Light from Noise

1895

The Remarkable Discovery That Is Claimed by an Expert Electrician.

Charles F. Kline, who is known as the penitentiary electrician, is recognized as an expert. Kline has developed a new and wonderful idea in electricity that is certain to attract attention. he says:

"If two dissimilar conductors of electricity, subject to slight atomic change under the influence of sound, are joined together after the manner of a pair of thermopile bars and the open ends are insulated by a suitable nonconductor of both sound and electricity, a current is generated when sounds are made in the vicinity of the exposed ends. If two or more such elements are connected together, we have an acoustic battery, and by increasing the number of elements it is possible to operate an ordinary. call bell by simply clapping the hands in front of the exposed ends of the battery. If a telephone receiver is placed in the circuit of this battery, articulate speech and other sounds are reproduced in the receiver without loss whatever of tone, pitch or quality, and we have at once a battery and a telephone transmitter combined.

By enlarging the surface of the exposed ends of the elements and by employing very loud sounds as an excitant a current might possibly be generated which would be of the required force and quantity to operate motors. Shops might be lighted to some extent by the noise of the machinery. A clock might be made self winding by the sound of its ticking, and then perpetual power would become as common as spring power. What the internal resistance of this battery would be when working under the influence of extraordinary loud sounds remains to be determined. But for most purposes the resistance would not amount to much, the materials from which the bars are made being made conductors.

"The noise made by walking on the floors or by shutting the doors might be made to charge small storage batteries, and electricity on tap would become as cheap as water. The materials from which the bars of this battery are made are not to be found in commerce." — Cleveland Plain Dealer.