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92  E234b 

Bryan 

Edison^the  man  and  his  work 


™  48  00513  1446 

DATE  DUE 


EDISON 
Frowi  a  bronze  bas-relief  by  Julio  Kilenyi  (1924) 


G  E  O  R  G  E ,  5v  >B  EY  A  N 


EDISON 


The  Man  and  His  Work 


GARDEN     CITY,    NEW    YORK 
GARDEN  CITY  PUBLISHING  COMPANY,  INC. 


MANUFACTURED*  IN"  THE  UNITED   STATES  Of  AMERICA 


PREFACE 

The  ending  of  the  Civil  War  released  American  ener- 
gies for  activities  of  peace.  Then  followed  the  era  during 
which  industries  in  the  United  States  were  transformed 
and  public  utilities  were  organized  and  developed.  It 
was  a  time  when  mingled  with  so  much  that  was  conveni- 
ent, serviceable,  and  beneficial  went  ruthless  financial 
piracy  and  the  sorriest  alliances  between  politics  and  %ig 
business.59  In  those  crowded  decades,  pure  science — the 
disinterested  search  after  truth  for  its  own  sake — was  even 
less  emphasized  than  now  in  our  "practical"  land.  On 
the  other  hand,  an  essential  part  was  naturally  played  by 
workers  in  applied  science.  Their  inventions  made  pos- 
sible the  growth  of  forces  destined  to  have  vast  effect  upon 
the  country's  political,  economic,  and  social  life. 

Among  such  men,  Edison,  by  his  directed  good  sense, 
patient  resourcefulness,  repeated  conquest  of  obstacles, 
and  varied  achievements,  won  in  the  general  mind  a  place 
of  especial  distinction — a  place  that  he  continued  to  hold 
after  he  had  left  Menlo  Park  and  entered  upon  a  new, 
phase  of  his  career.  Interest  was  unfailing,  too,  in  the 
human  side  of  the  man — his  beginnings,  his  early  strug- 
gles, his  capacity  for  toil,  his  working  methods,  his  dis- 
tinctive personality,  his  simple  ways,  his  blunt  opinions 
— even  his  prejudices. 

In  the  course  of  a  half-century,  a  great  quantity  of 
material  relating  to  Edison  has  been  printed ;  but  a  goodly 
part  of  it  is  more  or  less  inaccessible  to  the  ordinary 


PREFACE 

reader,  and  a  surprisingly  large  amount  of  it  is  super- 
ficial, inaccurate,  misleading.  Dyer  and  Martin's  valu- 
able "Life59  is  a  two-volume  work  and  was  issued  so  far 
back  as  1910.  The  fact  is  that  to-day  many  persons, 
though  they  accept  Edison  as  among  eminent  Americans, 
have  but  vague  and  erroneous  ideas  regarding  either  the 
man  or  his  actual  achievement.  To  a  certain  extent* 
therefore,  this  present  book  is  its  own  excuse  for  being. 
It  brings  the  story  of  Edison  down  to  date  and  within 
moderate  compass ;  and  it  endeavors  to  present  afresh  the 
main  features  of  that  story  in  clear,  readable  narrative. 
It  recognizes,  and  would  do  full  justice  to,  the  human 
interest  inherent  in  its  subject;  but  at  the  same  time  It 
assumes  that  Edison  cannot  properly  be  separated  from 
his  work.  Hence  it  seeks  to  explain  that  work — not 
elaborately  nor  learnedly  but  accurately,  with  sufficient 
fulness,  and  in  non-technical  language.  It  further  aims 
to  avoid  the  irresponsible  mythology  and  the  rather  in- 
discriminate panegyric  that  have  at  times  done  disservice 
to  Edison's  right  fame. 

It  is  at  least  based  on  independent  research  that  in- 
cluded not  only  a  survey  of  the  available  literature  but 
also  the  privilege  of  special  sources — personal  inquiry 
having  met  with  friendly  aid.  The  Dyer  and  Martin 
"Life"  has,  of  course,  been  frequently  consulted,  especially 
for  Edison's  own  words;  and  due  credit  has  been  given 
passim.  Among  those  to  whom  the  author  would  ac- 
knowledge particular  indebtedness  are:  the  late  George 
Kennan,  well-known  author  and  publicist;  Maj,  William 
J.  Hammer,  one  of  Edison's  trusted  associates  in  the 
Menlo  Park  days  and  later  distinguished  as  a  consulting 
electrical  engineer;  Mr.  Arthur  Williams,  general  com- 
mercial manager  of  the  New  York  Edison  company ;  Mr* 

vi 


PREFACE 

George  lies*  authority  on  American  Invention ;  the  libra* 
rians  of  the  United  Engineering  Society  (New  York) ; 
and  Dr.  Herbert  Putnam  of  the  Library  of  Congress5 
where  every  facility  was  most  belpf uJly  placed  at  my  dis- 
posal. 

G.  S.  B. 


CONTENTS 

I  PRELIMINARIES  AND  BEGINNINGS  H 

II  THE  YOUNG  EXPERIMENTER  B 

III  A  START  AT  THE  KEY  fO 

IV  A  "LIGHTNING-SLINGER"  IN  THE  MID-WEST  25 
V  THE  TELEGRAPHER  TURNS  INVENTOR  47 

VI  UNDER  WAY  53 

VII  EDISON  AND  THE  TELEGRAPH  61 

VIII  EDISON  AND  THE  TELEPHONE  71 

IX  "ORGANIZING  THE  ECHOES'*  84* 

X  A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES  103 

XI  THE  "EDISON  SYSTEM**  INTRODUCED 

XII     THE    MOTION-PICTURE    CAMERA — MAGNETIC    ORE- 
MILLING 
XIII     MAKING    PORTLAND    CEMENT;    BUILDING    A    NEW 

STORAGE  BATTERY  202 

XIV     LATER  INVENTIONS;  SERVICES  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT  219 

XV    MISCELLANEOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS  242 

XVI     WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN?  265 

APPENDIX  *K)5 

An  Edison  Chronology  807 

The  Commercial  Value  of  Edison's  Inventions  311 

Part  of  an  Edison  Questionnaire 

Edison  Answers  a  Questionnaire 

Familiar  Glimpses  s;22 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

INDEX 

is 


EDISON 

THE  MAN 
AND  HIS  WORK 


I 

PRELIMINARIES  AND  BEGINNINGS 

THE  earliest  Edisons  in  the  United  States  came  directly 
from  Holland.  About  1730  they  landed  on  American 
soil  at  Elizabethport,  the  part  of  Elizabeth,,  New  Jersey* 
that  lies  along  Staten  Island  Sound.  Thence  they  went 
inland  a  few  miles,  to  the  small  village  of  Caldwell,  where 
they  settled  and  prospered.  It  is  as  the  birthplace  of 
Grover  Cleveland,  twice  president  of  the  United  States, 
that  Caldwell  is  perhaps  best  known* 

Great  age  seems  to  have  been  somewhat  common  among 
the  Edisons ;  and  a  Thomas  Edison  reached  one  hundred 
and  four  years.  In  the  days  of  the  American  Revolutions 
this  Thomas  was  stoutly  for  the  Continental  cause,  and 
John,  Thomas*  son,  was  as  stoutly  a  Loyalist,  After  the 
Revolution,  John,  like  many  other  Loyalists,  emigrated  to 
Canada;  first  to  Nova  Scotia,  then  in  1811  by  ox-team^ 
pioneer-fashion,  to  Bayfield  in  Upper  Canada,  as  Ontario 
was  at  that  time  called.  In  order  to  attract  Loyalist 
settlers  into  Upper  Canada,  the  British  government  was 
making  liberal  grants  of  land.  John  Edison  received  a 
tract  of  six  hundred  acres  and  went  to  occupy  it.  Later, 
he  removed  again — this  time  to  a  place  named  Vienna, 
near  the  northern  shore  of  Lake  Erie. 

In  Vienna,  Samuel,  son  of  John,  set  up  for  himself  as 
a  hotel-keeper.  Prior  to  this,  little  is  known  of  Samuel* 
save  that  he  was  born  in  1804  in  Digby,  a  seaport  town 
of  Nova  Scotia.  He  married  in  1828  a  Miss  Nancy 

s 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Elliott,  an  eighteen-year-old  teacher  in  the  Vienna  high- 
school  and  daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Elliott,  a  Baptist 
clergyman  of  Scots  descent.  John  Edison  remained  at 
Vienna  until  he  died  at  the  age  of  a  hundred  and  two. 
Samuel  sought  the  United  States — rather  from  necessity, 
however,  than  of  deliberate  choice. 

William  Lyon  Mackenzie,  a  Canadian  politician*  was 
rightly  enough  convinced  that  the  government  of  Upper 
Canada  was  much  in  need  of  reforms.  He  organized  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  obtain  these  reforms  by  force. 
When  he  tried  to  seize  the  lieutenant-governor  and  set 
up  a  provisional  government,  it  turned  out  that  his  plans 
had  been  so  poorly  made  and  his  supporters  were  so  few 
that  the  movement  was  utterly  a  failure.  Samuel  Edison* 
six  feet  and  of  strong  physique,  was  a  captain  of  Macken- 
zie's insurgents ;  and  when  Mackenzie  fled  across  the  bor- 
der to  the  States,  Samuel  Edison  followed  his  leader^ 
example.  One  story  has  it  that,  in  his  eagerness  to  escape, 
he  made  a  forced  journey  of  more  than  a  hundred  and 
eighty  miles,  with  little  of  either  food  or  sleep.  If  the 
story  be  true,  this  flight  of  Samuel  Edison  suggests  a 
comparison  in  some  ways  with  that  famous  trip  of  Daniel 
Boone,  when,  having  escaped  from  the  Shawnees,  he 
travelled  through  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  of  forest  in 
four  days,  during  which  he  ate  but  one  meal.  Knowing 
that  his  Canadian  property  would  now  be  forfeit  to  the 
government  against  which  he  had  revolted,  Samuel  Edison 
looked  for  a  likely  spot  in  which  to  establish  a  new  home, 
and  at  last  found  it,  in  1842,  in  Milan,  Ohio. 

To-day  Milan,  trim,  shaded,  comfortable,  is  for  all  the 
world  like  many  another  hamlet  in  that  part  of  the  state. 
It  has  a  public  square,  a  soldiers*  monument,  and  tidy 
houses  set  in  ample  grounds.  It  claims  no  important 
industries,  and  treasures  but  one  mark  of  distinction. 


PRELIMINARIES  AND  BEGINNINGS 
When  Samuel  Edison  made  up  his  mind  to  settle  there, 
things  were  different.  Milan  was  then  flourishing*  and 
had  prospects  of  a  large  development  in  trade.  Its  loca- 
tion seemed  to  promise  for  it  a  distinct  future.  In  Ohio 
were  then  no  railways  to  carry  eastward  the  wheat  from 
productive  fields.  The  Huron  river  furnished  for  north- 
ern Ohio  a  natural  outlet  to  Lake  Erie ;  and  Milan  was  on 
the  Huron,  not  far  from  the  lake.  True,  the  river  was 
not  navigable  for  all  of  the  way  to  the  town ;  but  that  dif- 
ficulty was  solved  by  the  building  of  a  short  canal  to  con- 
nect Milan  with  the  head  of  navigation  at  Lockwood 
Landing.  At  the  canal-side  in  Milan  rude  warehouses  were 
built.  Grain  to  fill  them  poured  in  from  the  surrounding 
country  in  four-horse  and  six-horse  wagon-loads.  The 
canal  would  float  sailing-vessels  up  to  two  hundred  and 
fifty  tons'  burden,  and  as  many  as  twenty  such  vessels 
were  laden  in  a  day  at  Milan  with  cargoes  of  wheat. 
Shipbuilding  and  various  other  industries  were  started. 
The  place  was  busy.  It  seemed  to  Samuel  Edison  that 
he  had  made  a  sensible  choice.  .He  set  up  a  workshop 
where  he  made  hand-wrought  shingles ;  and  for  his  stout, 
durable  product  the  demand  was  so  large  in  that  region 
that  in  time  he  employed  several  men. 

In  Milan  during  this  its  flourishing  period,  Thomas 
Alva  fidi^on  was  born — on  February  llth,  1847;  and 
th^re  he  passed  his  first  seven  years.  It  might  be  well  to 
explain  that  the  name  Alva  was  bestowed  in  honor  not 
of  the  notorious  Duke  of  Alva,  who  vainly  tried  to  sub- 
due the  Dutch,  but  of  a  Capt.  Alva  Bradley*  who  owned 
numerous  vessels  plying  on  the  Great  Lakes  and  was  a 
friend  of  Samuel  Edison's.  (  The  Edison  house,  a  sub- 
stantial-looking brick  cottage,  is  yet  standing,  almost  un- 
changed, and  townsfolk  point  it  out  to  visitors.1  ; 

lit  has  more  than  once  been  curiously  alleged  that  Edison  is  of 

5 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
The  same  Thomas  Alva  who  in  later  years  became 
'known  as  one  that  conld  endure,  apparently  without 
f  atigue,  an  uncommon  amount  of  continuous  and  exacting 
application  to  hard  work,  looked,  when  a  very  small  boy, 
somewhat  frail,  and  was  thought  to  be  hardly  strong 
enough  to  attend  school.  He  is  presented  to  us  as  a 
rather  grave,  old-fashioned  child,  occupied  with  little  con- 
structive tasks  or  asking  questions  with  a  solemn  persis- 
tence. His  was  a  mind  that  already  was  observing  and 
investigating.  Of  the  many  anecdotes  of  that  period, 
one  says  that  he  had  taken  notice  of  a  goose  sitting  on  some 
eggs,  and  afterward  of  the  goslings  running  about.  Then 
followed  a  day  when  he  vanished.  After  lengthy  search, 
he  was  discovered  in  the  barn,  sitting  on  a  collection  of 
hen's  eggs  and  goose  eggs  that  he  seemed  to  be  hopeful 
of  hatching. 

Yet  the  escapades  and  hairbreadth  escapes  of  enter- 
prising boyhood  were  his,  too.  In  one  of  the  Milan  ware- 
houses he  tumbled  into  a  great  pile  of  wheat  and  was  al- 
most smothered  before  he  could  be  got  out.  Once  he  held 
a  skate-strap  for  another  lad,  who  was  trying  to  shorten 
it  by  means  of  an  axe;  the  chief  result  being  that  Edison 
lost  the  tip  of  a  finger.  At  another  time  he  came  close 
to  drowning  in  the  canal.  But  perhaps  his  most  thrilling 
experience  arose  through  his  inspiration  to  build  a  fire 
in  somebody's  barn.  The  barn  was  speedily  burned,  and 
he  was  duly  whipped — not  in  the  seclusion  of  the  wood- 
shed but  before  the  general  gaze  in  the  public  square. 
Such  things  were  all  in  the  day's  adventures.  Edison 

Aztec  origin.  In  the  "New  York  Tribune"  of  March  13,  1923,  ap- 
peared an  abstract  of  a  fantastic  story  to  that  effect  that,  so  it  was 
stated,  was  published  on.  March  12  ia  a  newspaper  of  Mexico  City. 
In  connection  therewith  the  "Tribune"  added  that  W.  H.  Meadowcroft, 
Edison's  personal  representative,  had  said  that  "he  knew  of  no  founda- 
tion in  fact." 

6 


PRELIMINARIES  AND  BEGINNINGS 
had  a  sister ,  Tannie    (afterward  Mrs.   Bailey ),  and  a 
brother,  William ;  but  of  them  we  scarcely  hear,  and  they 
do  not  appear  to  have  played  any  particular  part  in  his 
development. 

Thus  life  ran  along.  Then  something  happened  to 
Milan.  Railway  promoters  had  endeavored  to  negotiate 
with  local  capitalists,  but  the  capitalists,  relying  upon 
their  canal,  preferred  that  the  new-fangled  carrier  should 
not  enter  the  town.  It  was  not  long  before  Milan  became 
aware  that  railways  were  factors  to  be  reckoned  with  in 
Ohio;  and  next,  that  its  "boom95  had  departed.  Grain 
shipments  were  sent  from  neighboring  towns  by  rail,  and 
Milan  ceased  to  be  a  center  of  the  wheat  trade.  Of  the 
canal,  nothing  now  remains  but  a  depression  in  the  earth, 
so  concealed  by  vegetable-gardens  or  overgrown  with  grass 
as  scarcely  to  be  traceable  along  the  valley.  It  may  be 
added  that  the  wholesale  throttling  of  canals  by  railway 
interests  was  not  at  all  fortunate  for  the  country  at  large. 
A  great  deal  of  non-perishable  freight  could  always  have 
been  shipped  quite  as  satisfactorily  and  much  more 
cheaply  by  water  routes. 

Again  Samuel  Edison  began  to  seek  a  location  for  a 
new  home.  In  1854  he  went  to  Port  Huron  in  Saint 
Clair  county,  Michigan,  where  he  became  a  dealer  in  feed 
and  grain  and  also  engaged  in  the  lumber  business.  Port 
Huron  is  at  the  lower  end  of  Lake  Huron,  at  the  junction 
of  the  Black  and  Saint  Clair  rivers.  Three  years  after 
Samuel  Edison  had  arrived  there,  it  received  a  city  char- 
ter. It  was  thriving,  and  Samuel  Edison  throve  reason- 
ably with  it. 


II 

THE  YOUNG  EXPERIMENTER 

AT  Port  .Huron  Edison  went  to  school  for  three  months. 
That  was  all  the  formal  education  he  ever  received.  He 
afterward  described  himself  as  pretty  consistently  at  the 
foot  of  his  class.  To  an  inspector  his  teacher  reported 
him  as  "addled.33  It  may  be  of  interest  to  note  that  Six- 
Isaac  Newton,  when  a  lad,  was  considered  rather  a  dunce ; 
that  James  Watt,  the  inventor  of  the  modern  condensing 
steam-engine,  stood  poorly  in  his  classes ;  and  that  regard- 
ing Sir  Humphry  Davy,  the  eminent  English  chemist,  one 
of  his  teachers  later  declared,  "While  he  was  .with  me  I 
could  not  discern  the  faculties  by  which  he  was  so  much 
distinguished."  Time  proved  their  quality,  as  it  did 

Edison's*  \ 
* 
Edison's  mother  is  portrayed  as  capable,  well-informed, 

and  of  not  a  little  culture.  Her  own  experience  as  a 
school-teacher  had  not  given  her  a  very  high  opinion  of  the 
public  schools  of  her  place  and  day.  She  sharply  re- 
sented the  notion  that  "A13? — as  family  and  friends  called 
Mm — was  addled ;  in  fact,  she  was  inclined  (with,  perhaps, 
a  natural  touch  of  prejudice)  to  believe  his  mind  was  be- 
yond the  ordinary.  She  undertook,  therefore,  to  teach 
him  the  rudiments  in  her  own  way,  and  to  guide  his  gen- 
eral reading.  Before  he  was  twelve  he  had  gone  through 
such  solid  works  as  Gibbon's  "Decline  and  Fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire"  and  Hume's  "History  of  England." 
Fiction  does  not  appear  to  have  had  much  of  a  place  on 

8 


THE  YOUNG  EXPERIMENTER 
lie  schedule.  Samuel  Edison  paid  the  boy  a  small  sum 
*ach  time  the  contents  of  a  book  like  these  had  been  grap- 
pled with  and  conquered.  Teacher  and  pupil  made  a 
joint  attack  on  Newton's  "Principia59 ;  but,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  this  proved  to  be  quite  too  tough  a  morsel 
for  both.  Edison  was  never  proficient  in  mathematics* 
In  after  years,  his  researches  frequently  involved  elabo- 
rate calculations ;  and  for  these  he  was  forced  to  depend 
mainly  upon  the  labors  of  associates. 

Although  not  a  mathematician,  he  was  naturally  an  ex- 
perimenter. In  the  egg  incident  had  been  revealed  a  turn 
of  mind  that  now  found  further  expression.  A  Dutch 
youth,  Michael  Gates  by  name,  was  employed  as  the  family 
chore-boy.  To  test  a  theory  that  gases  so  generated 
might  enable  a  person  to  fly,  Edison  induced  Michael 
Gates  to  swallow  a  large  quantity  of  Seidlitz  powders. 
Far  from  flying,  however,  Michael  developed  pains  that 
compelled  general  attention.  Truth  was  shortly  out ;  and 
the  young  experimentalist  suffered  an  application  of  a 
switch  kept  for  emergency  purposes  behind  the  clock* 
After  that,  he  obtained  a  copy  of  Parker's  "School  Phi- 
losophy/5 then  in  considerable  use  as  a  text-book  in  ele- 
mentary physics ;  and  few  were  the  experiments  outlined 
in  it  that  he  did  not  try.  Then  and  afterward  it  was 
characteristic  of  him  to  challenge  and  test  statements  that 
he  encountered  in  his  reading  in  natural  science. 

