence, say Is. 6d. against 2s. named by you as the amount the heavy vehicle could be run 100 miles a day for, and this is without taking into consideration the fact that hitherto there has been a loss of some 107, on the charge put into accumulators, and that which could subsequently be recovered from them.
No doubt power is supplied more cheaply from the large electrical stations situated close to the Niagara Falls, where they have no fuel bill to meet, but this 1 submit is quite an exceptional case, and nearly every one using electric motors would be bound to get his accumulators charged from some electrical supply station.
Electricity has been so dinned into the ears of the man in the street as being in its infancy, that the gen-ral pu''lic readily believe everything that appears in print about this fascinating science; but surely with the modern dynamo haviog a commereinl efficiency of 85°, and motors 90-92%, it is about time thatit was dressed in start frocks 22nd August.
Tam, ete, Porter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.