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Lot 144
SOLAR ENERGY.
4 June 2014, 13:00 EDT
New YorkUS$15,000 - US$25,000
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SOLAR ENERGY.
Prototype solar panel, 32¾ x 25¾ inches, made up of 48–3½ x 3½ inch squares, each square covered with 9–¾ inch in diameter silicon cells, each one-fiftieth of an inch thick. Metal, glass and silicon, on metal base. Panel with "Serial #2. ES 530378" stamped to back, base stamped "ES530383," base wheel stamped "ES530388." Each side fitted with a small modified metal quadrant to determine latitude.
Provenance: Audrey Alberton Chapin Svensson, daughter of the panel's inventor Daryl Chapin.
On April 25 1954, Bell Laboratories unveiled a solar cell that converted light into energy using a silicon semiconductor. The result of the work of three scientists at Bell Laboratories, Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson, the solar cell was developed in response to Bell's need for sources of freestanding power for their telephone system. Chapin undertook working on the problem in 1952, and began looking into solar power. Along with Fuller and Pearson, they began experimenting with selenium, but soon turned to silicon, which proved to be successful, and they were awarded a patent on March 5, 1954 for their "Solar Energy Converting Apparatus". After the first cell was tested on April 25th, 1954, Bell had two solar panels manufactured by National Fabricated Products of Chicago for the Bell Corp. Each panel contained 432 individual silicon cells, each capable of generating about half a volt of energy when exposed to sunlight. A square yard of the cells, which is close to the size of the present panel, could run an electric fan, or light a 100-watt lamp. The panels were sent to a Bell facility for testing, and at the conclusion, one panel was scrapped, and the other sent to Chapin to carry on testing as he saw fit. From the Time Magazine article of 1954 written about them: "President Maurice E. Paradise, of National Fabricated Products, is sure that the solar batteries can be made much more cheaply. He hopes that eventually the magic silicon can be sprayed on a surface as a crystalline metallic varnish. Then really big batteries will be cheap. They are rugged and last practically forever. A house roofed with sun-absorbing silicon could generate all the current it needs whenever the sun is shining."
Provenance: Audrey Alberton Chapin Svensson, daughter of the panel's inventor Daryl Chapin.
On April 25 1954, Bell Laboratories unveiled a solar cell that converted light into energy using a silicon semiconductor. The result of the work of three scientists at Bell Laboratories, Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson, the solar cell was developed in response to Bell's need for sources of freestanding power for their telephone system. Chapin undertook working on the problem in 1952, and began looking into solar power. Along with Fuller and Pearson, they began experimenting with selenium, but soon turned to silicon, which proved to be successful, and they were awarded a patent on March 5, 1954 for their "Solar Energy Converting Apparatus". After the first cell was tested on April 25th, 1954, Bell had two solar panels manufactured by National Fabricated Products of Chicago for the Bell Corp. Each panel contained 432 individual silicon cells, each capable of generating about half a volt of energy when exposed to sunlight. A square yard of the cells, which is close to the size of the present panel, could run an electric fan, or light a 100-watt lamp. The panels were sent to a Bell facility for testing, and at the conclusion, one panel was scrapped, and the other sent to Chapin to carry on testing as he saw fit. From the Time Magazine article of 1954 written about them: "President Maurice E. Paradise, of National Fabricated Products, is sure that the solar batteries can be made much more cheaply. He hopes that eventually the magic silicon can be sprayed on a surface as a crystalline metallic varnish. Then really big batteries will be cheap. They are rugged and last practically forever. A house roofed with sun-absorbing silicon could generate all the current it needs whenever the sun is shining."