In  the  cellar  of  the  house  he  assembled  materials  for  his 
first  laboratory.  Among  these  were  two  hundred  bottles, 
carefully  arranged  on  shelves  and  all  labeled  POISON. 
"My  mother's  ideas  and  mine  differed  at  times,"  he  once 
said,  "especially  when  I  got  experimenting  and  mussed 
up  things.5*  Indeed,  Mrs.  Edison  ordered  the  removal  of 
the  laboratory — two  hundred  bottles  and  all;  but  she 
finally  compromised  the  matter  by  allowing  the  "mess"  to 

9 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
continue,  ^provided  It  was  kept  under  lock  wlien  "Al55  was 
absent.  Most  of  Edlson5s  pocket-money  went  to  buy  such 
chemicals  as  were  to  be  had  In  the  local  drug-shops.  &An 
observer  at  that  time  might  have  anticipated  that  the  lad 
would  become  an  analytical  chemist  rather  than  a  physi- 
cist. \  The  chemical  knowledge  that  Edison  thus  early  be- 
gan to  acquire  was  subsequently  of  great  service  to  him, 
especially  in  problems  connected  with  his  incandescent 
lamp  and  his  storage-battery. 

It  was  through  the  argument  that  he  needed  money  to 
buy  more  chemicals  that  he  won  permission  to  apply  for 
the  concession  to  act  as  a  newsboy  on  trains  of  the  Grand 
Trunk  railway  line  between  Port  Huron  and  Detroit,  a 
round  distance  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  miles. 
The  concession  once  gained.,  he  began  working  on  an 
accommodation-train  that  left  for  Port  Huron  at  seven 
in  the  morning  and,  on  the  return  trip,  reached  there  at 
nine-thirty  in  the  evening.  This  was  not,  strictly  speak- 
ing, his  first  business  experience.  With  a  horse  and  a 
small  wagon,  he  and  Michael  Gates-  had  peddled  garden- 
truck  raised  on  Samuel  Edison's  acres;  and  in  one  year 
f  600  had  been  taken  in  and  turned  over  to  Mrs.  Edison; 

"After  being  on  the  train  for  several  months,55  W&re 
Edison's  own  words,  "I  started  two  stores  in  Port  Huron 
—-one  for  periodicals,  and  the  othe*%  for  vegetables,  butter, 
and  berries  in  the  season.  These  were  attended  by  two 
boys  who  shared  in  the  profits.  The  periodical  store  1 
soon  closed,  as  the  boy  in  charge  could  not  be  trusted, 
The  vegetable  store  I  kept  up  for  nearly  a  year.55  Nor 
was  this  all.  He  obtained  the  privilege  of  installing  a 
newsboy  on  an  express-train  leaving  Detroit  in  the  morn- 
ing and  returning  at  night.  After  a  while,  a  daily  im- 
migrant train  was  run.  "This  train,55  Edison  said,  "gen- 
erally had  from  seven  to  ten  coaches,  filled  always  with, 

10 


THE  YOUNG  EXPERIMENTER 
Norwegians,  all  bound  for  Iowa  and  Minnesota.     On 
these  trains  I  employed  a  boy  who  sold  bread,  tobacco,  and 
stick  candy."     Such  were  the  mercantile  enterprises  of 
this  lad  of  but  a  dozen  years. 

The  Civil  War  lent  so  great  a  stimulus  to  Edison's  news- 
paper sales  that  he  gave  up  the  vegetable  store.  Years 
afterward,  he  related  an  instance  of  his  attempts  to  meet 
the  demand  for  news.  One  day  in  1862 — presumably 
April  8th,  he  found  crowds  gathered  in  Detroit  about 
the  bulletin-boards  of  the  various  local  papers.  Reports 
had  been  posted  that  the  battle  of  Shiloh  (or  Pittsburg 
Landing,  as  it  sometimes  has  been  called)  had  just  been 
fought  in  Tennessee,  with  a  total  loss  on  both  sides  of  60,- 

000  killed  and  wounded.     (It  was  later  learned  that  these 
figures  were  wildly  exaggerated,  and  by  historians  the  ag- 
gregate losses  have  been  set  at  about  20,000.)     At  sight 
of  those  Detroit  crowds,  Edison  had  a  sudden  inspiration. 
He  hurried  to  the  Grand  Trunk  station,  and  there  finally 
prevailed  upon  the  telegraph  operator  to  telegraph  the 
rumor  to  Port  Huron  and  all  the  stations  along  the  route. 

".  .  .  He  sent  it,"  said  Edison,  "requesting  the  agents 
to  display  it  on  the  blackboards  used  for  stating  the  ar- 
rival and  departure  of  trains.  I  decided  that  instead  of 
the  usual  one  hundred  papers  I  could  sell  one  thousand ; 
but  not  having  sufficient  money  to  purchase  that  number  5 

1  determined  in  my  desperation  to  see  the  editor  himself 
and  get  credit.'5     The  editorial  office  to  which  he  went 
was  that  of  the  "Detroit  Free  Press,"  a  morning  paper 
that  later  became   quite  widely  known   for   humorous 
sketches  written  by  C.  B.  Lewis  and  signed  "M.  Quad.55 
al  was  taken  into  an  office  where  there  were  two  men,  and 
I  stated  what  I  had  done  about  telegraphing,  and  that 
I  wanted  a  thousand  papers,  but  only  had  money  for 
three  hundred,  and  I  wanted  credit.     One  of  the  men  re- 

(11 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
fused  it,  but  the  other  told  the  first  spokesman  to  let  me 
have  them.  .  .  *  By  the  aid  of  another  boy  I  lugged  the 
papers  to  the  train  and  started  folding  them.  The  first 
station,  called  Utica,  was  a  small  one  where  I  generally 
sold  two  papers,  I  saw  a  crowd  ahead  on  the  platform, 
and  thought  it  some  excursion,  but  the  moment  I  landed 
there  was  a  rush  for  me ;  then  I  realized  that  the  telegraph 
was  a  great  invention.  I  sold  thirty-five  papers  there.59 

So  it  went  at  all  the  stations  between  Detroit  and  Port 
Huron.  "It  had  been  my  practice  at  Port  Huron/3  Edi- 
son explained,  "to  jump  from  the  train  at  a  point  about 
one-fourth  of  a  mile  from  the  station,  where  the  train  gen- 
erally slackened  speed.  I  had  drawn  several  loads  of 
sand  to  this  point  to  jump  on,  and  had  become  quite  ex- 
pert. The  little  Dutch  boy  [Michael  Gates,  once  more] 
with  the  horse  met  me  at  this  point.  "When  the  wagon. 
approached  the  outskirts  of  the  town  I  was  met  by  a  large 
crowd.  I  then  yelled:  *Twenty-five  cents  apiece,  gen- 
tlemen: I  haven't  enough  to  go  around!5  I  sold  all  out, 
and  made  what  to  me  then  was  an  immense  sum  of  money/* 

Of  Edison's  daily  takings,  one  dollar  went  regularly 
to  his  mother,  but  most  of  his  profits  he  spent  for  chemi- 
and  chemical  apparatus.  His  experiments  were  now 
mainly  conducted  not  in  the  cellar  of  the  Edison  house, 
but  in  his  "laboratory  on  wheels.55  The  baggage-car  of 
the  accommodation-train  happened  to  be  divided  into  three 
compartments:  one  for  express-packages  and  baggage, 
one  for  United  States  mail,  and  one  originally  intended 
for  smokers.  The  smokers'  compartment  remained  un- 
used ;  and  Edison  accordingly  was  permitted  by  the  con- 
ductor to  appropriate  it.  There  he  not  only  kept  his 
stock  of  newspapers,  magazines,  candy,  popped-corn  balls, 
and  other  things,  but  also  established  a  new  workshop* 
An  ever-increasing  array  of  jars,  batteries,  bottles,  test- 

12 


THE  YOUNG  EXPERIMENTER 
tubes*  and  other  paraphernalia,  was  crowded  into  this; 
and  in  it  was  stored  a  surprising  quantity  of  chemicals, 
which  he  now  could  obtain  in  Detroit  to  a  much  greater 
extent  than  had  been  possible  in  Port  Huron,  As  a  basis 
for  his  experiments  Edison  had  a  copy  of  a  translation  of 
a  work  on  qualitative  analysis  by  Karl  Fresenius,  a  Ger- 
man professor.  This  treatise,  and  the  same  authors 
companion-work  on  quantitative  analysis,  had  at  one  time 
a  wide  circulation.  In  the  baggage-car,  as  it  jarred  and 
rocked,  the  young  newsboy  found  odd  moments  for  his 
studies.  In  passing,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  some  of 
Edison's  equipment  was  made  for  him  by  George  M.  Pull- 
man, later  known  in  connection  with  the  manufacture  of 
Pullman  railway  cars,  who  at  that  time  had  a  little  shop 
in  Detroit. 

Something  else  was  to  be  found  in  that  compartment  of 
a  Grand  Trunk  baggage-car:  a  diminutive  printing- 
plant,  whence  issued  "The  Weekly  Herald."  Edison's 
observation  of  the  popular  demand  for  news  led  him  to 
try  newspaper  publishing  on  his  own  account.  Con- 
stantly in  touch  with  the  railway  telegraph,  he  was  often 
enabled  by  this  means  to  chronicle  local  items  that,  if  they 
reached  the  Detroit  journals  at  all,  would  reach  them" long 
after.  In  Detroit  he  discovered  and  bought  a  small  press 
that  had  been  used  for  the  printing  of  hotel  menu-cards. 
There  he  also  purchased  types;  and,  with  his  natural 
mechanical  facility,  he  soon  learned  the  elements  of  type- 
setting and  make-up.  The  price  of  "The  Weekly  Her- 
ald" was  three  cents  a  copy,  or  eight  cents  for  a  month's 
subscription.  The  circulation  exceeded  four  hundred 
copies  a  month.  Edison  was  the  Pooh-Bah  of  the  un- 
dertaking: reporter,  editor,  compositor,  make-up  manf 
pressman,  devil,  advertising  manager,  circulation  mana- 
ger, and  news-agent.  This  unique  paper  must  be  con* 

13 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WOEK 
sldered  remarkably  well  done,  especially  when  regard  is 
had  to  the  age  of  the  proprietor  and  editor,  and  to  the 
unfavorable  conditions  under  which  the  mechanical  work 
was  performed. 

But  Edison's  energy  and  ingenuity  sought  yet  further 
exercise.  He  became  interested  in  electricity.  Accord- 
ing to  his  own  account,  this  was  "probably  from  visiting 
telegraph  offices  with  a  chum  who  had  tastes  similar  to 
mine."  This  chum  and  he  set  up  a  telegraph-line  be- 
tween their  homes.  In  those  days,  amateurs  could  not 
purchase  electrical  equipment  and  supplies  as  they  may 
now.  These  lads  were  compelled  to  improvise  everything 
they  used.  For  their  wire  they  had  the  sort  of  wire  that 
was  commonly  used  to  support  stove-pipes;  for  their  in- 
sulators, bottles.  The  bottles  were  hung  on  nails  driven 
into  trees  or,  when  no  trees  offered,  into  flimsy  poles.  Bits 
of  spring  brass  served  for  keys,  and  rags  insulated  the 
magnet-wire.  It  is  gravely  stated  that  Edison,  seeking 
|x> -obtain  current  at  the  minimum  cost,  actually  experi- 
mented with  cats  as  a  possible  source  of  static  electricity 
to  be  applied  to  the  "line.95  In  these  experiments  the  cfti* 
absolutely  declined  to  assist;  but  the  line  was  made  to  work 
by  batteries  in  the  conventional  way. 

As  has  been  said  earlier  in  this  chapter,  Edison  did  not 
reach  Port  Huron  on  his  return-trip  until  nine-thirty  in 
the  evening.  His  bedtime  was  fixed  by  his  father  at 
eleven-thirty.  This  arrangement  did  not  leave  much 
chance  for  practice  in  telegraphy,  and  so  Edison's  in- 
ventiveness was  called  into  play.  He  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  take  home  each  evening  his  unsold  stock  of  news- 
papers ;  and  each  evening  Samuel  Edison  would  look  over 
this  handy  supply  of  reading-matter.  With  some  plausi- 
ble excuse  for  so  doing,  Edison  now  left  the  "returnable®*9 
with  his  chum ;  but  he  intimated  that  he  still  could  get  the 

14 


THE  YOUNG  EXPERIMENTER 

tews  for  his  father  over  the  "private  wire.95  Interested 
,o  see  how  this  might  be  done9  Samuel  Edison  assented  to 
the  plan.  The  chum  sent  messages  which  Edison  re- 
seived  and  wrote  out  in  long-hand ;  and  so  absorbed  was 
the  father  in  reading  them  that  it  was  sometimes  one 
o'clock  of  the  next  morning  before  he  and  "Al"  turned 
in.  The  eleven-thirty  rule  was  officially  rescinded;  the 
unsold  stock  of  papers  was  again  brought  home ;  and  Edi- 
son and  his  cooperator  continued  their  practice  until  both 
were  fairly  versed  in  the  first  principles  of  electric  teleg- 
raphy. A  roaming  cow  happened  to  get  entangled  in 
the  lines  and  sadly  damaged  it.  It  seems  not  to  have  been 
replaced ;  but  it  had  been  the  means  by  which  Edison  had 
made  a  beginning  in  a  field  of  work  in  which  eventually 
he  had  few  equals. 

The  travelling  printing-office  and  the  rolling  laboratory 
had  meanwhile  flourished;  but  one  day  mischance  more 
serious  than  a  roaming  cow  befell  them.  The  train  was 
running  at  a  smart  speed  over  a  stretch  of  badly-laid 
track — a  great  deal  of  track,  was  badly-laid  in  that  period 
of  American  railroading^  The  baggage-car  lurched* 
In  Edison's  compartment  a  phosphorus  stick  was  thrown 
from  a  shelf  to  the  floor.  Ignited  by  the  friction,  the 
phosphorus  blazed  up  with  the  intense  whitish  light  pe- 
culiar to  that  substance  when  burning.  The  car  took 
fire;  and  Edison5  rather  frightened,  started  to  fight  the 
flames.  Then  in  rushed  the  conductor  with  some  water, 
and  the  car  was  quickly  saved.  The  conductor  had,  how- 
ever* lost  his  head  and  his  temper.  It  had  been  with  his 
knowledge  and  consent  that  Edison  was  long  permitted  to 
experiment  with  chemicals  on  a  moving  train.  He  knew 
that  the  boy  had  always  treated  the  privilege  with  respect 
and  had  always  been  careful  He  should  have  realized 
that  the  fire  was  the  result  of  an  accident.  Yet  now,  in 

15 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
unreasoning  rage,  he  violently  cuffed  Edison*s  ears;  and 
at  the  Mount  Clemens  station  he  ejected  Edison  and  Edi- 
son's entire  outfit — laboratory,  printing-plant,  and  all — 
and  left  them  on  the  platform :  the  outfit  in  ruins,  the  boy 
in  tears. 

Prom  the  brutal  blows  of  this  "rattled95  conductor  came 
the  deafness  that  remained  with  Edison  through  life*  He 
once  said  that  he  thought  deafness  had  been  of  great  ad- 
vantage to  him  "in  various  ways55;  and  he  went  on  to 
specify  how  it  acted  to  protect  him  from  external  distrac- 
tions, and  to  spur  him  to  further  effort  in  the  development 
of  the  carbon  transmitter  for  the  Bell  telephone,  and  in  the 
perfecting  of  the  phonograph.  While  admiring  his  spirit 
of  philosophical  acceptance,  one  may  at  the  same  time  re- 
gret that  ignorance,  carelessness,  or  force  is  able  to  in- 
jure or  destroy  persons  of  value  in  the  world ;  that  a  great 
President  is  murdered  by  a  wild-brained  partisan,  a  dis- 
tinguished scientist  killed  by  a  drayman,  a  youthful  Edi- 
son permanently  afflicted  by  an  inconsequential  employee. 

After  this  experience,  Edison  restored  his  laboratory 
to  the  home  cellar;  having  first,  however,  promised  that 
he  would  not  bring  into  it  anything  dangerous.  The 
printing-plant,  also,  he  transferred  to  the  house.  No 
further  accidents  occurred ;  and  the  publication  of  "The 
Weekly  Herald"  went  successfully  along  until  Edison,  at 
the  suggestion  of  a  young  friend,  enlarged  the  paper, 
which  he  renamed  "Paul  Pry,"  and  which,  in  accordance 
with  its  new  title,  was  mainly  devoted  to  Port  Huron  gos- 
sip and  personalities.  Mannerisms  and  peculiarities  of 
local  individuals  were  dealt  with  rather  freely.  One  vic- 
tim was  so  annoyed  that  he  pitched  the  editor  and  pub- 
lisher into  the  Saint  Clair  river.  Not  long  afterward,  the 
paper  ceased  to  be  issued.  For  newspaper  work  Edison 

16 


THE  YOUNG  EXPERIMENTER 
liad  a  pronounced  liking,  but  Ms  career  was  destined  to 
run  in  other  channels. 

When  in  Detroit  between  trains,  he  usually  spent  con- 
siderable time  in  the  public  library.  His  reading  was  IK* 
limited  strictly  to  chemistry.  Indeed,  when  he  began  he 
was  so  liberal  and  inclusive  that  he  tackled  a  complete 
section  and  tried  to  go  through  it  shelf  by  shelf  in  a  whole- 
hearted onslaught  upon  knowledge. 

Hardly  less  attractive  than  the  Detroit  public  library 
were  the  Port  Huron  machine-shops  of  the  Grand  Trunk. 
Sometimes  a  friendly  engineer  let  him  ride  in  the  cab,  or 
even  pilot  the  locomotive  for  a  short  distance.  Of  an  ex- 
perience as  engineer,  Edison  once  gave  an  amusing  de- 
scription. The  locomotive  had,  he  said,  after  the  custom 
of  the  time,  "bright  brass  bands  all  over,  the  woodwork 
beautifully  painted,  and  everything  highly  polished.'* 
.  .  .  The  train,  it  seems,  was  a  slow  freight ;  and  the  pre- 
ceding night,  engineer  and  fireman  had  attended  a  dance 
given  by  a  railroad  men's  fraternal  organization.  "After 
running  about  fifteen  miles  they  became  so  sleepy  that 
they  couldn't  keep  their  eyes  open,  and  agreed  to  permit 
me  to  run  the  engine.  ,  .  .  I  was  greatly  worried  about 
the  water,  and  I  knew  that  if  it  got  low  the  boiler  was 
likely  to  explode.  I  hadn't  gone  twenty  miles  before 
black,  damp  mud  blew  out  of  the  stack  and  covered  every 
part  of  the  engine,  including  myself.  .  .  .  Then  I  ap- 
proached a  station  where  the  fireman  always  went  out  to 
the  cowcatcher,  opened  the  oil-cup  on  the  steam-chest, 
and  poured  oil  in-  I  started  to  carry  out  the  procedure, 
when,  upon  opening  the  oil-cup,  the  steam  rushed  out  with 
a  tremendous  noise,  nearly  knocking  me  off  the  engine. 
I  succeeded  in  closing  the  oil-cup  and  got  back  in  the  cab, 
and  made  up  my  mind  that  she  would  pull  through  with- 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WOSK 
oat  oil.  I  learned  afterward  that  the  engineer  always 
shut  off  steam  when  the  fireman  went  to  oil.  *  »  »  My 
powers  of  observation  were  very  much  improved  after  this 
occurrence. 5*  Before  he  had  reached  his  destination*  a 
second  deluge  of  mud  took  place.  He  then  discovered 
that  he  had  been  carrying  not  too  little  water,  but  so  much 
that  it  had  passed  over  into  the  stack  and  dislodged  a 
mass  of  accumulated  soot.  He  did  not  persist  in  the 
study  of  steam-engineering  practice,  but  in  later  years 
was  a  pioneer  in  the  development  of  the  electric  loco- 
motive. 

Now  and  then  some  prank  enlivened  Edlson9s  busy 
hours.  One  of  these  had  to  do  with  a  practical  joke 
played  upon  the  sentries  at  Fort  GratioL  This  old  army 
post,  close  to  the  village  of  Port  Huron,  had  been  aban- 
doned in  185S ;  but  after  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War, 
volunteers  were  quartered  there.  Edison  and  his  Man 
Friday,  Michael  Oates,  had  often  at  night  been  hearing  a 
call  passed  along  the  line  of  sentries,  ordering  out  the  cor- 
poral of  the  guard.  So,  one  very  dark  night,  in  tones  as 
nearly  stentorian  as  he  was  able  to  manage,  Edison  imi- 
tated this  call  "The  second  sentry,  thinking  it  was  the 
terminal  sentry  who  shouted,  repeated  it  to  the  third,  and 
so  on.  This  brought  the  corporal  along  the  half  mile* 
only  to  find  that  he  was  fooled.  We  tried  him  three 
nights;  but  the  third  night  they  were  watching,  and 
caught  the  little  Dutch  boy,  took  him  to  the  lock-up  at 
the  fort,  and  shut  him  up.  They  chased  me  to  the  house. 
I  rushed  for  the  cellar.  In  one  small  compartment,  where 
there  were  two  barrels  of  potatoes  and  a  third  one  nearly 
empty,  I  poured  these  remnants  into  the  other  barrels,  sat 
down,  and  pulled  the  empty  barrel  over  my  head,  bottom 
up.  The  soldiers  had  awakened  my  father,  and  they  were 
searching  for  me  with  candles  and  lanterns.  The  cor- 

18 


THE  YOUNG  EXPERIMENTER 
poral  was  absolutely  certain  I  came  into  the  cellar,  and 
couldn't  see  how  I  could  have  gotten  out,  and  wanted  to 
know  from  my  father  if  there  was  no  secret  hiding-place.' 
On  assurance  of  my  father,  who  said  that  there  was  not, 
he  said  it  was  most  extraordinary.  I  was  glad  when  they 
left,  as  1  was  cramped,  and  the  potatoes  that  had  been 
in  the  barrel  were  rotten  and  violently  offensive.55  Next 
morning  Michael  Oates  was  released.  After  that,  Edison 
probably  interfered  no  further  in  military  affairs. 

