Miscellaneous. 



68 



[January, 1912. 



and care of operation in the manufac- 

 ture. 



This carbon work naturally led to 

 other applications of the identical pro- 

 cesses or materials. Circuit breakers, 

 for example, are now equipped with a 

 specially hard carbon contact, made 

 somewhat as motor brushes are made. 

 It is not my intention to connect all 

 of the laboratory work to the thread 

 which seemed to connect these particular- 

 pieces of work, but rather to show the 

 possible effect in accumulating in a 

 laboratory experiences which might 

 effect an inventory. 



Among other considerations which 

 appeal to me is one which may be worth 

 pointing out. Probably almost every 

 manufacturing plant develops among 

 its workmen from time to time, men 

 wha are particularly endowed with 

 aptitude for research in their line. 

 They are usually the inventors of the 

 company. They are often discoverers 

 in spite of opposition. They are always 

 trying new things. They are almost of 

 necessity somewhat inefficient in the 

 routine production. In many plants 

 they are merely endured ; in a few they 

 are encouraged. To my mind, their pro- 

 per utilization is a safe investment. A 

 research laboratory assists in such a 

 scheme. Sooner or later such a labor- 

 atory becomes acquainted with this 

 type of men in a plant and helps them 

 in the development of their ideas. 



It is not a perfectly simple matter to 

 measure the value of a research labor- 

 atory at any one time. In the minds 

 of some, the proper estimate is based on 

 the profit already earned through its 

 work, which otherwise would not have 

 been earned by the company. This is 

 a fair and conservative method which in 

 our generation ought to be satisfactory 

 when applied not too early to the 

 laboratories. It does not take into 

 account what we may call the good will 

 and inventory value, both of which 

 should be more rapidly augmenting 

 than any other part of a plant. The 

 experience and knowledge accumulated 

 in a general research laboratory is a 

 positive quantity. In our own case we 

 expended in the first year not far from 

 $10,000, and had little more than expect- 

 ations to show for it. Our expenses 

 rapidly rose and our tangible assets 

 began to accrue. Perhaps I can point 

 to no better criterion than the fact that 

 its force was rapidly increased by a 

 company which cannot be particularly 

 interested in purely academic work. Our 

 annual expenditures passed the 11,000,000 

 mark several years ago. My own estimate 

 pf'the value would probably be greater 



than that of others, for I am firmly con- 

 vinced that proper scientific research is 

 practically required by the existing con- 

 ditions of our technicalage. Without 

 going into exact values, which are al- 

 ways difficult to determine, consider for 

 a moment the changes which incandes- 

 cent lighting has witnessed in the past 

 ten years. In this field our laboratory 

 has been active in contributing to both 

 carbon and to metallic filaments. More- 

 over, all of the improvements in this 

 field have been the product of research 

 laboratories of trained men. In the 

 case of our metalized carbon filament, 

 which has now been in use several years, 

 the efficiency of the light was increased 

 by about 20 per cent. Among the 

 carbon lamps of last year these were 

 sold to the extent of over a million dollars. 



A broader, but admittedly less accur- 

 ate impression of changes recently pro- 

 duced may be gained by considering 

 the economy now possible on the basis of 

 our present incandesceut lamp purchases 

 in this country, and that which would 

 have resulted if the lamps of only ten 

 years ago were used in their stead. On 

 the assumption that the present rate of 

 lamp consumption is equivalent to about 

 eighty million 25-watt tungsten lamps 

 per year, and on the basis of one and a 

 quarter watts per candle power, as 

 against 3*1 of the earlier lamps, and 

 charging power at 10 cents per kilo- 

 watt hour, we get as a result a saving of 

 $240,000,000 per year, or two-third million 

 per day. Naturally, this is a saving 

 which is to be distributed among pro- 

 ducers, consumers and others, but illus- 

 trates very well the possibilites. It is 

 interesting to note that we are still very 

 far removed from perfect incandescent 

 illuminant, when considered from the 

 point of view of maximum theoretical 

 light efficiency. I see from advertise- 

 ments that 65,000 of the Magnetite arc 

 lamps, originally a product of the labor- 

 atory, are now in use. These must have 

 been sold for something near $2,000,000. 

 The supply of electrodes which we make 

 and which are consumed in these lamps 

 should amount to about $60,000 per year. 



Our study of the properties of the 

 mercury arc produced our rectifier, 

 which has been commercially developed 

 within the past few years. Of these, 

 about 6,000 have been sold. As they 

 sell not far from $200 per set, it is safe to 

 say that this also represents a sale of 

 over a million dollars. The advantage 

 of these outfits over other available 

 apparatus must also be recognized as 

 not far from $200 for each hour through 

 which those already sold are all operat- 

 ing. 



