Liscard Vale, | near Liverpool, | 21st Sep. 1853.
Dear Sir,
It is now upwards of three years since I had the honour of exhibiting to you at the Baker St Bazaar2, my Automatic Magnetic System for regulating the Electric Light 3,- since which time, however, I have greatly simplified the apparatus of my Lamps, rendering Clock-work altogether unnecessary. I also employ a new form of Battery, in which Alloyed Lead is used, as the positive metal, in a dilute solution of Nitrous Acid. The products form a valuable pigment, & the value nearly covers the cost of materials. I feel sure you take sufficient interest in my success to be pleased when I state that after some months trial of the Light in Liverpool by the Dock Committee, in a Tower erected on purpose to test its value as a Beacon-light on the river Mersey it has been pronounced as quite successful: the light is steady, Constant & Continuous for many hours without the necessity of attention or manipulation: in short, it burns from Sunset to Sunrise, with the same Certainty as an oil lamp, & at a cost of six pence per hour per 1000 Candles - the Contract price.
The Dock Comm[itte]e are now arranging for its immediate application to their Sandon Graving Docks: & they wish each Dry Dock to be furnished with two lights, one at each end, so as to neutralize each others’ shadows, to enable repairs of Ships to be carried on after dark. I have taken the liberty of writing to you, to solicit the favour of your advice as to the mode I propose of reflecting the Light, so as to Confine it within prescribed limits & at the same time to diminish the glare without loss of luminosity. I shall be truly grateful for any hint or suggestion you may kindly offer on this point, & I shall of course consider any such communication as strictly confidential.
The enclosed sketch is what I think would answer the purpose very well, & the cost of such an arrangement (using white-wash’d wood, or wood painted white) would be trifling.
Hoping you will pardon the liberty I have taken, & with every sentiment of esteem & respect,
I beg to remain, | Dear Sir, | Your’s faithfully | W.E. Staite
To | Professor Faraday, | &c. &c. &c. | Royal Institution.
FAHIE, J.J. (1902): “Staite and Petrie’s Electric Light - 1846-1853”, Elec. Eng., 30: 297-301, 337-40, 374-6.
Please cite as “Faraday2732,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 2 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday2732