It  was  during  Edison's  newsboy  period  that  the  Prince 
of  Wales  (afterward  Edward  VII),  as  "Lord  Renfrew,9' 
visited  the  United  States  and  Canada.  At  Sarnia,  op- 
posite Port  Huron  on  the  Ontario  side  of  the  Saint  Clair 
river,  elaborate  preparations  were  made  for  a  public  re- 
ception of  the  Prince ;  and  Edison,  with  most  other  Port 
Huron  lads,  went  over  to  attend.  "Several  of  us  ex- 
pressed our  belief  that  a  prince  wasn't  much,  after  all, 
and  said  that  we  were  thoroughly  disappointed.  .  .  * 
Soon  the  Canuck  boys  attacked  the  Yankee  boys,  and  we 
were  all  badly  licked.  I,  myself,  got  a  black  eye.5' 
Once  (it  was  about  a  week  before  Christmas,  and  appar- 
ently Edison  had  laid  in  a  special  holiday  stock)  Edison's 
train  jumped  the  track.  Four  ancient  cars,  with  rotted 
sills,  were  quickly  smashed  into  kindling-wood,  and  over 
the  right-of-way  were  spread  Edison's  raisins,  dates,  figs, 
and  candies.  To  prevent  what  looked  to  him  like  deplor- 
able waste,  Edison  tried  eating  the  scattered  supplies- 
"Our  family  doctor,55  he  commented,  "had  the  time  of  his 
life  with  me*55 


19 


Ill 

A  START  AT  THE  KEY 

IT  was  at  the  Mount  Clemens  station  that  the  flustered 
conductor  threw  out  Edison,  laboratory,  and  printing- 
outfit.  Another  incident,  an  incident  that  was  to  have 
an  important  bearing  upon  the  newsboy's  later  career, 
also  occurred  there. 

/  One  morning  of  August,  1862,  Edison  stood  on  the 
Mount  Clemens  platform,  waiting  while  the  "mixed5*  on 
which  he  worked  did  a  half -hour's  switching  of  freight 
cars.  A  loaded  box  car,  with  no  brakeman  aboard,  had 
just  been  shunted  from  a  siding  to  the  main  track,  along 
which  it  was  now  rolling  at  a  considerable  speed.  Sud- 
denly Edison  noticed  a  child  playing  in  the  gravel  bal- 
last of  the  line.  In  a  glance  he  recognized  the  little  son 
of  J.  U.  Mackenzie,  the  station-agent.  Tossing  his  cap 
aside  and  dropping  his  bundle  of  papers,  he  dashed  out 
upon  the  track.  Not  a  second  too  soon  was  he,  for  one 
of  the  car-wheels  struck  his  heel  as  he  swung  the  child  to 
safety.  \ 

I  Mackeuiie,  who  already  knew  and  liked  Edison,  grate- 
fully offered  to  instruct  him  in  train  telegraph  jf.  The 
offer  was  quickly  accepted.  As  we  have  seen,  Edison  was 
before  that  pretty  familiar  with  the  Morse  code.  When 
he  began  his  study  with  Mackenzie,  he  carried  to  Mount 
Clemens  a  trim  set  of  telegraph  instruments  that  he  him- 
self had  made  in  a  Detroit  gun-shop.  He  at  once  di- 

20 


A  START  AT  THE  KEY 

vided  his  "run/9  assigning  to  a  friend  the  portion  between 
Mount  Clemens  and  Detroit. 

The  instrnctor  found  that  his  teaching  could  be  con- 
fined in  large  part  to  the  special  signals  used  by  railway 
operators  in  facilitating  their  work.  These  signals  in- 
cluded various  symbolic  numerals*  It  may  be  of  interest  to 
know,  for  example,  that  the  railway  telegrapher's  symbol 
to  indicate  a  message  of  accident  or  death,  was  a2S" ;  and 
that  this  was  the  real  source  of  an  expression  once  com- 
mon in  popular  slang,  with  the  general  meaning  of  "bad 
luck.5*  Shortly  after  Edison  had  begun  this  study,  came 
the  forcible  termination  of  his  activities  as  newsboy ;  and 
then  he  was  able  to  devote  to  telegraphy  as  much  as  eight- 
een hours  a  day.  He  had  by  this  time  a  strong  physique 
and  uncommon  powers  of  endurance,  so  characteristic  of 
him  in  later  life.  In  about  four  months  the  pupil  had 
gained  all  that  the  teacher  could  impart.  He  now  defi- 
nitely entered  a  field  in  which  he  was  to  know  a  half -dozen 
years  of  toil,  but  in  which  he  also  was  to  have  abundant 
chance  of  observation  and  experiment ;  becoming  increas- 
ingly skilled  in  that  electrical  science  wherein  he  attained 
what  have  been  considered  his  finest  achievements.1 

iAs  illustrative  of  the  legends  that  have  so  profusely  collected 
around  Edison,  may  be  instanced  that  concerning  the  telegrapher  Ward. 
On  September  9,  1023,  the  "New  York  Times"  printed  the  following 
item:  "TAUGHT  EDISOK  MORSE  KEY.  Joseph  C.  Ward,  Called 
Oldest  Telegrapher,  Dies  at  79.  Visalia,  Cal,  Sept.  8,— Joseph  Clar- 
ence Ward,  79,  a  telegrapher  at  General  Grant's  headquarters  during 
the  Civil  War,  and  the  man  credited  with  having  taught  Thomas  A. 
Edison  the  Morse  code,  died  here  yesterday."  To  this  had  been  added 
in  the  newspaper  office  this  paragraph:  "When  the  telegraph  com* 
pany  for  which  he  worked  closed  its  Visalia  office,  Ward  retired,  after 
sixty  years  at  a  telegraph  key.  He  was  then  spoken  of  as  the  oldest 
operator  in  the  country.  He  was  stationed  at  Mount  Clemens,  Mich., 
when  Thomas  A*  Edison  was  a  newsboy  on  trains  passing  there. 

21 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
He  first  strung  a  telegraph  line  from  the  Port  Huron 
station  to  the  vil!age9  about  a  mile  away?  and  there  opened 
in  a  drug-shop  a  little  office  of  his  own.  The  regular  of- 
fice was,  however,  amply  sufficient  to  take  care  of  village 
business;  and  his  venture  soon  was  ended.  Before  longs 
he  became  the  operator  in  the  regular  office*  which  had 
quarters  in  Walker's  jewelry-store.  Walker  was  a  kind 
of  small-town  factotum,  who  not  only  sold  jewelry  and 
directed  the  local  telegraph-office,  but  traded^  too,  in  news- 
papers and  magazines.  Edison  slept  on  the  premises,  so 
that  he  might  be  ready  for  emergency  night-calls.  He 
liked  this  arrangement  because  at  night,  and  well  along 
into  the  earlier  morning  hours,  newspaper  dispatches  (or 
"press  report,59  as  operators  called  them)  were  passing 
over  one  of  the  wires.  Edison,  always  eager  to  become 
more  adept,  would  "cut  in"  and  copy,  as  well  as  he  might, 
these  dispatches,  which  were  more  difficult  to  manage  than 
the  routine  commercial  messages.  This  he  found  to  be 
excellent  practice.  All  the  more  ambitious  operators  in 
those  days  hoped  to  qualify  to  "take  press.** 

The  office  was  not  a  very  busy  one;  but  even  so,  out- 
Edison  spent  his  spare  hours  in  Ward's  office  and  learned  the  code 
from  him:5  Previous  to  this,  "Collier's"  had  had  an  editorial  article 
about  "J.  K  Ward,"  in  which  it  said;  "As  the  world  is  prone  to 
judge  men,  Ward  did  not  climb  to  the  top  rung  of  success  in  hi* 
calling.  Yet  that  kindly,  faithful  operator  had  a  lot  to  do  with  the 
success  of  one  of  our  most  beloved  Americans,  Years  ago,  when  Ward 
was  stationed  at  Mount  Clemens,  Mich.,  he  spent  ten  or  fifteen  minutes 
every  day  patiently  teaching  a  tow-haired  boy  the  Morse  code.  Tn&t 
boy,  one  Thomas  A.  Edison,  has  done  first-rate  since  then." 

Doubtful  of  the  Ward  story,  the  present  writer  sent  a  query  to 
W.  H.  Meadowcroft,  long  Edison's  assistant,  who  kindly  obtained 
from  Edison  this  authoritative  reply:  **There  is  no  foundation  for 
tlte  statement,  J.  U.  Mackenzie  taught  me  telegraphy*  Ward  was  a 
relative  of  Mackenzie's  wife.  He  was  a  military  telegrapher  in  the 
CMi  War  and  spent  one  vacation  at  Mackenzie's.  He  newr  taught 
w&? 

22 


A  START  AT  THE  KEY 

going  messages  might  often  have  been  seen  hanging  nn- 
sent  upon  a  hook,  while  the  operator  was  in  Walker?s  cel- 
lar., engrossed  in  a  chemical  experiment ;  or  in  the  drug- 
shop,  buying  a  fresh  supply  of  materials.  Walker  after- 
wards described  young  Edison  as  quite  likely  to  seize 
from  the  watch-repairer^s  table  any  tool  that  he  thought 
might  be  suited  to  his  immediate  purpose.  Even  then, 
Edison  labored  intensely  toward  his  goal.  Once  an  ex- 
periment had  been  completed,  once  a  statement  had  been 
verified  or  a  theory  tested,  tangles  of  wire  and  groups  of 
jars  might  be  indiscriminately  left  and  forgotten.  The 
"Scientific  American5'  was  then  in  existence,  having  been 
established  as  far  back  as  1845;  and  it  formed  part  of 
Edison's  favorite  reading. 

After  a  while,  Edison  applied  for  a  job  on  the  Grand 
Trunk,  and  obtained  the  post  of  night  operator  at  Strat- 
ford Junction,  Ontario.  He  was  now  a  full-fledged  oper- 
ator. The  year  was  1863,  and  his  age  was  sixteen,  At 
Stratford  Junction,  Edison  made  his  first  invention.  His 
hours  of  duty  were  from  7  P.  M.  to  7  A.  M.  ;  and  a  regula- 
tion was  that  from  9  P.  M.  he  was  to  send  each  hour  the 
signal  "6"  to  the  office  of  the  train  dispatcher.  This  was 
called  "sixing,"  and  was  taken  as  circumstantial  evidence 
that  the  operator  was  awake.  Hourly  each  night  came 
the  signal  from  "Sf,"  as  Stratford  Junction  was  known; 
yet  it  began  to  be  noticed  that,  strangely  enough,  a  train 
message  sent  to  "Sf"  almost  immediately  afterward  often 
failed  utterly  to  bring  a  response.  Investigation  revealed 
the  cause,  Edison,  devoting  the  greater  part  of  his  days 
to  research,  felt  the  need  of  sleep  at  night,  and  had  there- 
fore devised  and  put  into  action  an  ingenious  contrivance. 
To  both  the  telegraph  line  and  a  clock  he  attached  a  wheel 
with  a  notched  rim.  When  the  line  was  quiet,  the  clock 
was  started*  On  each  hour  the  wheel  automatibaUy  j^~ 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
volved  and  sent  the  necessary  dots.     The  mechanism  of 
the  familiar  district-messenger  call-box  is  somewhat  simi- 
lar.    Whatever  may  have  been  private  opinion  as  to  his 
ingenuity,  Edison  received  an  official  reprimand. 

Within  a  short  time  thereafter,  Edison  left  Canada  in 
a  hurry.  "One  night,"  was  his  version  of  the  episode,  "I 
got  an  order  to  hold  a  freight  train,  and  I  replied  that 
I  would.  I  rushed  out  to  find  the  signalman,  but  before 
I  could  find  him  and  get  the  signal  set  the  train  ran  past. 
I  ran  to  the  telegraph  office,  and  reported  that  I  could  not 
hold  her."  In  the  meantime  the  dispatcher  had  permit- 
ted the  train  bound  in  the  opposite  direction  to  leave 
the  next  station.  "There  was  a  lower  station  near  the 
junction,  where  the  day  operator  slept.  I  started  for  it 
on  foot.  The  night  was  dark,  and  I  fell  into  a  culvert 
and  was  knocked  senseless."  This  truly  melodramatic 
situation  was  resolved  by  the  fact  that  the  alert  engineers 
of  the  respective  trains  brought  them  to  a  halt  in  time  to 
avert  an  accident.  All  the  same,  and  in  spite  of  the  whole 
thing  having  occurred  through  no  fault  of  his,  Edison 
was  summoned  to  Toronto  to  appear  before  the  general 
manager.  During  the  course  of  the  inquiry,  visitors 
temporarily  claimed  the  manager's  attention ;  and  at  this 
lull  in  the  proceedings,  Edison  decided  to  slip  from  the 
room.  At  the  Grand  Trunk  freight  station  he  found  a 
conductor  with  whom  he  was  acquainted  and  who  was 
about  to  take  a  freight  train  to  Sarnia.  He  got  a  ride  to 
Sarnia  on  the  freight  train,  and  the  ferry  landed  him  upon, 
Michigan  soil.  Then  he  felt  somewhat  relieved.  He  did 
not  return  to  Canada ;  but  neither  did  he  relinquish  teleg- 
raphy. 


Vft-^-a 

X 


IV, 

A  "LIGHTNING-SLINGER"  IN 

THE  MID-WEST 

AFTER  a  short  stay  in  Port  Huron,  Edison  entered  the 
employ  of  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern  railway 
as  night  operator  in  the  division  superintendent's  office 
at  Adrian,  a  small  city  in  the  south-eastern  corner  of 
Michigan*  Thus  a  new  chapter  of  his  life  began.  For 
about  five  years  he  was  a  roving  "knight  of  the  key.*9 

On  May  24th,  1844 — less  than  twenty  years  before — 
the  electro-magnetic  telegraph  system  invented  by  Samuel 
"F.  B.  Morse  had  first  been  commercially  tried  on  a  large 
scale.  The  extension  of  the  new  art  of  telegraphy  opened 
to  aspiring  young  fellows  a  constantly  widening  field. 
The  operator's  craft  was  viewed  as  affording  an  appren- 
ticeship that,  attractive  in  itself,  might  well  lead  to  larger 
things.  Such  men  as  Andrew  Carnegie,  George  Kennan, 
and  Sir  William  Van  Horne  were  operators  in  those  early 
days,  as  were  many  others  afterward  prominent.  A 
goodly  number  of  telegraphers  later  became  officials  of 
American  railway  systems. 

When  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  hundreds  of  operators 
were  summoned  to  the  military  telegraph  services  of  the 
respective  forces.  In  the  Federal  armies  alone,  it  is  said* 
about  1,500  men  were  on  an  average  detailed  for  duty  as 
military  telegraphers  at  the  front.  These  men  were  usu- 
ally of  a  very  skilful,  resourceful,  and  dependable  sort. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  fifty-first  chapter  of  his  "Personal 

25 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Memoirs," 1  General  Grant  explains  how  the  field  tele- 
graph was  set  up  and  communication  effected  between  all 
the  headquarters.  Paying  tribute  to  the  telegraph  corps* 
he  says:  "Nothing  could  be  more  complete  than  the  or- 
ganization and  discipline  of  this  body  of  brave  and  intel- 
ligent men.9? 

Other  operators  enlisted  in  the  ranks  on  one  side  or  the 
other.  Hence,  as  a  natural  result  of  war  conditions,  the 
supply  of  operators  for  the  purposes  of  civil  life,  prac- 
tically everywhere  throughout  the  North,  was  unequal  to 
the  demand.  At  the  time  when  Edison  took  the  position 
in  Adrian,  telegraph  offices  in  important  centers  were 
likely  to  be  understaffed,  and  in  such  places  an  itinerant 
operator  might  pretty  safely  count  on  getting  a  desk.  It 
Is  probable  that  at  the  close  of  the  war  the  majority  of 
the  surviving  operators  of  the  military  telegraph  corps 
returned  to  the  peaceful  practice  of  their  calling.  New 
factors,  however,  for  a  time  promoted  a  continued  de- 
mand. Prominent  among  these  were  fhe  development  of 
manufacturing,  and  of  industrial  enterprises  generally, 
in  the  East ;  and  the  new  construction  of  railways  in  the 
West.  Both  commercial  and  railway  telegraphy  thus  re- 
ceived fresh  impetus.  This  state  of  affairs  existed  to  a 
considerable  degree  until  about  1876,  when  the  newly  in- 
vented telephone  began  to  hint  its  possibilities. 

The  growth  of  telephone  service  was  far  more  rapid  in 
the  United  States  than  in  any  other  country  of  the  world. 
This  growth  (which,  as  will  later  be  seen,  owed  much  to 
Edison's  aid)  acted  as  a  backset  to  telegraphy,  which  al- 
ready had  felt  the  effects  of  the  decline  in  commerce  and 
in  railway-building,  following  the  financial  crisis  of  1873* 
JThe  telegraphic  field  now  offered  fewer  inducements  to 
ambitious  or  adventurous  spirits.  Conditions  within  it 

tVol  II,  pp.  204-208, 


A  "LIGHTNING-SLINGER" 

tended  to  become  more  and  more  stabilized*  and  operators 
were  increasingly  available  for  existing  vacancies.  In  the 
meantime  Edison  completed  his  years  of  roving  and  en- 
tered upon  yet  another  stage  of  his  career. 

During  those  years  he  went  from  Adrian  to  Fort 
Wayne,  Indiana,  and  to  Indianapolis;  thence  successively 
to  Cincinnati,  Memphis,  and  Louisville;  northward  to 
Detroit,  back  to  Louisville,  southward  to  New  Orleans; 
again  to  Louisville  and  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  did  not 
remain  long ;  and  after  a  vacation  interim  at  Port  Huron, 
away  to  Boston.2  Therefore,  before  he  came  east  to  what 
was  to  be  his  final  job  as  an  operator,  he  had  travelled 
widely  over  the  Central  States  and  had  held  positions  in 
five  of  them.  When  he  went  to  Indianapolis,  he  entered 
the  service  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  company, 
and  after  that  he  was  not  again  in  railway  employ. 

To  be  sure,  by  1864,  when  Edison  began  at  Adrian,  the 
telegraph  was  a  firmly-established  utility.  For  the  year 
ending  June  30th,  1868,  the  Western  Union  company 
alone  reported  8,219  offices;  50,188  miles  of  line;  and  97»- 
594  miles  of  wire.  Telegraphic  apparatus  mnd  equip- 
ment had  passed  beyond  the  extreme  crudity  of  their  earli- 
est years.  Yet,  on  Edison's  own  authority,  many  of  the 
wires  in  use  were  old  and  sadly  defective.  Insulation  of 
lines  was  still  so  imperfect  that  severe  thunderstorms 
often  caused  much  trouble  in  the  transmission  of  mes- 
sages. During  Edison's  first  stay  in  Louisville,  the  ca- 
ble across  the  Ohio  River,  establishing  connection  with  the 
line  to  Cincinnati,  had  a  fluctuating  leak.  This  was  bad 
enough,  because  of  the  extreme  variations  it  would  pro- 
duce in  the  strength  of  the  current;  but  when  it  was  com- 
bined with  high- jinks  in  the  land  wires,  the  general  effect 

2  This  follows  the  itinerary  given  by  Dyer  and  Martin.    Tfce  precise 
Is  somewhat  difficult 

27 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
was  decidedly  confusing*.  When  Edison  was  for  the  sec- 
ond time  in  Louisville,  the  wires  worked  so  badly  that,  as 
he  afterward  estimated,  he  had  frequently  to  supply  from 
conjecture  or  by  absolute  invention  as  much  as  one-fifth  of 
the  matter  of  the  "press  report55 — that  is,  the  news  items 
received  for  the  Associated  Press. 

"I  never  was  caught  but  once/3  he  related.3  "Please 
notice  that  I  said  'caught.5  I  made  plenty  of  minor  mis- 
takes. But  once  I  was  caught.  I  had  been  working  on 
the  wire  three  months,  I  guess,  and  getting  along  very 
well.  Then,  as  now,  I  had  a  good  memory,  and,  in  order 
to  keep  in  touch  with  the  news  matter  I  was  handling,  I 
used  to  take  an  armful  of  exchanges  home  with  me  each 
night,  pile  them  on  my  bed  and  read  them,  sometimes  un- 
til two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  In  this  way  I  kept  pretty 
good  track  of  what  was  going  on  in  the  country. 

