[Rarebooks] FS: Father Himalaya's Copy of Tin Mining- Solar Energy Manuel Antonio Gomes

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

TITLE: "Tin: Describing the Chief Methods of Mining, Dressing & Smelting
it Abroad. With Notes upon Arsenic, Bismuth and Wolfram"

By Arthur G. Charleton.
Published in London by E. & F.N. Spon in 1884.

DISCUSSION: A scholarly study of European methods of mining, dressing and
smelting tin, chiefly in Bohemia and Saxony. Charleton was a member of the
American Institute of Mining Engineers.

This copy bears the ownership signature of Manuel Antonio Gomes 'Himalaya'
[1868-1933(?)]. "Father Himalaya" is considered to be the father of solar
energy in Portugal, and a visionary pioneer in the field of renewable
energy. After taking Holy Orders in the Society of Jesus he studied
natural sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics and astronomy, and
traveled to France where he studied with the noted chemist Marcelin
Berthelot.

In 1899 he was granted a patent by the French government for a device to
produce heat by focusing the sun's rays; in 1900 he constructed a test
device in the Pyrenees and attained a temperature of 1100 degrees
centigrade. In 1902 an experiment in Lisbon attained 2000 degrees, and he
made a final, startling demonstration of the power of such a device at the
St. Louis Exposition in Missouri in 1904. There he constructed his
"Pireliofero", a 3-story high parabolic mirror mounted on a monstrous iron
framework which focused sunlight on an oven mounted at the top of the
structure. The oven reached a temperature of 3500 degrees, melting a test
chunk of basalt, and Father Himalaya won a Grand Prize for his efforts.

The Pireliofero at the St. Louis Exposition-
[this illustration is not from the 'Tin Mining' book]
<http://www.joslinhall.com/graphics/himalaia_pirelioforo.jpg>

He promoted other forms of renewable energy as well, including tidal
energy and hydroelectric power, wind power, and geothermal power. Alas,
there was plenty of cheap coal and oil available, and his work was
generally ignored and forgotten. Father Himalaya retired to become
chaplain at Viana Castle, a charity home, where he died at the age of 65.
His work has excited interest in Europe in recent years, and his ideas
have only lately attained a measure of the respect which eluded them in
his lifetime.

DESCRIPTION: Hardcover. 6"x9", 83 pages with 2 black & white plates and
several text illustrations, plus 17 folding plates of plans and
elevations.

CONDITION NOTES: Light wear, a little rubbing to the tips, etc., text a
bit browned, endpaper slightly spotted, but a very nice copy; ownership
inscription "Rev. M.A.G. Himalaya, Braga, Portugal, 1907" on the title
page.

PRICE: $200~

SOME PICTURES =>

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