"Down  in  Virginia  the  Legislature  was  trying  to  elect 
a  United  States  senator.  John  M.  Botts  4  was  the  leading 
candidate.  But  he  never  received  quite  enough  votes  to 
elect  him-  Day  after  day,  the  sessions  dragged  along. 
One  day  news  came  that  the  opposition  to  Botts  was  go- 
ing to  pieces  and  that  he  would  undoubtedly  be  elected  the 
next  day.  The  next  day,  just  as  a  despatch  from  Rich- 
mond began  to  come,  the  wire  'broke.5  The  wire  broke 
just  as  I  had  received  the  name  'John  M.  Botts.'  I  took 
a  chance  and  wrote  out  a  despatch  to  the  effect  that  Botts 
had  been  elected.  The  Louisville  papers  printed  it.  The 
following  day,  they  printed  a  correction.  Botts  hadn't 
been  elected.  The  Legislature,  as  usual,  had  only  ad- 
journed for  the  day." 

s  A.  L.  Benson,  "Wonderful  New  World  Ahead  of  Us,"  in  the 
"Cosmopolitan  Magazine,"  February,  1911. 

*  John  Minor  Botts  (1802-1869),  representative  in  1839-1843  and 
1847-184$;  author  of  "The  Great  Rebellion,  Its  Secret  History"  (1866), 

28 


A  "LIGHTNING-SLINGER" 

Even  now,  telegraph  offices  may  be  described  as  for  the 
most  part  scarcely  luxurious  in  their  appointments.  In 
those  days  they  were  positively  bleak.  The  office  in  which 
Edison  worked  during  his  first  Louisville  stay  may  be 
taken  as  fairly  typical  of  common  conditions,  not  only  in 
the  Middle  West  but  throughout  the  country.  The  of- 
fice, though  on  the  main  business  street,  was  in  the  sec- 
ond story  of  a  dilapidated  building.  The  operators5  room 
was  dingy  and  likewise  dirty.  It  boasted  a  little  stove 
with  a  very  long  and  very  sinuous  pipe.  From  fully  a 
third  of  the  ceiling,  the  plaster  had  dropped.  The  in- 
struments were  on  a  dozen  diminutive  tables  set  against 
the  walls.  To  the  small  switchboard  ran  slim  copper 
wires,  ancient  and  unsound.  As  for  the  switchboard  it- 
self, its  brasswork,  never  cleaned,  displayed  the  accumu- 
lated effects  of  oxidization  and  of  the  metallic  arcs  that 
were  formed  when  lightning  hit  the  wires.  In  the  yet 
more  desolate  battery-room,  amid  heaps  of  bundled  mes- 
sages and  discarded  record-books,  was  a  stand  supporting 
an  old-fashioned  battery  of  one  hundred  cells  of  the  Grove 
type — cells,  that  is  to  say,  in  which  the  negative  plate  was 
immersed  in  concentrated  nitric  acid.  The  acid  had 
gnawed  at  stand  and  floor,  and  gave  out  fumes  by  no 
means  agreeable. 

Of  such  a  sort  were  the  working  quarters  usually  pro- 
vided for  the  operators,  whose  domicile  would  quite  regt&p 
larly  be  a  boarding-house  with  cheap  rates  and  cheerless 
accommodations — an  establishment  of  the  variety  once  de^ 
scribed  by  Edison  when  he  referred  to  his  hall  bedroom 
as  "a  paradise  for  the  entomologist**  and  the  cuisine  as 
"run  on  the  Banting  system  of  flesh  reduction/*  In  any 
larger  office,  some  of  the  operators  were  likely  to  be 
happy-go-lucky ;  irresponsible  to  the  point  of  recklessness, 
though  sometimes  possessed  of  a  certain  vagabondish  phi- 

29 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
losophy;  and  prone  to  take  advantage  of  the  fact  that 
since,  by  reason  of  conditions,  their  services  were  at  a 
premium,  their  vagaries  would  be  generally  tolerated. 
Though  their  wages  were  for  those  days  relatively  high., 
these  operators  were  characteristically  out  of  funds.  Of 
this  ilk  was  a  chap  who  was  working  in  the  Cincinnati  of- 
fice when  Edison  was  first  there,  and  who  suddenly  left 
for  Colorado.  Several  months  after  his  departure,  at 
about  two  o'clock  one  morning,  while  the  night  shift  (in- 
cluding Edison)  was  busily  working,  a  tin  box  descended 
with  a  resounding  bang  into  the  midst  of  the  operators9 
room.  It  was  followed  by  the  visitor  to  Colorado,  who 
remarked:  "Gentlemen,  I  have  just  returned  from  a 
pleasure-trip  to  the  land  beyond  the  Mississippi.  All 
my  wealth  is  contained  in  my  metallic  travelling-case,  and 
jou  are  welcome  to  it.9*  The  "travelling-case59  held  a  soli- 
tary paper  collar. 

One  of  the  constitutional  rovers  among  telegraphers  was 
4<MIlt"  (Milton  F.)  Adams,  whom  Edison  first  met  at 
Cincinnati  in  1865,  and  who,  after  forty  years,  was  still 
one  of  the  unwearied  and  picturesque  "Ishmadites  of 
earth.'5  He  and  Edison  became  friends,  and  for  Edison 
he  was  long  the  subject  of  amusing  anecdotes^  Then 
there  was  Hank  Bogardus,  commonly  styled  "Bogie."  In 
£914,  in  conversation  with  Walter  P.  Phillips,  another 
old-time  telegrapher,  Edison  mused:  "Good  fellow, 
Hank-  Fine  operator,  too.  ...  He  came  out  here  [i  e.9 
West  Orange]  about  two  years  ago  and  wanted  five  dol- 
lars, with  which  I  supplied  him.  No  one  could  turn  the 
old  boy  down.  .  .  .  He  went  away  and  returned  in  three 
or  four  day®.  He  looked  like  a  tramp  and  his  breath  was 
like  a  whiff  from  a  charnel  house.  This  time  he  wanted 
ten  dollars.  No,  I  said,  you  get  only  five;  that  breath, 
Bogie,  is  gang  to  cost  you  $59  and  besides  that  you  must 

ao 


A  "LIGHTNING-SLINGER" 

go  away  from  Orange.  He  wanted  $IOS  but  I  was  inex- 
orable and  I  said  to  him  sternly,  Henry  Bogardns?  1  will 
not  be  party  to  the  encouragement  of  intemperance.  So 
he  reluctantly  accepted  the  five  and  was  on  his  way."  5 
B0gardus?  gifted  though  he  was3  ended  his  days  in  a 
freight  car  by  death  from  exposure.  Such  tramp  opera- 
tors, like  their  congeners,  the  tramp  compositors  of  the 
printing  trade?  are  figures  of  the  vanished  past. 

Representative  of  the  best  class  of  telegraphers  was 
George  Kennan,  who  was  born  in  1845  in  Norwalk9  Ohio, 
only  four  miles  from  Milan,  which  he  often  visited ;  learned 
telegraphy ;  and  took  charge  of  the  railway  telegraph  of- 
fice in  Norwalk.  Kennan  entered  the  Cincinnati  office  in 
August,  1863,  He  rose  to  be  its  assistant  manager,  and 
in  December,  1864,  left  it  in  order  to  go  to  Siberia,  where 
he  superintended  line  construction  for  the  Russo-  American 
Telegraph  company.  He  afterward  explored  the  eastern 
Caucasus  and  for  several  years  was  night  manager  in 
Washington,  D.  C.?  for  the  Associated  Press.  In  1885- 
1886,  under  commission  from  the  "Century  Magazine,"  he 
was  in  northern  Russia  and  Siberia,  travelling  15,000 
miles  while  investigating  the  Siberian  exile  system  of  the 
Czarist  government.  The  results  of  his  studies  appeared 
in  his  famous  work  "Siberia  and  the  Exile  System,"  pub- 
lished serially  in  the  "Century"  and  afterward  in  book 
form  (2  vols.,  1892).  This  has  been  called  "the  most 
comprehensive  and  fearless  exposition  ever  made."  In 
subsequent  years  Kennan's  duties  as  staff-correspondent 
of  "The  Outlook"  took  him  to  Cuba  during  the  Spanish- 
American  War  and  to  Manchuria  during  the  Russo- 

s  See  Phillips'  article,  "Edison,  Bogardus  and  Carbolic  Acid,"  in  the 
"Electrical  Review  and  Western  Electrician,"  November  14,  1914, 
Phillips  (1846-1920)  was  the  inventor  of  Phillips*  Morse  automatic 
telegraph,  and  for  several  years  was  connected  with  the  Columbia 
Graphophone  company  at  Bridgeport,  Connecticut. 

31 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Japanese  War.  Others  of  his  books  are  "Campaigning 
in  Cuba"  (1899)  ;  that  fascinating  collection  of  stories 
and  sketches  "A  Russian  Comedy  of  Errors55  (1915)  ; 
and  a  two-volume  biography  of  E.  EL  Harriman  (1922). 
He  died  suddenly  at  Medina,  New  York,  on  May  lOth^ 
1924.  Some  two  years  before  Kennan's  death,  a  promi- 
nent editor  and  publicist  wrote  thus  to  the  author:  al 
regard  Mr.  Kennan  as  one  of  the  finest  types  of  American 
citizen  that  this  country  has  produced.  His  clarity  and 
absolute  integrity  of  thought  is  really  beautiful  .  .  . 
And  he  has  had  a  much  greater  influence  on  American 
political  life  than  general  publicity  gives  him  credit  for. 
One  of  the  best  pieces  of  journalism  in  my  time  was  his 
investigation  and  exposure  of  the  corrupting  influence  of 
Addicks  6  in  Delaware.  These  articles  appeared  in  cThe 
Outlook'  and  literally  drove  Addicks  from  public  life.  I 
never  knew  anyone  more  painstaking  in  getting  the  facts 
or  more  courageous  and  unswerving  in  following  the  logi- 
cal deductions  from  those  facts.55  7 

In  one  of  his  delightful  letters  to  the  author,  Kennan 
once  said:  "Although  we  [Edison  and  himself]  were 
nearly  of  the  same  age,  lived  as  boys  only  four  miles  apart, 
and  were  both  telegraph  operators,  we  never  happened  to 
meet  until  we  had  passed  the  Biblical  span  of  life.  *  *  , 
Then  I  made  his  acquaintance,  by  telegraph,  at  a  dinner 
of  the  Ohio  Society,  where  he  was  an  honored  guest  and 

« J.  Edward  Addicks,  promoter  and  capitalist,  commonly  known  in 
Ms  day  as  "Gas"  Addicks  because  he  controlled  the  gas  supply  of 
Wilmington,  sought  by  hook,  crook,  and  main  strength  to  accomplish 
his  election  as  a  Republican  United  States  senator  from  Delaware. 
For  several  years  (ending  in  1906)  he  was  a  disturbing  an<I  baneful 
factor  in  both  state  and  national  politics. 

7  See  the  editorial  tribute  in  "The  Outlook"  of  May  21,  1924,  pp.  00-92; 
also  the  article  by  W.  W.  Ellsworth  in  the  same  publication,  October 
1,  1919,  condensed  from  the  same  author's  "A  Golden  Age  of  Authors** 
(Boston,  1919). 

32 


A  "LIGHTNING-SLINGER" 

sat  on  the  stage.  Half  a  dozen  old  telegraphers,  who  hail 
a  table  of  their  own  near  the  center  of  the  hall,  had  rigged 
up  a  telegraph  line  to  the  stage  where  Edison  had  a  key 
and  sounder.  In  an  interval  between  the  speeches,  one 
of  them  came  over  to  my  table  and  asked  me  if  I  didn't 
want  to  speak  to  Edison.  I  replied,  'Certainly !  I  have 
never  met  him,  but  we  were  born  only  four  miles  apart 
more  than  seventy  years  ago,  and  it  is  time  that  I  made  his 
acquaintance.5  So  I  went  over  to  their  table,  called  Edi- 
son by  telegraph,  and  introduced  myself.  I  had  hardly 
touched  a  key  before  in  fifty  years,  and  Edison,  I  pre- 
sume, was  equally  out  of  practice ;  but  I  talked  with  him 
more  easily  by  wire  than  I  afterward  did  by  voice,  be- 
cause his  deafness  did  not  seem  to  extend  to  the  ticking  of 
a  sounder."  8 

It  is  the  privilege  of  the  present  writer  to  quote  at 
length  from  autobiographical  material  prepared  by 
George  Kennan  to  be  deposited  among  the  records  of  the 
Forelands  Historical  Society  of  Norwalk,  Ohio.  These 
recollections  of  the  Cincinnati  office  as  it  was  in  1863— 
(1864  are  of  peculiar  value,  having  been  written  out  by 
one  markedly  qualified  both  as  an  observer  and  as  an 
author.  They  picture  in  a  lively  manner  something  of 
the  picturesque  side  of  a  bygone  phase  in  the  history  of 
American  telegraphy ;  and  so  far  as  concerns  this  volume, 
they  furnish  a  background  that  helps  us  more  fully  to  un- 

s  On  October  19,  1915,  while  In  San  Francisco,  California,  to  attend 
the  Panama-Pacific  International  Exposition  Edison  was  guest  of 
honor  at  a  telegraphers'  banquet  which  he  said  was  the  first  banquet 
he  had  ever  attended  at  which  he  could  not  only  talk  but  also  hear  all 
that  was  said  by  the  speakers  on  the  programme.  The  speechmaking 
was  through  telegraph  sounders.  Wires  were  stretched  from  one  table 
to  another  and  each  table  had  a  sounder  connected  to  the  general  cir- 
cuit. At  Edison's  place  was  a  special  resonator.  In  addition  t0 
listening^  he  ticked  out  a  brief  Morse  message  to  his  fellow-diners* 
("Electrical  World/'  October  30,  1915.) 

aa 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
derstand  Edison's  days  as  a  telegrapher.     For  KennaB 
did  not  leave  Cincinnati  until  December,  1864,  and  Edi- 
son arrived  there  in  February,  1865,  when  the  general 
features  of  office  life  must  have  been  largely  similar. 

Says  Kennan:  "The  Western  Union  Telegraph  office 
at  Cincinnati,  when  I  went  into  it  as  an  operator  In 
August,,  1863,  was  the  most  important  distributing  sta- 
tion In  the  Middle  West.  There  were  no  quadruples  in- 
struments in  those  days;  long-distance  circuits  were  not 
common;  and  all  press-news,  war-despatches,  and  com- 
mercial telegrams  going  westward  from  Washington,  New 
York,  Pennsylvania  and  New  England,  or  eastward  from 
Kentucky,  Indiana,  southern  Illinois  and  Missouri,  were 
written  out  in  the  Cincinnati  office  and  re-sent  to  their  des- 
tinations. We  had,  it  is  true,  a  couple  of  'Hicks5  repeat- 
ers/ by  means  of  which  we  sometimes  put  Buffalo  or  Pitts- 
burg  in  direct  communication  with  Louisville  and  St. 
Louis ;  but,  as  a  rule,  all  business  was  received  In  Cincin- 
nati by  one  set  of  operators  and  forwarded  from  there  by 
another. 

"The  whole  expert  force  of  the  office  was  divided  into 
two  shifts,  or  watches,  which  worked  days  and  nights  in 
alternation.  On  Monday,  for  example,  shift  No  1  was 
on  duty  from  8  A.  M.  until  6,  and  shift  No  2  from  6  P.  M. 
until  all  the  hooks  had  been  cleared.  On  Tuesday,  shift 
No  2  took  the  day  trick,  while  shift  No  1  worked  until  2 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  This  alternation  of  hours  was 
extremely  trying,  of  course,  to  the  health,  for  the  reason 
that  It  broke  up  all  regularity  of  life.  One  day  we  spent 
most  of  the  forenoon  in  bed  and  worked  three-fourths  of 
the  night ;  the  next  day  we  had  to  get  up  at  6.30  and  were 
"off"  before  dark.  Half  the  time  our  latest  meal  was  a 
six-o'clock  dinner,  while  in  the  other  half  we  had  a  mid- 
night lunch  of  doughnuts  and  greasy  pie,  which  a  night- 


A  "LIGHTNING-SLINGEB" 

lunch  peddler  brought  to  the  office,  and  which  we  ate  as 
we  worked.  The  business  that  we  had  to  do  was  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  strength  of  the  force3  and  after  every 
battle  in  Virginia  or  the  Southwest.,  the  'specials,'  Associ- 
ated Press  despatches5  and  war-telegrams  In  cipher,  were 
so  numerous  and  so  long  that  we  had  to  work  at  them  all 
night  The  order  of  business  was?  private  messages  until 
9  p.  M.J  ^specials*  and  news  until  the  papers  went  to  press 
about  2?  and  then  private  messages  again  until  morning. 
Many  a  night  I  went  on  duty  at  6  P.  M.,  and  never  left  my 
chair  until  I  was  relieved  by  a  man  coming  from  breakfast 
at  eight  o'clock  the  next  morning.  Once,  I  had  only  ten 
hours  sleep  out  of  seventy-two. 

"The  result — or  one  result — of  this  press  and  rush  of 
work  was  the  formation  of  a  body  of  telegraphers  who,  in 
point  of  skill,  swiftness  and  endurance,,  have  never  been 
surpassed  In  any  part  of  the  world  to  which  the  great 
invention  of  Morse  has  spread.  'Dick9  Duncan  in  Pitts- 
burg;  the  Bunnells  In  Buffalo;  Everett  and  L.  C.  Weir  in 
Cincinnati,,  and  many  others  who  might  be  named,  in  the 
larger  city  offices  of  the  East  and  Wests  were  probably  the 
most  expert  operators  that  the  art  of  telegraphy  has  ever 
produced.  It  was  a  tradition  In  the  Cincinnati  office, 
when  I  reached  there,  that  L.  C.  Weir,  who  afterward  be- 
came the  general  superintendent  of  Adams  Express  Com- 
pany,0 once  received  two  streams  of  press  report,  from 
two  separate  instruments,  copied  one  with  each  hand  on 
manifold  sheets,  and  at  the  same  time  carried  on  a  gen- 

»"Mr.  Weir  was  successively  general  superintendent,  In  charge  of 
the  territory  west  of  Pittsburgh;  later  elected  a  member  of  the  board 
®f  managers;  then  a  trustee;  then  to  the  presidency,  and  on  Ms  re- 
tirement from  that  office  was  elected  chairman  of  the  board  of  man- 
agers and  board  of  trustees.  His  services  covered  practically  a  half- 
century."-— H.  H.  Gates,  secretary  of  the  Adams  Express  company,  in 
a  personal  letter  to  the  author* 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
eral  conversation  with  the  men  who  were  watching  him* 
This  tradition,  of  course,  must  be  taten  with  due  allow- 
ance for  fanciful  invention  and  artistic  embroidery;  but 
Mr.  Weir  was  really  an  operator  of  extraordinary  skill, 
and  was  particularly  distinguished  for  Ms  ability  to  *copy 
behind.9  On  one  occasion,  when  General  Stager 10  made 
a  visit  to  Cincinnati,  and  happened  one  morning  to  be  in 
the  office  Mr.  Weir,  with  a  boyish  pride  In  his  expertness 
as  a  receiver,  thought  he  would  'show  off5  a  little  for  the 
benefit  of  the  superintendent.  He  was  working,  at  that 
time,  the  eastern  wire,  and  when  Pittsburg  called  up, 
about  nine  o'clock,  and  said  he  had  fifteen  or  twenty 
^through*  telegrams,  Weir  said  indifferently,  *AH  right,  go 
ahead!'  Pittsburg  began  to  send  at  the  rate  of  about 
thirty  words  a  minute.  Weir  made  a  show  of  searching 
all  his  pockets  for  a  pencil,  but  failed,  apparently,  to  find 
one.  General  Stager,  who  was  himself  a  good  operator, 
looked  on  with  Interest  and  expected,  of  course,  that  Weir 
would  stop  Pittsburg  and  say,  *Hold  on  a  minute  while 
I  get  a  pencil5 ;  but  this  was  not  part  of  Weir's  plan.  Ris- 
ing lazily  from  his  seat,  he  walked  slowly  across  the  big 
operating  room,  where  twelve  or  fifteen  other  instruments 
were  noisily  banging  away,  went  to  the  desk  of  Stevens, 
the  chief  operator,  and  asked  for  a  pencil.  Stevens  got 
out  his  keys,  unlocked  his  desk  and  gave  him  one.  Weir 
went  back  to  his  table,  looked  at  the  pencil  for  a  moment 
in  a  speculative  way,  and  then  began  to  feel  In  his  pockets 
for  a  knife  with  which  to  sharpen  It.  Not  finding  one — 
or  pretending  not  to  find  one — ,  he  again  crossed  the  room 

loAnson  Stager  was  general  superintendent  of  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  company,  and  military  superintendent  of  telegraph-lines 
throughout  the  United  States  during  the  Civil  War.  He  was  com- 
missioned brevet  brigadier-general  for  his  services.  Stager,  whose 
home  was  in  Cleveland,  originated  the  Federal  telegraphic  cipher--code, 
later  developed  by  himself  and  others. 

36 


A  "LIGHTNING-SLINGEB" 

and  borrowed  a  knife  from  one  of  the  local-circuit  men* 
Returning  to  his  table,  he  sharpened  the  pencil  deliber- 
ately 9  put  a  fine  point  on  the  lead,  and  then,  taking  a  pad 
of  soft  paper  in  his  lap,  he  put  his  feet  up  on  the  table 
and  began  to  copy; — making  elaborate  flourishes  and 
curlicues,  as  if  he  had  worlds  of  time  to  spare.  Pitts- 
burg,  meanwhile,  had  been  sending  steadily  at  the  rate  of 
thirty  words  a  minute,  and  was  more  than  three  messages 
ahead.  Weir  finally  stopped  flourishing;  settled  down 
to  business ;  wrote  telegram  after  telegram  with  ever  in- 
creasing swiftness,  and  soon  began  to  catch  up.  In  five 
minutes  he  was  only  two  messages  behind ;  in  ten  minutes 
he  was  within  one  telegram  of  the  sender ;  and  in  a  quar- 
ter of  an  hour,  he  had  recovered  all  the  ground  that  he  had 
intentionally  lost,  and  was  putting  the  words  down  on 
paper  as  fast  as  they  came  from  the  instrument.  General 
Stager  watched  the  performance  in  silence,  and  when  Weir 
had  finally  caught  up,  he  said  dryly,  'That's  all  very  fine, 
Mr.  Weir ;  it's  the  most  wonderful  thing  I  have  ever  seen 
in  the  way  of  telegraphing;  but  I  wouldn't  do  it  again.* ll 
"The  ability  to  'copy  behind,'  that  is,  to  remember  a 
constantly  changing  body  of  words,  while  receiving  at  a 
high  rate  of  speed,  seems  to  be  a  natural  gift — like  the 
ability  to  play  a  dozen  games  of  chess  blindfolded.  The 
almost  incessant  practice  that  I  had  in  Cincinnati  even- 
tually made  me  a  very  expert  receiver,  or  sound-reader; 
but  if,  in  copying,  I  happened  to  fall  behind  the  sender, 
even  to  the  extent  of  a  dozen  words,  I  was  lost.  I  could 

11  Weir  did  that  sort  of  thing  more  than  once;  in  fact  he  liked  to 
"show  off"  in  that  way.  I  am  sure  that  my  details  are  right,  because 
I  saw  the  whole  performance  and  I  remember  well  General  Stager's 
comment  on  it.  The  latter  cautioned  Weir  against  the  practice  be- 
cause he  was  afraid  that  Weir  would  omit  something  and  so  lay  the 
W,  U.  open  to  a  suit  for  damages* — George  Kennan,  in  a  personal 
letter  to  the  author. 

37, 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
not  write  down  one  word  while  my  brain  was  taking  in  an- 
other, and,  at  the  same  time,  remember  the  constantly 
changing  volume  of  ten  words  that  Intervened.  One 
night,  about  two  o'clock,  *Bick5  Duncan,  who  was  send- 
ing to  me  from  Pittsburg,  said,  Tve  got  about  a  hundred 
"through59  telegrams  left.  If  you  won't  break,  III  send 
them  to  you  In  an  hour.5 

"  *AU  right/  I  replied,  glancing  at  the  clock,  *fire 
away !  Pll  do  my  best.9 

ccHe  began  sending  at  the  rate  of  about  thirty-five  words 
a  minute,  and  gradually  increased  his  speed,  until,  with 
the  help  of  a  few  simple  abbreviations,  such  as  *hw5  for 
*how,3  4hv?  for  'have,5  cts5  for  'this/  &c.,  he  was  spelling  out 
in  dots  and  dashes  more  than  forty  words  every  sixty 
seconds.  His  manipulation  of  the  key  was  almost  perfect 
in  time  and  spacing,  but  I  had  to  strain  every  faculty  of 
mind  and  body  to  keep  up  with  him.  Three  or  four  times 
I  fell  a  little  behind,  as  the  result  of  falling,  at  the  first 
attempt,  to  tear  a  sheet  off  the  clip.  The  ground  that  I 
thus  lost  I  could  not  possibly  recover,  and  I  had  to  lay 
three  or  four  telegrams  aside  to  be  filled  in  later.  I  knew 
what  words  should  go  in,  but  I  could  not  get  time  to  write 
them  in,  without  breaking.  There  proved  to  be  ninety 
telegrams  in  the  lot,  and  I  received  them  in  fifty  minutes, 
without  a  break.  This,  for  some  time,  stood  as  the  high- 
j^^d.xecocd  of  -the  office  .'.*••->-—..,..,.  ^  — 

uln  the  early  part  of  1864,  when  gold  had  risen  to  a 
high  premium,  and  when  its  value,  as  measured  in  green- 
backs, fluctuated  widely  from  day  to  day,  in  sympathetic 
correlation  with  the  favorable  or  unfavorable  nature  of 
the  war  news,  we  began  to  receive  complaints  from  bank- 
ers and  brokers  on  Third  Street  to  the  effect  that  the  con- 
tents of  private  telegrams,  sent  to  them  by  their  corre- 
spondents in  New  York,  leaked  out  of  the  Cincinnati 

as 


A  "LIGHTNING-SLINGER" 

office*  in  some  way,  and  became  known  to  a  certain  stock- 
jobber and  speculator  on  the  street  before  the  telegrams 
themselves  had  been  delivered.  This  speculator  never  re- 
ceived any  gold  quotations  of  his  own  from  New  York, 
and  yet  his  information  seemed  to  be  better  and  later  than 
that  of  anybody  else.  As  I  had,  by  this  time,  taken  a 
leading  position  in  the  office,  Stevens*  our  chief9  asked  me 
if  I  had  any  reason  to  suspect  the  trustworthiness  of  any 
of  our  day  men.  I  replied  that  I  had  not,  and  that  it  was 
practically  impossible  for  our  operators  to  communiea"te 
with  the  street  during  business  hours,  because  k,tbey  wre 
npt  allied,  ,to  leave  the  operating  room. ;  lie  suggested 
that  a  man  might  send  out  notefe^  "after  seeing  the  stock 
and  gold  telegrams  from  New  York,  and  might  get  such 
notes  to  the  speculator  while  press  copies  of  the  telegrams 
themselves  were  being  made  in  the  delivery  department 
down  stairs.  I  said  that  I  felt  sure  this  could  not  be  done, 
regularly  and  systematically,  without  attracting  my  at- 
tention; and  that,  furthermore,  the  only  person  who  saw 
the  gold  and  stock  telegrams  from  New  York  was  the  man 
who  worked  the  Pittsburg  wire;  and  he  could  not  stop 
receiving,  every  few  minutes,  to  write  a  note,  without  elic- 
iting a  protest  or  a  complaint  from  Pittsburg.  I  said, 
however,  that  I  would  keep  my  eyes  open,  and  watch  the 
gold  and  stock  telegrams  until  they  went  down  stairs  in 
the  'dummy.*  f  -^ . .  «  „,  ">, ,  „  % 

*  "Three  or  four  days  later,,  g[  discoyered-^Hpir  Ahought  I 
had  discovered — the  leak.  Ttte  Western  Union  Com- 
pany, at  that  time,  maintained  a  branch  office  at  the  Bur- 
net  House,  for  the  convenience  of  the  latter's  guests. 
This  local  office  was  connected  with  the  main  office  by 
means  of  a  loop,  which  ran  to  our  switch-board  and  could 
be  thrown  into  toy  one  of  twenty  different  circuits. 
When  the  Brirttet  House  operator  had  a  telegram  for 

39 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Cleveland,  or  Louisville,  or  Indianapolis,  he  asked  us  to 
put  his  loop  on  the  Cleveland,  or  Louisville  or  Indianapo- 
lis wire.  I  happened  to  notice,  one  forenoon,  that  he 
called  for  the  Pittsburg  wire  about  the  time  that  the 
gold  and  stock  telegrams  began  coming  from  New  York, 
and  the  conviction  suddenly  flashed  upon  me  that  he  was 
the  thief,  and  that  the  leak  was  in  the  Btirnet  House. 
Stock-brokers,  in  those  days,  did  not  have  special  wires, 
and  all  their  telegrams  went  through  the  delivery  depart- 
ment of  the  general  office,  where  there  was  more  or  less 
delay.  By  listening  at  the  Pittsburg  wire,  and  sending 
a  swift  messenger  to  the  dishonest  speculator,  whose  office 
was  only  a  short  distance  away,  the  Burnet  House  opera- 
tor could  beat  the  very  telegrams  from  which  he  had  stolen 
his  quotations,  and  give  his  confederate  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes  in  which  to  buy  or  sell,  before  the  state  of  the 
New  York  market  became  known  on  the  street. 

"When  I  gave  Stevens  my  reasons  for  suspecting  that 
the  Burnet  House  operator  was  the  man  for  whom  we  were 
looking,  he  said  cheerfully,  'All  right!  We'll  set  a  trap 
for  him-  If  he's  innocent,  it  won't  hurt  him ;  but  if  he's 
guilty,  it'll  break  his  back.* 

^JJJThat  afternoon,  he  prepared  fifteen  or  twenty  ficti- 
tious telegrams  from  well  known  New  York  firms  to  their 
correspondents  in  Cincinnati,  purporting  to  give  the  lat- 
ter notice  of  bad  news  from  the  theater  of  war  in  Virginia, 
a  panicky  feeling  in  Wall  Street,  and  a  great  jump  in.  the 
price  of  gold.  At  the  same  time,  he  notified  the  com- 
plaining brokers  on  Third  Street  that  he  thought  he  had 
found  the  leak ;  that  he  was  going  to  let  false  information 
out  through  it  on  the  following  morning ;  and  that  if  the 
speculator  who  always  had  the  earliest  news  should  mani- 
fest a  desire  to  buy  gold,  it,  would  be  well,  perhaps,  to 
facilitate  Ms  operations  and  load  him  up,* 

40 


A  "LIGHTNING-SLINGEB" 

4iWhen  the  Burnet  House  operator  asked  to  be  put 
on  the  Pittsbnrg'  wire,  the  next  forenoon,  as  we  had  an- 
ticipated that  he  would,  I  switched  his  loop  into  a  little- 
used  local  circuit  known  as  the  6Camp  Dennison  wire,r 
where  Stevens  was  already  sending  the  fictitious  telegrams 
with  a  very  skilful  imitation  of  the  Pittsburg  operator's 
key-writing  and  speed.  The  trap  was  set;  and  in  less 
than  ten  minutes,  it  closed  with  a  snap,  'breaking  the 
back5  of  an  untrustworthy  telegraph  operator  and  vir- 
tually ruining  a  dishonest  stock-broker.  The  former  was 
discharged  with  a  blasted  reputation;  while  the  latter, 
who  had  'plunged*  on  the  false  news,  went  to  the  wall,  and 
shortly  afterward  left  the  street. 

"In  the  early  part  of  1864,  I  was  appointed  assistant 
chief  of  the  Cincinnati  office,  with  a  salary  of  $1600. 
This  promotion  gave  me  an  authority  that  I  had  not  pre- 
viously exercised,  and  added  to  my  responsibilities ;  but  it 
did  not  shorten  my  hours  of  labor,  nor  relieve  me  from 
much  of  the  drudgery  of  the  instrument  tables.  I  still 
had  to  do  an  operator's  work  in  sending  and  receiving 
messages  and  press  report ;  and  was  expected,  in  addition, 
to  test  wires,  locate  'crosses'  and  'grounds,'  do  most  of  the 
switching  at  the  board,  and  take  full  ch%rge  of  the  office 
in  Mr.  Stevens'  absence.55  ...  f\ 

"Cincinnati,  at  that  time — toward  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War — ,  was  a  much  rougher  and  more  lawless  city,"  adds 
Kennan,  "than  it  ever  has  been  since.  Fi^ts,  street  rob- 
beries, and  murders,  were  of  daily  occurrence,  and  all  of 
the  men  in  our  office  who  had  to  do  night  duty  carried 
weapons,  as  a  matter  of  course."  Conditions  in  time  im- 
proved, but  that  traces  remained  of  the  post-war  disor- 
ganization is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  so  late  as  1884 
a  mass-meeting  of  citizens  was  held  in  protest  against  the 
prevailing  slack  enforcement  of  the  law. 

41 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
tw  Adams,  who  was  then  something  of  a  fop,  has 
described  Edison,  when  he  first  appeared  in  the  Cincin- 
nati office,  as  "decidedly  unprepossessing  in  dress  and 
rather  uncouth  in  manner.95  Edison  himself  has  related 
that  when  he  first  went  to  Louisville  he  was  "not  much  to 
look  at" ;  and  that  although  the  weather  was  bitterly  cold, 
he  was  wearing  a  linen  duster.  A  portrait  of  him  from 
a  photograph  made  in  1866  shows,  however,  conventional 
garb  and  neatly-brushed  hair.  It  also  shows  a  face  char- 
acterized by  a  sensitive  mouth,  a  prominent  nose,  a 
high  forehead,  and  eyes  with  an  alert  yet  concentrated 
expression.  Then,  as  afterward,  Edison  was  smooth- 
shaven.  In  those  years  he  was  rather  thin. 

Of  his  skill  at  the  key,  he  once  remarked,  "In  fact,  I  was 
a  very  poor  sender,  and  therefore  made  the  taking  of  press 
report  a  specialty.35  But  "Milt55  Adams,  a  well-qualified 
Judge,  once  said  of  his  friend,  "As  an  operator  he  had  no 
superiors  and  very  few  equals."  When  Robert  Under- 
wood Johnson  (poet;  successively  associate-editor  and 
editor  of  the  "Century  Magazine";  and  ambassador  to 
Italy  in  1920— 1921)  was  eleven  years  of  age — that  was 
in.  1864 — he  was  assistant  to  the  station  agent  of  Cen- 
terville  in  Wayne  county,  Indiana;  selling  tickets,  mak- 
ing out  way-bills,  keeping  accounts,  and  learning  "the 
not  unromantic  work  at  the  telegraph  key."  12  "I  soon 
became  expert  in  sending  a  despatch,"  he  writes,  "and 
can  still  do  so,  but  in  receiving  I  was  always  in  the  second 
class.  The  most  interesting  work  was  at  night  when  I 
stayed  to  report  the  midnight  train,  meanwhile  chatting 
now  and  then  with  acquaintances  on  the  line.  A  memora- 
ble experience  of  this  episode,  which  lasted  hardly  a  year, 
was  to  listen  for  what  might  be  called  the  autograph  of  a 
certain  operator  in  the  *B5  office  at  Indianapolis  namtd 
M  ^Boncmbered  Yesterdays"  (Boston,  1923),  p.  59, 

42 


A  "LIGHTNING-SLINGEB*' 

Edison !  The  telegraphic  style  of  the  great  investor  that 
was  to  be  was  unique  and  was  detected  by  its  lightning- 
like  rapidity.  It  was  the  despair  even  of  expert  teleg- 
raphers, who  often  had  to  break  into  his  narrative  to  ask 
him  to  repeat.55 

Edison  was  all  the  while  quietly  working  to  become  more 
expert.  Even  when  in  Indianapolis.,  he  would  seize  every 
chance  of  relieving  the  regular  press  operator.  In  Cin- 
cinnati he  was  at  first  employed  in  the  commercial  de- 
partment on  a  day  wire  to  Portsmouth,  Ohio ;  but  at  night 
he  would  still  be  found  in  the  office,  awaiting  an  opportu- 
nity to  act  as  substitute  for  some  operator  who  might  wish 
to  get  away.  One  day  a  meeting  was  held  to  organize  a 
local  branch  of  the  telegraphers9  trade-union.  Eight  op- 
erators of  the  night  shift  were  absent  when  the  time  came 
for  them  to  go  on  duty.  The  few  operators  who  hap- 
pened to  be  in  the  office  cared  for  the  various  circuits  a$ 
well  as  they  could.  Edison  selected  the  busy  Cleveland 
press  wire  and  received  from  it  until  he  was  relieved  at 
three  in  the  morning.  His  "copy5*  on  this  occasion  proved 
to  be  so  satisfactory  that  he  was  at  once  promoted  from 
the  ranks  of  the  "plugs'*  or  inferior  operators  to  those  of 
the  first-rate  men. 

He  was  an  excellent  penman,  and  before  his  promotion 
he  had  added  to  his  salary  by  making  theatrical  scripts. 
Later,  when  he  was  first  working  in  Louisville,  on  a  wire 
whose  performances  have  already  been  described,  he  found 
it  "very  difficult  to  write  down  what  was  coming  and 
imagine  what  wasn't  coming."  Therefore,  to  use  his  own 
words,  "it  was  necessary  to  become  a  very  rapid  writer* 
so  I  started  to  find  the  fastest  style."  He  evolved  a  ver- 
tical method  by  means  of  which  he  was  able  to  copy  as 
many  as  fifteen  columns  of  press  report  during  his  "trick." 
This  remarkably  uniform  and  legible  writing  va$  nat- 


EDISON;  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
tirally  pleasing  to  the  newspaper  compositors ;  and  It  was 
the  primary  means  of  bringing  Edison  to  the  East.  He 
wrote  to  Adams,  who  then  was  in  Boston,  asking  whether 
there  was  a  job  in  sight.  Adams  was  working  for  the 
Franklin  Telegraph  company;  but  as  there  was  no  va- 
cancy in  that  office,  he  went  to  the  Western  Union  super- 
intendent and  submitted  Edison's  letter  as  a  specimen  of 
the  kind  of  "copy"  the  young  Westerner  could  turn  out, 
When  the  superintendent  inquired  whether  Edison  could 
take  like  that  from  the  line,  Adams  declared  he  could, 
and  that  "there  was  nobody  who  could  stick  him9*;  and 
the  superintendent  thereupon  said  he  was  looking  for  just 
that  sort  of  operator. 

Like  Kennan,  Edison  soon  showed  that  he  was  neither 
a  mere  routine  worker  nor  an  Idle  waster  of  time.  Always 
a  great  reader,  he  was  fond  of  hunting  for  bargains 
in  the  second-hand  book-shops.  Once  in  a  Louisville 
auction-room,  he  got  twenty  volumes  of  the  "North  Amer- 
ican Review,"  unbound,  for  $2.00.  He  had  them  bound 
and  sent  to  the  Western  Union  office.  Early  one  morn- 
ing, when  he  had  finished  work,  he  shouldered  ten  volumes 
and  started  for  his  lodging.  Before  long,  he  became 
aware  of  bullets  flying  about  his  ears,  and  then  was  seized 
by  an  irate  policeman  who  demanded  why  he  had  kept  on 
when  ordered  to  halt.  Edison  explained  his  deafness  and 
the  contents  of  his  package ;  and  the  officer,  who,  of  course, 
had  fancied  Edison  to  be  a  thief,  confessed  to  poor  shoot- 
ing. 

Of  his  studies  when  an  operator,  Edison  said,  "I  prac- 
tised for  a  long  time  to  become  a  rapid  reader  of  print, 
and  got  so  expert  I  could  sense  the  meaning  of  a  whole 
line  at  once.55  This  reminds  one  of  what  Trevelyan 
calls  "Macaulay's  extraordinary  faculty  of  assimilating 
printed  matter  at  first  sight."  "To  the  end,"  says  Tre- 


A  "LIGHTNING-SLINGER** 

velyan,  "he  *ead  books  faster  than  other  people  skimmed 
them*  and  skimmed  them  as  fast  as  anyone  else  could  turn 
the  leaves.  *He  seemed  to  read  through  the  skin/  said  one 
who  had  often  watched  the  operation.  And  this  speed 
was  not  in  his  case  obtained  at  the  expense  of  accuracy.9* ls 
Nor  was  it,  if  we  may  judge,  in  the  case  of  Edisons  who 
possessed  this  power  in  a  less  degree.  Although  the  young 
operator  did  not  read  much  fiction,  so  devoted  was  he  to 
Hugo  that  among  his  office-mates  he  is  said  to  have  been 
known  as  "Yi^tQr  JHugo  Edison.55  He  was  rather  fond  of 
the  drama ;  and  when  in  Cincinnati  would  quite  often  go 
with  Adams  to  the  old  National  Theatre  to  attend  the 
performances  of  John  McCullough,  Edwin  Forrest,  and 
other  distinguished  players  of  the  day.  When  he  was 
first  in  Louisville,  he  was  sometimes  present  at  discussions 
between  Tyler,  local  superintendent  of  the  Associated 
Press,  whose  office  was  at  the  back  of  the  Western  Union 
operators9  room,  and  George  D.  Prentice,  a  Yankee  edi- 
tor who  had  migrated  to  Louisville  and  had  won  a  con- 
siderable contemporary  reputation  as  editor  of  the  Louis- 
ville "Journal"  and  as  a  poet.  After  the  "Journal"  had 
been  "put  to  bed,"  Prentice  was  wont  to  come  around 
for  an  early-morning  chat  with  Tyler.  Grood  talk  might 
be  heard,  and  Edison  asked  permission  to  drop  in  to  listen 
when  he  had  finished  taking  press  report. 

He  had  set  out  to  penetrate  the  mysteries  of  electricity, 
which  then  was  even  more  mysterious  than  it  is  now. 
From  the  time  when  he  learned  train  telegraphy  from 
Mackenzie,  he  was  trying  to  get  so-called  "practical3* 
telegraph  men  to  explain  how  the  telegraph  worked. 
The  best  explanation  he  succeeded  in  getting  was  that  of 
an  old  Scotchman,  a  line-repairer  for  the  Montreal  Tel- 
egraph company,  who  said  that  if  you  had  a  vastly 

is  "The  Life  and  Letters  of  Lord  Macaulay"  (New  York,  1876),  I,  01* 

45 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
elongated  dachshund,  long  enough  to  reach  from  Edin- 
burgh to  London,  he  would  bark  In  London  if  you  pulled 
Ms  tail  in  Edinburgh.  This  had  a  certain  plausibility 
about  it;  but  Edison  admitted  that  he  never  understood 
what  went  through  the  dog.  Much  of  his  leisure  was 
spent,  according  to  Adams,  in  "monkeying  with  the  bat- 
teries and  circuits,  and  devising  tilings  to  make  the  work 
of  telegraphy  less  irksome.55  He  was  constantly  experi- 
menting. An  experiment  ended  his  second  sojourn  in 
Louisville.  One  night,  needing  sulphuric  acid,  he  had 
recourse  to  the  supply  in  the  battery-room.  A  carboy 
of  the  acid  was  overturned,  and  the  fluid  leaked  into  the 
manager's  office  below,  where  it  made  havoc  of  the  carpet 
and  the  managerial  desk.  Next  day,  notice  was  given 
him  that  the  Western  Union  company  desired  not  exper- 
imentalists but  operators,  and  that  his  services  were  no 
longer  required.  He  went  to  Cincinnati  but  soon  quit; 
and  from  Port  Huron  he  wrote  (as  we  have  noted)  to 
Adams  in  Boston,  asking  whether  work  was  to  be  had 
there.  Adams5  reply  urged  him  to  start  at  once,  and 
this  he  did,  having  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  pass  over 
the  Grand  Trunk.  Characteristic  of  the  innumerable 
legends  that  have  collected  about  Edison,  is  the  grave 
statement  of  one  writer  that  the  young  operator  "made 
his  way  to  Boston,  tramping  the  whole  distance  from  his 
house  in  Port  Huron  to  Boston  in  four  days  and  four 
nights"  14 — a  pedestrian  feat  that  (especially  since  the 
time  was  winter  and  the  weather  uncommonly  severe) 
would  easily  have  placed  Edison  among  the  great  walkers 
of  the  world! 

i*  James  Burnley,  "Millionaires  and  Kings  of  Enterprise"  (London, 
1901),  p.  169. 


f 

Mw    w    w    w    w    w   I 
/<**        /"%       f*t       /*X       r"\       /^*        ( 


V 

THE  TELEGRAPHED  TURNS  INVENTOR 


an  adventurous  railway  journey  5  during  which  lie 
was  snowed  In  bj  a  Canadian  blizzard,  Edison  reached 
Boston.  There  was  a  five-minute  interview  with  Su- 
perintendent Miiliken,  who  gave  him  a  job  and  asked 
him  when  he  would  be  ready  to  report  for  work.  "Now/* 
sdid  Edison  ;  and  Mflliken  told  him  to  be  on  hand  at  5  :30 
that  afternoon. 

Milliken  was  wise  enough  to  discern  the  sort  of  operator 
lie  was  getting;  but  the  night  shift  of  the  Boston  office 
saw  only  an  uncouth-looking  young  fellow,  clad  lightly  for 
such  freezing  weather.  They  thereupon  put  their  heads 
together  to  rag  the  new  arrival  from  the  "woolly  West/5 
A  seat  at  a  special  table  was  finally  given  to  him.  He 
was  to  take  press  from  New  York  for  the  "Boston 
Herald5'  ;  but  he  did  not  know  that  his  fellow-operators 
had  arranged  to  have  the  message  sent  by  one  of  the 
speediest  men  at  the  New  York  end.  Having  begun 
slowly  5  the  sender  increased  his  pace  until  he  had  soon 
reached  the  limit  of  his  ability—  but  Edison  continued 
to  receive  with  ease.  Then  the  New  York  man  tried 
slurring  the  words  and  running  them  together  ;  but  Edi- 
son's experience  in  Cincinnati  and  Louisville  had  made 
him  fully  equal  to  this  kind  of  thing.  At  last,  when 
the  message  was  about  completed,  Edison  opened  the 
key  and  advised  New  York,  "Young  man,  change  off 
and  send  with  your  otheor  foot"  It  is  not  recorded 

47 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
that   Edison's   associates   attempted    anything   further. 

In  Boston  the  Western  Union  office  was  on  the  ground 
floor;  but  it  was  in  many  ways  scarcely  an  improvement 
over  the  quarters  to  which  Edison  had  been  used  in  the 
West.  The  premises  had  previously  been  occupied  by 
a  restaurant,  and  swarms  of  cockroaches  had  their  lair 
between  the  skirting-board  and  the  walL  At  midnight 
an  old  Irish  vendor,  known  as  the  "cake  man,"  would 
come  around  with  eatables,  and  the  operators  would  buy 
a  bit  of  luncheon.  Then  the  cockroaches  sallied  forth. 
They  became  such  a  nuisance  to  Edison  that  on  the  wall 
beside  his  table  he  fastened  two  strips  of  tin-foil.  He 
connected  one  strip  with  the  positive  pole  of  the  battery 
that  furnished  current  to  the  telegraph  wires,  and  the 
other  strip  with  the  negative  pole.  A  cockroach  would 
climb  up  the  wall ;  and  when  he  came  in  contact  with  both 
strips  at  the  same  time,  there  was  a  flash  and  the  cock- 
roach, as  Edison  said,  "went  into  gas."  A  reporter  for 
an  evening  newspaper  wrote  a  half-column  story  about 
this  ingenious  device,  but  the  night-manager  did  not  fancy 
such  publicity  and  the  electrocutions  were  discontinued 
by  request.  "Milt"  Adams  told  how  Edison  had  once 
rigged  a  similar  contrivance  in  the  cellar  of  the  building 
in  which  the  Western  Union  had  its  Cincinnati  office. 
The  place  was  infested  with  rats,  and  Edison  so  prepared 
two  insulated  plates  connected  with  the  main  battery  that 
a  passing  rat  would  readily  complete  the  circuit.  He 
called  this  arrangement  his  "rat  paralyzer." 

One  day  the  principal  of  a  select  Boston  school  for 
young  ladies  asked  that  a  demonstrator  be  sent  from  the 
Western  Union  office  to  explain  the  Morse  system  of  te- 
legraphy to  the  "children."  Already  known  as  the  most 
intelligent  of  the  operators,  Edison  was  selected  for  this 
purpose;  and  being  always  glad  of  additional  funds  for 

48 


TELEGRAPHER  TURNS  INVENTOR 
his  perpetual  experiments,  he  agreed  to  "do  the  stunt/9 
Adams  went  along.  He  and  Edison  ran  a  telegraph  line 
across  the  schoolroom.  Edison  took  up  his  station  on  the 
platform,  while  Adams  waited  at  the  opposite  side  of  the 
room.  When  the  door  was  opened,  in  filed  the  "children95 
— about  twenty  young  ladies,  none  younger  than  seven- 
teen and  all  in  elaborate  toilettes.  As  to  exactly  what 
happened  thereafter,  Edison  and  Adams  were  not  agreed. 
Each  related  that  the  other  was  so  embarrassed  he  couldn9t 
utter  a  word.  Each  claimed  to  have  saved  the  day. 
Edison,  according  to  his  version,  when  he  viewed  Adams5 
dumb  embarrassment,  started  in  and  "talked  and  ex- 
plained better  than  I  ever  did  before  or  since.55 

Edison  lived  in  a  hall  bedroom,  which  he  shared  with 
Adams  when  Adams  was  laid  off  and  financially  reduced 
to  "absolute  zero  centigrade.55  ("I  generally  had  hall 
bedrooms,55  was  Edison5s  later  comment,  "because  they 
were  cheap.55  .  .  .)  His  meals  he  took  at  a  boarding- 
house  about  a  mile  distant.  He  was  constantly  studying 
and  experimenting.  This,  with  his  work  as  an  operator, 
kept  him  busy  from  eighteen  to  twenty  hours  a  day. 
Once  he  bought  a  complete  set  of  the  works  of  Faraday. 
He  triumphantly  appeared  with  the  volumes  at  his 
lodgings  at  four  o5clock  in  the  morning,  and  read  until 
breakfast-time.  Then  he  said  to  Adams,  "I  have  got  so 
much  to  do  and  life  is  so  short,  I  am  going  to  hustle.55 
With  that,  he  started  for  the  boarding-house  on  a  run. 

In  those  books  of  Faraday5s  Edison  found  a  great 
stimulus.  He  liked  them  because  of  their  clear  explana- 
tions, free  from  complicated  mathematical  formulae,  and 
he  tried  almost  all  of  the  experiments.  He  browsed  in 
the  second-hand  book-shops  along  Cornhill;  and  would 
spend  his  last  cent  far  books,  apparatus,  and  supplies, 
though  he  cared  little  about  clothes.  A  new  suit  in  which 

49 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
on  one  occasion  he  invested  thirty  dollars9  was  promptly 
ruined  with  acid.     "That/5  observed  Edison,»  "is  what  I 
get  for  putting  so  much  money  in  a  new  suit.55 

He  tried  not  only  the  Faraday  experiments,  but  many 
.others  that  he  ran  across.  In  a  scientific  journal  he 
found  directions  for  making  nitro-glycerin5  and  he  was 
attracted  by  the  possibilities  of  the  preparation.  He  and 
an  acquaintance  manufactured  some,  but  tests  that  they 
conducted  with  a  small  quantity  were  so  disconcerting 
that  early  one  morning  Edison  put  the  remainder  in  an 
empty  pop  bottle  and  lowered  it  into  the  sewer.  Not 
always,  however,  did  he  escape  accident.  He  had  a  bor- 
rowed induction-coil  that  he  kept  for  experimenting  in 
the  shop  of  a  man  named  Hamblet,  who  was  then  working 
on  electrical  clocks  and  who  afterward,  it  is  said,  devel- 
oped the  Western  Union  system  of  distributing  standard 
time*  One  day  the  young  experimenter  inadvertently 
took  hold  of  both  electrodes  of  the  coil,  and  then  he  dis- 
covered that  he  couldn5t  let  go.  The  Grove  battery  was 
on  a  shelf;  and  so  far  as  he  could  see,  the  only  way  to 
get  free  was  to  back  away  with  the  coil,  so  that  the  wires 
to  the  battery  would  dislodge  the  battery-cells.  This 
would,  of  course,  break  the  circuit;  but  the  nitric  acid, 
in  which  the  negative  plates  of  the  cells  were  immersed, 
might  splash.  Edison  closed  his  eyes  and  backed  away. 
The  acid  was  spattered  over  his  face  and  ran  down  his 
back.  He  rushed  to  a  near-by  sink  and  dashed  water 
over  himself  as  well  as  he  could;  but  his  face  was  tem- 
porarily so  disfigured  that  for  two  weeks  he  did  not  go 
out  by  daylight. 

Walter  P.  Phillips,  a  fellow-operator  in  the  Boston 
office,  in  after  years  wrote  of  Edison  as  spending  his 
salary  on  helices  and  coils;  eloquent  in  explaining  Ms 
diagrams  of  quadruples  telegraphy;  but  no  longer 

SO 


TELEGRAPHER  TURNS  INVENTOR 

strongly  attached  to  his  once  favorite  work  of  receiving 
press  report.  According-  to  Phillips,  he  wrote  out  15500 
or  SjGOO  words  of  "press59  in  a  hand  so  fine  and  a  space  so 
limited  that  the  matter  had  to  be  copied  for  use  by  the 
newspaper  compositors.  Rebuked  for  this,  he  next  made 
"copy**  by  writing  but  one  word  on  a  sheet,  and  that  in  the 
very  center.  After  that,  lie  was  relieved  of  the  press 


wire,1 


On  Court  street  one  Charles  Williams,  a  maker  of 
electrical  apparatus,  had  a  workshop.  There  Edison  was 
welcomed ;  and  there,  with  the  aid  of  one  of  Williams*  work- 
men, he  built  a  working  model  of  Ms  first  patented  inven- 
tion. This  was  a  vote-recorder,  for  which  patent  90,846 
was  issued  on  June  1st,  1889.  A  telegraph  operator 
named  Roberts  furnished  capital  to  the  extent  of  $100, 
and  Edisonss  attorney  was  Carroll  D.  Wright,  later 
director  of  the  eleventh  census  and  for  twenty  years 
United  States  commissioner  of  labor.  The  machine  was 
designed  to  facilitate  the  taking  of  votes  in  legislative 
bodies.  When  a  member  closed  a  switch  at  Ms  desk,  the 
machine  would  record  and  count  the  vote.  Edison 
thought  it  ought  to  be  adopted  by  the  Federal  House  of 
Representatives,  and  so  he  made  the  trip  to  Washington 
to  demonstrate  it  before  a  committee.  It  worked  to  per- 
fection, but  the  chairman  of  the  committee  informed  the 
inventor  that  no  invention  could  be  less  desirable  for  the 
House  of  Representatives  than  a  vote-recorder.  He 
made  it  plain  that  one  of  the  means  by  which  a  minority 
might  block  ill-considered  legislation  was  "filibustering" 
— a  method  of  gaining  delay  and  tiring  the  majority  by 
long  speeches,  technical  objections,  and  futile  motions. 
And  with  filibustering,  a  vote-recorder  would  obviously 
interfere.  Edison  resolved  to  devote  his  abilities  thence- 
i  "Sketches  Old  and  New"  (New  York,  1897). 

51 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
forth  to  Inventions  for  which  there  was  likely  to  be  a 
demand. 

In  accordance  with  this  resolve,  he  invented  a  stock- 
ticker  and  introduced  a  ticker-service  for  which  he  had 
about  forty  subscribers.  The  appearance  in  1867  of  the 
first  ticker — the  invention  of  E.  A.  Callahan — had  set 
many  an  operator  to  experimenting  in  the  same  direction* 
Edison  journeyed  to  New  York  in  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  dispose  of  his  ticker.  He  also  devised  an  instrument 
with  an  alphabet-dial,  for  direct  telegraphy  between  busi- 
ness houses.  Under  his  direction,  private  lines  were 
strung  along  the  roofs.  The  instruments  were  so  simple 
that  the  average  person  could  in  a  few  minutes  learn  to 
operate  one.  He  had  them  made  in  Hamblet's  shop. 
Gradually  he  was  finding  his  true  vocation. 

After  a  time,  "Milt"  Adams  went  westward  on  his  cycle 
of  roving.  Edison,  for  his  part,  decided  to  have  done 
with  telegraph  operating  and  to  devote  himself  to  inven- 
tion. Considerably  in  debt,  but  bound  to  improve  his 
fortunes  and  to  seek  broader  fields,  he  left  the  employ  of 
the  Western  Union  and  quit  the  Hub. 


VI 

UNDEB  WAY 

Edison  started  for  New  York,  he  had  only  money 
enough  to  pay  for  the  boat  trip.  His  instruments  and 
books  were  perforce  left  in  Boston.  He  not  only  was 
insolvents  but  even  lacked  the  cash  to  buy  his  breakfast 
when  he  went  ashore.  As  he  walked  along  one  of  the 
down-town  streets,  he  passed  a  warehouse  where  he  saw 
a  tea-taster  inspecting  teas.  He  asked  the  taster  for  some 
of  the  tea,  which  the  man  kindly  gave  Mm.  Such  was 
his  first  meal, 

He  had  an  operator  acquaintance  in  New  York ;  but  it 
chanced  that  this  operator,  when  at  last  found  after  a 
considerable  search,  was  likewise  out  of  a  job  and  had  but 
a  dollar  to  spare.  To  the  tired,  hungry  Edison,  however, 
a  dollar  was  a  hundred  cents  better  than  nothing.  He 
proceeded  to  order  apple-dumplings  and  coffee  in  Smith 
and  McNeil's  restaurant,  just  across  the  way  from 
Washington  Market  and  long  known,  even  beyond  the 
limits  of  New  York,  for  its  good  food.  He  once  said 
that  in  all  his  life  he  never  ate  anything  that  looked  more 
inviting.  That  same  day  he  applied  for  work  with  the 
Western  Union ;  but  there  was  no  vacancy,  and  he  was  put 
on  the  waiting-list.  Somehow  he  got  permission  to  pass 
the  night  in  the  battery-room  of  the  Gold  Indicator  com- 
pany, and  thus  the  problem  of  lodging  was  temporarily 

solved. 

The  Gold  Indicator  company,  and  the  "gold-reporting 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WOEK 
telegraph.55  that  it  controlled,  owed  their  existence  to 
certain  special  conditions  of  the  time.  Towards  the  close 
of  1861,  the  banks  had  suspended  specie  payments,  and 
the  Federal  government  had  begun  to  issue  large  amounts 
of  paper-money.  Throughout  the  United  States,  with 
the  single  exception  of  California,  gold  ceased  to  be  a 
medium  of  exchange.  The  national  banks  redeemed  their 
notes  in  government  paper.  As  the  government  fell  more 
deeply  in  debt,  its  promises  to  pay  came  to  be  considered 
much  less  valuable  than  gold,  and  gold  consequently  went 
to  a  premium.  In  1863  the  price  of  gold  in  paper-money 
reached  170;  in  13643  it  touched  the  quotation  of  2855 
though  according  to  some  authorities  the  actual  price 
probably  never  went  much  above  250.  This  disparity  in 
value  between  gold  and  government  notes  continued  until 
the  Federal  treasury  resumed  specie  payments  on  Jan- 
uary 1st,  1879. 

Under  these  circumstances,  gold  naturally  became  the 
chief  object  of  speculation.  In  Wall  street  a  Gold  Ex- 
change was  introduced,  under  the  direction  of  its  own 
board  and  exclusively  devoted  to  transactions  in  the 
standard  metal.  The  "gold  room"  was  the  converging- 
point  of  the  activities  of  "the  street."  At  first  the  quota- 
tions were  chalked  up  on  a  blackboard,  as  they  are  to-day 
in  brokers'  rooms.  A  small  army  of  crowding,  noisy 
messenger-boys  carried  the  changing  information  to  pri- 
vate offices.  After  a  time,  the  vice-president  of  the  ex- 
change. Dr.  S.  S.  Laws,  invented  an  electrical  indicator 
to  exhibit  the  quotations,  and  this  was  operated  with  keys 
by  the  registrar  of  the  board.  It  did  not  do  away  with 
the  scuffling,  noise,  error,  and  loss  of  time  involved  in  the 
system  of  messenger-boy  distribution* 

Finally  Laws  hit  on  the  scheme  of  a  central  trans- 
fcnitting  instrument,  with  indicators  controlled  therefrom 


UNDER  WAY 

In  the  offices  of  subscribing  brokers.  This  gold-reporting 
telegraph  Laws  patented.  Having  resigned  from  the 
exchange,  he  formed  the  Gold  Indicator  company,  to 
which  distribution  privileges  were  granted.  In  a  com- 
paratively short  time  he  had  three  hundred  subscribers 
to  his  service.  The  transmitting  instrument,  a  compli- 
cated and  by  no  means  quiet  affair,  was  located  in  the 
company's  office  and  controlled  by  a  keyboard  on  the  floor 
of  the  gold  room.  The  indicators  were  box-like  con- 
structions, with  a  horizontal  row  of  dials  travelling  past 
a  slot  through  which  (as  in  fare-registers  on  street-cars 
at  the  present  day)  the  figures  were  shown. 

On  the  third  day  after  his  arrival  in  New  York,  Edison 
was  sitting  in  the  company's  office.  He  had  not  yet  found 
employment;  and  apparently  the  battery-room  was  still 
his  shelter  by  night.  During  the  daytime  he  had  been 
studying  Doctor  Laws5  telegraph  system.  All  of  a  sud- 
den, on  this  third  day,  the  transmitter  came  to  a  stand- 
still. There  were  two  or  three  minutes  of  surprised 
silence — then  up  the  stairway  rushed  some  three  hundred 
boys,  all  shouting  at  once  that  the  indicators  were  out 
of  order.  The  superintendent  lost  his  head,  and  had  not 
the  slightest  idea  as  to  what  was  the  matter.  At  this 
juncture  Edison  stepped  to  the  instrument,  which,  as  it 
proved,  he  had  been  examining  to  good  purpose — so  good, 
in  fact,  that  he  now  surmised  where  the  difficulty  might 
be,  and  quickly  detected  it.  A  contact-spring  had 
broken  and  dropped  between  the  two  gear-wheels.  Then 
in  came  Doctor  Laws,  in  no  very  calm  frame  of  mind. 
The  superintendent  was  dumb;  but  on  Edison's  saying 
that  he  believed  he  knew  what  the  trouble  was,  Laws  burst 
out,  "Fix  it !  Fix  it !  Be  quick  I"  Edison,  who  thought 
Laws  the  most  excited  person  he  had  ever  seen,  thereupon 
removed  the  broken  contact-spring  and  set  the  machine 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
at  zero.     A  force  of  men  was  sent  out  to  adjust  the  in- 
dicators ;  and  In  about  two  hours,  service  was  renewed. 

The  upshot  was  that  Laws,  after  a  couple  of  Interviews, 
offered  to  make  Edison  manager  of  the  entire  plant ;  and 
that  Edison,  having  accepted,.  Improved  the  Laws  system 
in  numerous  ways  and  held  the  position  until  the  Gold 
Indicator  company  was  consolidated  with  the  Gold  and 
Stock  Telegraph  company.  This  company  supplied  a 
stock-quotation  service  that  employed  a  type  of  indicator 
different  from  that  of  Doctor  Laws.  In  this  indicator, 
the  invention  of  E.  A.  Callahan,  two  type-wheels  printed  a 
douhle  line  of  characters  upon  a  strip  of  paper  tape. 
The  quotations  were  sent  from  the  Stock  Exchange  by  the 
regular  Morse  system  to  a  central  station  at  18  New 
street,  whence  they  were  transmitted  to  various  brokers, 
After  the  consolidation  of  the  two  companies,  the  Laws 
indicator  was  retired  and  Callahan's  new  ticker  took  its 
place* 

The  most  spectacular  event  of  this  period  of  speculation 
in  gold,  was  the  panic  of  September  24th,  1869 — ever 
afterward  known  as  "Black  Friday.55  Jay  Gould  and  his 
partner  "Jim35  Fisk  had  already  won  an  unenviable 
notoriety  through  their  purchase  of  judges,  corruption  of 
legislatures,  and  alliance  with  the  Tweed  Ring.  In 
August,  1869,  they  embarked  upon  a  cynical  attempt  to 
corner  the  gold  market.  They  seem  to  have  believed  that 
they  had  influence  with  Grant's  administration;  and  as 
they  kept  buying  gold  they  drove  the  price  rapidly  up- 
ward. It  Is  said  they  reasoned  that  as  the  price  of  gold 
rose,  the  price  of  western  wheat  would  also  rise  to  such 
a  figure  that  the  farmers  would  hasten  to  sell ;  whereupon 
enormous  wheat  shipments  to  the  East  would  greatly 
increase  the  freight  business  of  the  Erie  railroad,  which 
they  controlled.  Whatever  their  motive^  probably  no 

56 


WAY 

more  thoroughly  heartless  example  of  financial  buccaneer- 
ing has  ever  been  known  In  this  country.  At  the  eleventh 
hour  their  attempt  was  defeated  by  George  S-  Boutwell, 
secretary  of  the  treasury  9  who  ordered  the  sale  of  gold  by 
the  government.  The  market  broke  with  the  4CBkck 
Friday"  panic,  when  in  one  trading  day  the  price  of  gold 
dropped  from  162  to  185.  Much,  of  this  panic  Edison 
saw ;  and  part  of  it  he  was. 

Quotations  were  at  first  forced  upward  so  rapidly,  that 
September  day9  that  Doctor  Laws9  gold  indicators  simply 
couldn't  keep  step  with  them.  It  was  one  osclock  in  the 
afternoon  before  Edison,  by  vigorous  efforts,  managed  to 
get  the  machines  abreast  of  the  correct  gold-room  figures. 
This  was  his  chief  concern ;  and  when  the  right  quotation 
had  been  reached,  he  calmly  watched  the  frenzied  throngs 
that  surged  about  the  exchanges  and  blocked  the  streets* 
A  Western  Union  operator  congratulated  him  with, 
"Shake,  Edison,  we  are  O.  K.  We  haven't  got  a  cent/* 
Late  into  the  night  the  crowds  continued  aimlessly  to  walk 
the  streets ;  late  into  the  night  the  lights  burned  in  brokers9 
offices,  where  clerks  toiled  amid  a  snarl  of  records  ancf 
accounts;  and  late  into  the  night  Edison  was  striving  to 
get  the  refractory  indicators  down  to  the  low  figure. 

There  was  something  almost  amusingly  characteristic 
in  the  phlegmatic  detachment  of  this  young  man  of 
twenty-two.  He  had  already  invented  a  stock-ticker;  he 
was  now  the  manager  of  the  Gold  Indicator  company; 
and  he  was  afterward  interested,  as  both  inventor  and 
manufacturer,  in  stock-tickers*  Yet  he  never  speculated ; 
and  to  him  the  scenes  of  Black  Friday  were  but  so  many 
curious  phenomena.  A  dozen,  years  later,  when  the  first 
central  station  of  his  incandescent  electric  lighting  system 
was  being  installed  in  New  York  and  a  method  of  dis- 
tribution worked  out,  while  shares  of  the  Edison  Electric 

57 


EBISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WOEK 
Light  company  were  advancing  in  price  from  $100  to 
$3,500  (and  gas  stocks  rapidly  f ailing) ,  he  appeared  to 
his  associates  equally  calm.  He  was  occupied  with  what 
he  considered  his  real  business — the  job  of  getting  the 
station  properly  started. 

A  week  after  Black  Friday — on  October  1st,  1869 — was 
published  in  the  "Telegrapher'5  what  Is  believed  to  be  the 
first  advertisement  of  electrical  engineering  service  ever 
printed  in  this  country.  It  announced  the  partnership 
of  Edison  and  Franklin  L.  Pope,  a  young  telegraph 
engineer  who  also  had  been  connected  with  the  Gold 
Indicator  company,  and  who  subsequently  was  editor  of 
the  "Electrical  Engineer'5  and  a  recognized  expert.  The 
style  of  the  new  firm  was  "Pope,  Edison  &  Co./9  but  J. 
N.  Ashley,  publisher  of  the  "Telegrapher,"  also  became  a 
partner.  The  office  was  at  78  Broadway,  but  during 
most  of  his  working  hours  Edison  might  have  been  found 
conducting  experiments  in  a  little  shop  in  Jersey  City, 
He  boarded  with  Pope  at  Elizabeth,  which  he  usually 
reached  on  a  train  leaving  Jersey  City  at  one  in  the  morn- 
ing. 

Pope  and  Edison  invented  a  "gold  printer,55  for  record- 
ing gold  quotations  and  sterling  exchange,  and  designed 
for  use  principally  by  exchange  brokers  and  by  importers. 
They  also  undertook  to  build  and  equip  private  telegraph 
lines*  Their  business  was  absorbed  by  the  Gold  and 
Stock  Telegraph  company ;  and  before  long  that  company 
was  acquired  by  the  Western  Union.  Marshall  Lefferts, 
its  new  president,  asked  Edison  to  see  what  he  could  do 
for  the  improvement  of  the  stock-ticker,  which  was  still 
crude  in  many  respects,  Money  for  Edison's  experi- 
ments was  supplied  by  Lefferts,  and  Edison  developed  a 
series  of  inventions  on  which  he  obtained  patents.  One, 
for  example,  was  a  device  called  the  "unison  stop,"  where- 


UNDEB  WAY 

byt  all  the  indicators  might  be  brought  to  zero  directly 
from  the  central  office,  and  thus  made  to  record  in  unison 
with  the  transmitting  instrument  and  with  one  another. 
If  an  indicator  happened  to  "go  wild,55  it  might  thus  be 
set  right  without  the  delay  and  trouble  involved  in  sending 
repair-men  to  the  subscriber's  office.  The  final  result  of 
these  experiments  of  Edison?s  was  the  Edison  Universal 
printer,  which  came  into  very  extensive  use. 

One  day  Edison  was  summoned  to  Lefferts3  office,  and 
Lefferts  told  him  that  he  wished  to  settle  the  matter  of  the 
inventions.  "How  much,55  he  said,  "do  you  think  you 
should  receive?55  Edison,  though  feeling  that  $5,000 
would  be  about  right,  had  decided  to  accept  ;  but 

now  even  this  seemed  to  him  so  large  a  sum  that  he  replied 
by  asking  Lefferts  to  make  an  offer.  "How  would 
$40,000  strike  you?55  demanded  Lefferts — and  Edison 
came  (to  use  his  own  words)  "as  near  fainting  as  I  ever 
got.55  He  was  able  to  speak  to  the  effect  that  he  thought 
the  offer  a  fair  one ;  and  in  three  days  he  called  by  appoint- 
ment to  sign  a  contract  and  get  his  money.  This  was  in 
the  form  of  a  check  that  is  stated  to  have  been  the  first 
he  had  ever  received.  For  a  first  check,  it  was  doing 
decidedly  well. 

Edison  went  to  the  bank  on  which  it  was  drawn,  and 
passed  it  in  at  a  paying  teller's  window.  The  teller 
passed  it  back  and  said  something  that  Edison  in  his 
deafness  failed  to  catch.  With  the  notion  that  he  must 
somehow  have  received  a  worthless  piece  of  paper,  Edison 
sought  Lefferts,  who  explained  that  the  check  must  be 
endorsed  and  sent  a  clerk  with  him  to  identify  him.  The 
paying  teller,  who  seemed  to  think  the  matter  highly 
amusing  and  who  must  have  considered  himself  a  very 
funny  fellow  indeed,  thereupon  paid  the  entire  amount  in 
bills  of  small  denominations.  Edison  laboriously  stowed 

59 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
them  in  every  pocket ;  and  then5  fearing  that  they  might 
be  stolen,  sat  up  all  night.     In  the  morning^  bulging,  he 
again  appealed  to  LefFerts,  who  helped  him  to  deposit 
the  money  and  open  his  first  bank  account. 

He  had  arrived  in  New  York  without  work  and  without 
the  means  to  buy  a  meal.  Within  a  space  of  time  that 
seems  almost  unbelievably  brief,  lie  had  demonstrated  his 
ability  as  an  inventor,  won  a  place  for  himself  in  the 
world  of  affairs,  and  gained  financial  independence. 
The  story  resembles  one  of  the  narratives  of  Horatio 
Alger* 


VII 

EDISON  AND  THE  TELEGRAPH 

EDISON  at  once  began  to  evolve  new  plans.  To  use  Ms 
own  expression,  Ms  was  "too  sanguine  a  temperament  to 
keep  money  in  solitary  confinement.5*  He  opened  a  large 
shop  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  there  started  making  stock- 
tickers  and  their  parts  for  Marshall  Lefferts.  His  day 
force  of  fifty  men  had  shortly  to  be  supplemented  by  a 
night  sMft;  but  night  or  day,  Edison  was  foreman. 
Three  or  four  times  during  the  twenty-four  hours,  he 
would  take  a  half -hour's  sleep  upon  a  work-bench  and 
wake  refreshed-  During  all  Ms  active  career.  It  might 
have  been  said  of  him,  as  it  was  of  Buff  on,  "Work  was  Ms 
necessity.35  In  1909  he  stated  that  up  to  190$  (when  he 
was  fifty-five),  Ms  average  working  day  had  been  nine- 
teen and  one-half  hours ;  since  then,  he  thought,  it  would 
not  exceed  eighteen. 

During  1870-1871  he  opened  two  more  shops.  He 
was  now  a  busy  manufacturer;  and  a  manufacturer  he 
afterward,  except  for  a  brief  Interval  continued  to  be. 
Men  who  have  been  associated  with  Mm  have  testified  that, 
try  as  he  might  to  escape  manufacturing,  he  kept  finding 
that  what  others  made  for  Mm  did  not  satisfy  his  stand- 
ards. In  those  early  Newark  days  almost  all  the  em- 
ployees worked,  by  the  piece.  Edison  admits  that  he  gave 
them  "a  good  training  as  to  working  hours  and  hustling.9* 
Some  of  them  were,  when  they  came  to  him,  wholly  Inex- 
perienced and  untrained.  At  one  time,  in  connection  with 

61 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
certain  experiments,  a  tub  had  been  filled  with  soapy 
water,  into  which  hydrogen  had  been  introduced  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  large  bubbles.  "One  of  the  boys, 
who  was  washing  bottles  in  the  place/*  said  Edison,  "had 
read  in  some  book  that  hydrogen  was  explosive,  so  he 
proceeded  to  blow  the  tub  up.  There  was  about  four 
inches  of  soap  in  the  bottom  of  the  tub,  fourteen  inches 
high;  and  he  filled  it  with  soap-bubbles  up  to  the  brim. 
Then  he  took  a  bamboo  fish-pole,  put  a  piece  of  paper  at 
the  end,  and  touched  it  off.  It  blew  every  window  out  of 
the  placed 

On  another  occasion  one  of  the  men  attempted  to  boil 
a  quart  of  ether  over  an  exposed  flame.  The  ether 
promptly  blazed  up,  and  the  Newark  fire  department  had 
to  be  summoned,  A  hose  was  put  through  a  window, 
containers  holding  chemicals  were  smashed,  and  the  fumes 
overcame  some  of  the  firemen. 

From  the  Newark  period  onward,  Edison's  enterprises 
provided  for  many  men  a  kind  of  experimental  school, 
especially  in  electrical  engineering.  In  after  years  an 
organization  was  formed  called  the  Edison  Pioneers,  made 
up  of  those  who  had  been  in  Edison's  employ  prior  to 
1885.  It  was  in  the  early  Newark  days  that  Edison 
obtained  the  services  of  John  Kruesi  ("Honest  John,"  he 
was  sometimes  called),  a  Swiss  mechanician,  thorough, 
accurate,  and  expeditious.  This  trusted  "handy  man" 
afterward  became  superintendent  of  the  Edison  labora- 
tory, and  then  engineer  of  the  Edison  General  Electric 
works  at  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  Another  who  at  that  time 
entered  Edison's  service,  to  remain  in  it  for  many  years, 
was  John  F.  Ott.  Of  Edison  at  their  first  interview,  Ott 
said,  "He  was  an  ordinary-looking  young  fellow,  dirty 
as  any  of  the  other  workmen,  unkempt,  and  not  much 

62 


EDISON  AND  THE  TELEGEAPH 
better  dressed  than  a  tramp,  but  I  immediately  felt  that 
there  was  a  great  deal  in  Mm." 

Long  hours  were  the  rule  in  Newark.  Once,  no  fewer 
than  forty-five  of  Edison's  inventions  were  being  devel- 
oped in  the  shops.  When  report  was  made  that  all  seemed 
to  be  going  pretty  smoothly,  a  favorite  expression  of  the 
inventor's  was*  "Well,  boys,  now  let's  find  the  bugs.55  It 
is  said  that,  special  difficulties  having  arisen  in  connec- 
tion with  a  large  order  of  tickers,  Edison  locked  the  men 
in  for  sixty  hours,  until  all  the  "bugs"  had  been  removed 
and  he  was  satisfied  that  every  detail  was  right. 

Edison  had  not  been  in  Newark  long,  when  the  Au- 
tomatic Telegraph  company  of  New  York  turned  to  him 
'for  assistance.  This  company  had  a  circuit  between  New 
York  and  Washington,  and  the  system  it  used  had  been 
devised  by  an  Englishman  named  Little.  The  message 
was  prepared  by  perforating  a  narrow  paper  ribbon  with 
groups  of  holes  coisresponding  to  the  Morse  dot-and-dash 
characters.  Then  this  prepared  ribbon  was  run  through  a 
transmitting  instrument.  Wherever  there  was  a  perfora- 
tion, an  electrical  contact  would  be  made  with  the  cylinder 
over  which  the  ribbon  ran ;  and  thereupon  a  current  from 
the  battery  would  pass  along  the  line  to  the  receiver  at 
the  other  end.  There  the  current  acted  upon  another 
travelling  paper  ribbon,  chemically  treated  in  such  a  way 
that  electro-chemical  action  would  leave  a  record  upon  it. 

Edison's  improvements  covered  every  phase  of  the 
automatic  system,  and  made  that  system  a  commercial 
possibility.  The  perforators  by  which  the  message  was 
prepared,  the  transmitting  and  receiving  instruments,  the 
chemical  treatment  of  the  receiving-ribbon — all  these  in 
turn  he  greatly  bettered.  He  did  away  with  the  trouble- 
some sluggishness  of  the  wire  on  long  circuits.  In  short, 

63 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
he  made  it  possible  to  transmit  and  record  1,000  words 
a  minute  between  New  York  and  Washington;  3,500 
words  a  minute  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 
Nor  did  he  stop  there,  but  later  perfected  a  receiving- 
instrument  by  which  the  message  was  recorded  not  in  the 
dot-and-dash  characters  of  the  Morse  code,  but  in  Roman 
letters.  Such  a  record  did  not  require  to  be  translated 
from  Morse  before  it  could  be  sent  to  the  addressee. 
With  this  added  improvement,  3,000  words  a  minute  were 
transmitted  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and 
recorded* 

Edison  went  to  England  for  the  Automatic  Telegraph 
company,  which  had  arranged  with  the  British  postal 
telegraph  officials  for  a  trial  of  the  automatic  system  as 
developed  by  Edison.  This  trial  had  at  that  time  no 
result.  It  would,  however,  appear  to  have  been  com- 
pletely successful.  The  automatic  system  was  ultimately 
adopted  in  Great  Britain,  and  continued  to  be  used  there. 
Edison  asserted  that  his  improvements  were  appropriated 
wholesale,  with  neither  credit  nor  compensation. 

So  far  as  the  United  States  is  concerned,  sufficient  con- 
temporary evidence  exists  to  show  that  in  the  United 
States  the  automatic  system  not  only  was  proved  to  be 
wholly  practicable,  but  for  at  least  two  years  was  actually 
employed  with  a  high  degree  of  success.  Yet,  in  spite  of 
this*  it  was  abandoned.  Further  along  in  this  narrative, 
certain  suggestions  will  appear  that  help  to  account  for 
this  strange  situation. 

The  next  problem  to  which  Edison  turned  his  attention^ 
was  that  of  duplex  and  quadruples  telegraphy.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  even  before  he  left  Boston,  he  had  worked 
on  a  duplex  system.  Duplex  telegraphy  means  the  send- 
ing of  two  messages  over  the  same  wire  at  the  same  time, 

64 


EDISON  AND  THE  TELEGRAPH 
but  in  opposite  directions.  Several  investigators  had 
been  studying  this  matter  of  simultaneous  transmission 
before  Edison  took  it  up ;  and  one  Americaiij  J.  B.  Steams^ 
had  attained  promising  results.1  Among  the  many 
applications  for  patents  in  the  field  of  multiple  telegraphy 
that  Edison  filed  in  18TS5  was  one  covering  an  invention 
by  which  not  only  was  duplex  telegraphy  possible^  but  two 
messages  could  be  sent  over  the  same  wire  at  the  same 
time  in  the  same  direction.  This  new  system  was  called 
the  diplesj. 

In  this  invention,  duplexing  was  obtained  by  variation 
in  the  strength  of  the  current.  At  each  end  of  the  line 
was  a  differential  (or  neutral)  relay — that  is,  an  electro- 
magnet wound  with  two  wires  led  from  a  battery ;  one  wire 
being  wound  from  right  to  left,  the  other  (with  an  equal 
number  of  turns  and  of  equal  resistance)  from,  left  to 
right.  When  the  key  at  the  distant  station  is  open  and 
current  passes  through  the  two  windings  of  the  electro- 
magnet, two  equal  opposing  actions  are  set  up?  each  of 
which  neutralizes  the  other.  The  current  divides^  half 
going  to  earth,  half  to  the  distant  station.  The  relay 
does  not,  therefore,  respond  to  signals  sent  from  the  home 
station;  but  at  the  distant  station  the  receiving  instru- 
ment becomes  active  when  the  operator  there  closes 

i  Stearns  remedied  a  defect  that  seriously  interfered  with  duplex 
telegraphy  in  its  earlier  forms.  A  telegraph-wire  naturally  has  what 
Is  called  electrostatic  conductive  capacity— that  is,  it  acts  as  a  con- 
denser and  tends  to  retain,  as  an  electrostatic  charge,  a  portion  of 
each  electric  impulse  that  passes  over  it.  Hence,  appreciable  periods 
of  time  were  required  for  the  wire  to  be  charged  by  the  current  and 
then  to  become  discharged.  This  condition  limited  the  speed  at  which 
Morse  signals  could  be  sent  and  was  a  decided  hindrance  to  effective 
duplexing.  By  introducing  condensers  into  the  line,  Stearns  balanced 
the  electrostatic  charge  of  the  wire  and  thus  helped  to  make  duplex 
telegraphy  a  practical  success. 

65 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WOEK 
•the  key.     Suck  a  relay  being  used  at  each  end  of  the 
line,    each   operator   controls   the    receiving    instrument 
of  the  other;  and  thus  duplex  transmission  is  made  pos- 
sible.2 

Diplezdng  was  obtained  by  variation  in  the  direction 
of  flow  of  the  current.  Edison  introduced  at  each  end 
of  the  line  a  second  relay,  known  as  a  polarized  relay. 
This  relay  was  composed  of  an  electro-magnet  with  a 
single  winding;  and  between  the  terminals  of  the  electro- 
magnet, a  swinging  permanent  magnet.  If  the  direction 
of  flow  of  current  were  reversed  in  the  winding  of  the 
electro-magnet,  the  polarity  of  the  magnet  would  likewise 
be  reversed — that  is,  the  north  pole  became  the  south. 
The  polarity  of  the  permanent  magnet  was,  however,  fixed 
— the  end  between  the  terminals  of  the  electro-magnet  was 
constantly  a  north  pole.  Hence,  it  would  be  attracted 
by  the  south  pole  of  the  electro-magnet,  and  would  swing 
to  that  pole.  If  then  the  direction  of  flow  of  the  current 
in  the  winding  of  the  electro-magnet  were  reversed,  the 
poles  of  the  electro-magnet  would  be  changed,  and  the 
permanent  magnet  would  swing  to  the  opposite  side.  The 
direction  of  flow  of  the  current  was  reversed  by  re- 
versing the  battery;  and  this  was  effected  by  an  instru- 
ment called  a  pole-changer.  When  the  differential  (or 
neutral)  relay  and  the  polar  relay  were  combined,  two 
operators  could,  with  the  same  current,  send  two  messages 
over  the  same  wire  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. One  operator  varied  the  strength  of  the  current; 
the  other  simultaneously  varied  the  direction  of  its  flow. 
Here  were  the  elements  of  quadruplex  telegraphy,  by 

2  In  Ms  "Flame,  Electricity  and  the  Camera"  (New  York,  1900), 
George  lies  quotes  (pp.  212-213)  from  T.  C.  Mendenhall's  "A  Century 
of  Electricity"  (Boston,  1887)  a  passage — too  long  to  be  given  here 
— in  which  a  detailed  analogy  Is  drawn  between  this  action  and  an 
Imaginary  process  in  hydraulics. 

66 


EDISON  AND  THE  TELEGRAPH 
which  at  each  end  of  the  line  were  arranged  two  pairs  of 
instruments;  one  pair  responding  to  variation  in  the 
strength  of  current  transmitted  from  the  distant  station*, 
the  other  pair  responding  to  variation  in  the  flow  of  cur- 
rent ;  and  neither  pair  being  influenced  by  currents  from 
the  home  station. 

Other  inventions  of  Edison's  came  to  attract  a  greater 
amount  of  public  notice,  and  to  claim  a  fuller  considera- 
tion by  technical  writers.  It  may,  however,  be  doubted 
whether  in  all  his  career  Edison  solved  with  more  original- 
ity and  ingenuity  a  specific  problem  in  applied  electrical 
science.  He  himself  commented  that  it  was  a  puzzle  "of 
the  most  difficult  and  complicated  kind/9  whose  solution 
demanded  all  his  energies.  Said  he:  "It  required  a 
peculiar  effort  of  the  mind,  such  as  the  imagining  of  eight 
different  things  moving  simultaneously  on  a  mental 
plane.55  .  .  .  The  practical  hindrances  to  be  overcome  in 
adapting  it  to  successful  commercial  use,  may  well  seem 
to  the  layman  little  short  of  insurmountable. 

In  the  winter  of  1872-1873,  Walter  P.  Phillips  was, 
so  he  states,  one  of  eight  operators  selected  for  special 
experiments  with  the  quadruplex,  under  Edison's  direc- 
tion, in  the  New  York  office  of  the  Western  Union. 
Phillips  says : 3  "It  [the  quadruples]  was  then  in  a  very 
crude  state,  and  the  signals  came  over  it  in  a  way  to 
suggest  to  an  imaginative  person  the  famous  rocky  road 
to  Dublin.  Edison  was  always  present,  changing  some- 
thing here  or  there,  and  gradually  a  result,  somewhat 
imperfect  but  constantly  improving,  rewarded  his  efforts. 
Finally  he  made  us  a  little  speech,  saying:  TBoys,  she  is 
a  go.  The  principle  is  all  right,  and  the  sharps  upstairs 
can  get  the  bugs  out  of  it.  We  can  not  do  it  down  here, 
for  the  troubles  with  telegraphic  appliances  can  only  be 

s  "Sketches  Old  and  New." 

67 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
gotten  out  in  the  same  way  the  Irish  pilot  found  the  rocks 
IB,  the  harbor — with  the  bottom  of  his  ship.5  *5 

A  story  is  told  to  illustrate  Edison's  absorption  in  the 
quadniplex.  It  is  to  the  effect  that  he  received  an  offi- 
cial reminder  of  back  taxes  unpaid,  with  the  statement 
that  if  they  were  not  paid  at  once9  a  surcharge  of  twelve 
and  one-half  per  cent,  would  be  added.  He  went  to  the 
City  Hall  and  got  in  line  for  the  proper  window;  but 
when  his  turn  came,  he  could  not  remember  his  own  name ! 
Long  afterward,  he  told  F,  R.  Upton,  an  associate,  that 
he  did  not  regard  the  problems  while  he  was  working  at 
It,  as  involving  miles  of  wire  stretching  across  country, 
but  considered  that  he  was  working  merely  from  one  room 
to  another  room  adjoining.  Up  to  1910,  it  was  estimated 
that  by  the  quadruples  possibly  as  much  as  $20,000,000 
had  been  saved  in  America  alone  in  the  single  item  of  line 
construction ;  for  one  wire  thus  could  do  the  work  of  f our* 

We  next  turn  from  the  work-room  to  the  board-room ; 
from  invention  to  "high  finance.3*  Edison,  wishing  to 
sell  the  quadruplex,  tried  in  vain  to  arrange  with  the 
Western  Union  company  for  a  trial.  At  last  such  a  trial 
was  obtained  by  an  agreement  on  Edison's  part  with  the 
chief  electrician  of  the  company  that  the  said  electrician 
should  be  known  as  joint  inventor*4  "At  that  time,55 

*  In  its  sketch  of  George  Bartlett  Prescolt  (1830-1894),  who  became 
superintendent  of  lines  of  the  Western  Union,,  the  "National  Cyclo- 
paedia of  American  Biography"  says  (V,  279):  "He  patented  sev- 
eral inventions  in  connection  with  the  telegraph,  and  also  Invented 
and  patented  an  improvement  in  the  quadruples;  telegraph.  He  was 
a  joint  owner  with  Thomas  A.  Edison  in  all  the  quadniplex  patents 
in  this  country  and  Europe,  and  they  received  a  royalty  from  the 
British  government  for  the  use  of  the  same  in  the  United  Kingdom. 
He  introduced  in  1870  the  duplex  telegraph,  in  1874  the  quadruplex 
telegraph  (the  most  valuable  addition  ever  made  to  the  art  of  teleg- 
raphy), and  in  1876  the  use  of  pneumatic  tubes  in  the  transmission  ©f 
messages." 

OS 


EDISON  AND  THE  TELEGfiAPH 
explained  Edison,  "I  was  very  short  of  money,  and  needed 
it  more  than  glory.  This  electrician  appeared  to  want 
glory  more  than  money3  so  It  was  an  easy  trade.35  A 
successful  test  between  New  York  and  Albany  tool  place 
in  the  presence  of  President  Orton  and  of  W.  H.  Vander- 
bilt  and  the  other  directors  of  the  company. 

The  quadruples  was  introduced  on  the  lines  of  the  com- 
pany. Orton  paid  Edison  $5,000  on  account  and  then 
vanished  "on  an  extended  tour.53  Thomas  T.  Eckert,5 
the  Western  Union's  general  superintendent,  assured 
Edison  that  not  another  cent  would  ever  be  forthcoming. 
He  said,  however,  that  he  thought  he  knew  a  man  who 
would  buy  Edison's  interest  in  the  invention.  This  man 
turned  out  to  be  Jay  Gould ;  and  it  was  likewise  disclosed 
that  Eckert  was  planning  to  leave  the  Western  Union 
and  assume  charge  of  Gould's  rival  company,  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific.  Gould  was  seeking  control  of  the  West- 
ern Union  and  rightly  viewed  the  purchase  of  Edison's 
interest  in  the  quadruples  as  a  significant  step  in  the 
process.  He  paid  $30,000  for  Edison's  share,  and  Ed- 
ison was  made  chief  electrician  of  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific. 

Then  Gould  bought  the  Automatic  Telegraph  company, 
under  a  contract  to  pay  $4,000,000  in  stock  for  the 
patents  and  wires  of  the  company.  After  he  had  finally 
gained  control  of  the  Western  Union,  he  repudiated  this 
contract.  Eckert,  who  became  president  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific,  not  only  was  personally  hostile  to  Edison  but 
also  was  foolishly  opposed  to  automatic  telegraphy,  which 
accordingly  was  withdrawn.  Edison  in  later  years  de- 
scribed Gould  as  a  dry,  unsmiling  man  with  an  atrophied 
conscience,  who  had  no  pride  in  constructive  enterprise 

c  During  the  Civil  War,  Eckert  had  been  cMef  of  the  "War  Depart- 
ment telegraph  staff  in  Washington,  with  rank  of  major. 

69 


EDISON;  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WOEK 
or  public  service  but  sought  money  for  its  own  sake. 
^^I^Tien  Gould  got  the  Western  Union,**  he  said?  "I  knew 
mo  further  progress  in  telegraphy  was  possible,  and  I 

went  into  other  lines/5  6 

«  *.  .  .  He  was  an  undersized  chap,  and  quiet  as  a  mouse.  I  never 
liked  Ms  face.  It  was  dark,  and  covered  all  over  with  whiskers  so 
you  could  hardly  see  him.  .  .  .  And  lie  wasn't  a  healthy  man,  either* 
He  was  as  lean  as  a  parson's  barn.  Never  seemed  to  me  that  he  ate 
enough."—- Bonck  White:  "The  Book  of  Daniel  Drew"  (New  York* 
2910),  pp.  216-217. D.  and  M,  I»  163-464. 


•^j^s*'^'*-^?'^ 


VIII 

EDISON  AND  THE  TELEPHONE 

WHILE  in  Newark,  Edison  was  from  time  to  time  busied 
with  problems  other  than  those  of  multiplex  telegraphy* 
For  example,  he  contrived  a  new  system  of  call-boxes  for 
district-messenger  service  and  organized  a  company  of  his 
own  to  introduce  it.  Both  system  and  company  were  suc- 
cessful ;  but  before  long  the  company  was  sold  to  the  At- 
lantic and  Pacific  Telegraph  company. 

During  this  period,  Edison  also  invented  an  apparatus 
for  preparing  a  stencil  by  means  of  which  copies  of  hand- 
written matter  might  be  produced.  The  writing  was 
done  with  a  stylus  upon  a  special  paper  coated  with  paraf- 
fin and  resting  on  a  finely-grooved  steel  plate.  The  stylus 
pierced  the  paraffin  and  traced  very  minute  perforations 
in  the  paper,  which  then  could  be  used  as  a  stencil.  This 
apparatus  was  called  the  mimeograph.  Edison  afterward 
sold  his  rights  in  it  to  A.  B.  Dick,  by  whom  it  was  manu- 
factured in  Chicago.  When  typewriting  machines  came 
into  use,  the  mimeograph  was  adapted  to  the  making  of 
stencils  with  them. 

In  the  development  of  the  typewriting  machine,  too, 
Edison  had  a  part.  The  particular  form  with  which  he 
had  to  do,  was  that  on  which  a  patent  had  been  obtained 
in  1868  by  Carlos  Glidden  and  Christopher  L.  Sholes. 
Sholes  finally  came  from  Milwaukee, to  get  Edison's  as- 
sistance in  rendering  the  machine  commercially  available ; 
and  Edison  helped  Sholes  to  make  improvements  in  it. 

71 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
In  1873  the  Remingtons,  the  gunsmiths  of  ffion,  New 
York,  bought  it  and  began  to  manufacture  it  under  the 
name  "Remington/5  When  Edison  worked  on  it,  it  em- 
ployed the  now  familiar  type-bar  principle,  but  each  bar 
carried  only  one  character  and  the  alphabet  was  entirely 
in  capitals  (or  upper-case  letters).  Prior  to  this  time, 
various  crude  and  rickety  machines  had  been  built  both 
here  and  abroad;  but  the  Sholes  invention,,  as  developed 
by  Edison  and  others,  was  the  first  practicable  device  of 
the  sort.  Edison's  connection  with  this  popular  acces- 
sory of  modern  life  is  not  generally  known.1 

In  Newark,  Edison  had  the  first  place  of  his  own  to  ex- 
periment and  work  in  that  he  had  known  since  he  left  be- 
hind the  cellar  at  Port  Huron,  with  its  two  hundred  bot- 
tles. At  one  time  he  had  four  smaller  shops  in  addition 
to  the  principal  one.  It-wasualsq  while  he.  was  in-  Newark 
that  he  married  Miss  Mary  6.  StilwelL  Yet  he  seems 
never  to  have  been  quite  at  home  there ;  and  in  the  spring 
of  1876  he  gladly  forsook  Newark  for  Menlo  Park. 

Luther  Stieringer,  a  gas  engineer  who  became  associ- 
ated with  Edison  in  Edison's  researches  in  incandescent 
electric  lighting,  says:2  ".  .  .  Mr.  Edison  found  that 
the  combined  work  of  manufacturing  and  inventing  taxed 
even  his  superhuman  strength;  in  fact,  the  two  occupa- 
tions proved  irreconcilable.  If  a  new  idea  struck  him,  it 
had  at  once  to  be  tested  in  a  thousand  different  ways,  with 
the  help  of  every  man  within  call ;  but  this  would  hardly 

iOn  September  12,  1923,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  "Rem- 
ington" was  celebrated  at  Ilion  under  the  auspices  of  the  Herkimer 
County  Historical  Society.  At  that  time  a  memorial  to  Christopher 
L.  Sholes  (1819-1890)  was  unveiled.  An  interesting  sketch  of  Sholes 
may  be  found  in  George  lies'  "Leading  American  Inventors"  (New 
York,  1912;  in  the  Biographies  of  Leading  Americans  series,  edited  by 
W.  P.  Trent),  pp.  315-337. 

2  "The  Life  and  Inventions  of  Thomas  A.  Edison,"  (Milwaukee  and 
New  York,  1890). 

72 


EDISON  AND  THE  TELEPHONE 
do  in  a  factory  run  upon  a  regular  time  schedule  and  ex- 
pected to  yield  an  Immediate  return  for  every  dollar*  In 
1876,  therefore,  Mr.  Edison  relinquished  manufacturing 
and  withdrew  to  the  world-famous  Menlo  Park,  New  Jer- 
sey, twenty-four  miles  from  New  York  City.35  [Time- 
tables of  the  Pennsylvania  railway  system  give  the  dis- 
tance as  £5.2  miles  from  the  station  in  New  York.] 

Menlo  Park,  in  spite  of  its  rather  fancy  name,  was  just 
a  little  knot  of  houses  near  a  diminutive  railway  station. 
All  about  it  stretched  open  country.  One  may  still  find 
it  on  the  map  in  Middlesex  county.  New  Jersey ;  it  being 
on  the  Pennsylvania  railroad,  between  Elizabeth  and 
Ifetuchen.  At  Menlo,  Edison  discovered  the  retirement 
and  quiet  that  he  wished ;  there  he  finally  possessed  a  real 
laboratory;  and  there  he  remained  until  1887. 

Before  he  left  Newark,  he  had  undertaken  certain  re- 
searches in  telephony ;  and  these  were  continued  at  Menlo 
upon  his  arrival.  They  began,  apparently,  with  his 
studies  in  harmonic  telegraphy,  which  had  been  success- 
fully attempted  by  Elisha  Gray  as  early  as  1874.  In 
the  harmonic  system  (not  at  present  in  use) ,  a  vibrating 
reed  or  a  tuning  fork  was  employed  to  transmit  over  the 
telegraph  line  a  series  of  electric  impulses  corresponding 
to  its  own  rate  of  vibration — more  commonly  called  pitch. 
At  the  receiving  station,  another  reed  or  fork,  similarly 
tuned,  would  give  forth  the  same  tone.  By  means  of  a 
telegraph  key,  this  continuous  tone  might  be  broken  up 
into  the  Morse  signals;  and  thus  a  telegraphic  message 
could  be  sent  and  received.  Not  only  so,  but  other  pairs 
of  reeds  or  forks,  each  pair  having  its  own  tone  (or  note) , 
could  be  used  to  send  impulses  over  the  same  wire  at  the 
same  time  without  interference  of  any  one  with  any  other, 
Each  receiving  reed  or  fork  "selected'*  its  own  tone  and 
**rejected5*  every  other.  By  using  a  set  of  reeds  arranged 

73 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
in  keyboard  fashion  before  a  set  of  electro-magnets  (for 
which  the  reeds  acted  as  armatures),  Ellsha  Graj  not 
only  was  able  to  send  music  but  actually  transmitted  nine 
separate  messages  over  the  same  wire  at  the  same  Instant. 

It  would  appear  that  Edison  had  been  investigating 
the  general  principles  of  this  system ;  and  in  1875  he  de- 
vised an  apparatus  intended  to  serve  in  analyzing  the  va- 
rious waves  produced  by  different  sounds.  A  caveat  filed 
in  the  United  States  Patent  Office  on  January  14th,  1876, 
described  this  apparatus.  One  month  later,  on  Febru- 
ary 14th,  1876,  Elisha  Gray  filed  a  caveat  for  the  inven- 
tion of  a  telephone ;  and  on  that  same  day,  Alexander  G. 
Bell  filed  an  application  for  his  first  telephone  patent. 
Gray5s  caveat  was  filed  about  two  hours  after  Bell's  ap- 
plication. A  caveat,  in  this  special  sense,  was  a  descrip- 
tion of  an  invention  not  yet  perfected;  and  the  filing  of 
such  a  description  in  the  Patent-Office  archives  entitled 
the  person  working  on  such  an  invention  to  notice,  during 
a  period  of  one  year,  of  the  filing  of  an  application  for  a 
patent  on  an  interfering  invention.  The  caveat  system 
was  abolished  in  1910.  In  the  case  of  Gray  and  Bell,  a 
long  litigation  followed;  and  it  was  not  until  1888  that 
Bell's  priority  was  established,  so  far  as  the  law  was  con- 
cerned, by  a  decision  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court. 
Edison,  at  the  time  he  filed  his  caveat,  was  not  aware  of 
the  fact  that  his  device  of  1875  was  crudely  capable  of 
transmitting  speech;  nor  did  he  discover  this  until  after 
the  details  of  Bell's  work  had  been  made  public.  His  ap- 
paratus has,  however,  a  certain  historical  interest,  not- 
withstanding that  he  always  gave  to  Bell  the  credit  of 
having  discovered  the  transmission  of  articulate  speech 
over  an  electric  circuit  by  means  of  a  vibrating  diaphragm 
placed  in  front  of  an  electro-magnet. 

The  next  stage  of  the  story  brings  us  to  the  significant 

74 


EDISON  AND  THE  TELEPHONE 
contributions  made  by  Edison  toward  the  perfecting  of 
Bell's  original  invention;  Bell's  system  had  no  special 
transmitter.  One  contrivance,  similar  to  the  present  re- 
ceiver, did  for  both  receiver  and  transmitter.  This  con- 
trivance consisted  of  a  steel  diaphragm  placed  near  the 
pole  of  a  bar  electro-magnet.  The  diaphragm  vibrated 
when  the  tones  of  the  voice  struck  it;  and,  acting  as  an 
armature,  it  induced  impulses  in  the  magnetic  coil. 
These  impulses  passed  over  the  line  to  the  receiving  sta- 
tion. In  other  words.  Bell's  was  strictly  a  magneto- 
telephone:  the  sound-waves  of  the  human  voice  did  the 
work.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  amount  of 
power  that  may  thus  be  produced  is  comparatively  re- 
stricted. The  electric  impulses  on  Bell's  system  were, 
therefore,  decidedly  faint,  and  hence  the  system  could  be 
used  for  none  but  very  short  lines.  Indeed,  Edison  is 
himself  recorded  as  stating  that  when  tests  were  made 
with  the  Bell  apparatus  over  Western  Union  wires  between 
New  York  and  Newark,  the  impulses  were  so  feeble  that 
not  a  word  could  be  distinguished. 

Now  reappears  Orton  of  the  Western  Union.  Orton 
wished  Edison  to  overcome  the  defects  inherent  in  the 
Bell  system  and  make  the  telephone  thoroughly  practica- 
ble. This  Edison  did ;  and  then  the  Western  Union,  by 
acquiring  the  Edison  patents,  obtained  a  weapon  of  the 
utmost  value  to  it  in  suits  with  the  company  that  Bell  had 
incorporated  in  Massachusetts. 

First  of  all,  Edison  took  advantage  of  that  property 
of  carbon  by  virtue  of  which  variation  in  the  pressure  ap- 
plied to  it  causes  corresponding  variation  in  its  electrical 
resistance.  He  employed  for  his  transmitter  a  closed  cir- 
cuit in  which  were  two  electrodes,  either  one  or  both  being 
of  carbon,  and  both  being  kept  under  an  initial  pressure, 
so  that  battery  current  was  uninterruptedly  flowing  over 

75 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
the  circuit.  One  of  these  electrodes  was  connected  with 
the  vibrating  diaphragm  of  the  transmitter.  Vibrations 
of  the  diaphragm  caused  variations  in  the  pressure  be- 
tween the  electrodes.  Then  Edison  introduced  an  In- 
duction coil.  The  battery  current  flowed  not  over  the 
line  but  through  the  primary  circuit  of  the  coil.  The 
secondary  circuit  of  the  coil  was  connected  with  the  line, 
over  which  electric  impulses  of  very  much  higher  potential 
could  be  sent  than  had  been  at  all  possible  by  Bell's 
method.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Edison  made  two  radi- 
cal changes.  With  his  carbon  transmitter  (or  micro- 
phone), the  sound-waves  of  the  human  voice  did  not  di- 
rectly set  up  the  electric  impulses  in  the  line,,  but  simply 
varied  the  resistance  between  two  electrodes,  thereby  op- 
erating a  kind  of  "electric  valve.55  Furthermore,  with 
the  induction  coil  the  effective  length  of  the  line  was 
greatly  extended. 

Almost  at  once  these  improvements  of  Edison's  liberated 
the  whole  early  art  of  telephony  and  opened  up  the  pos- 
sibilities of  an  instrument  that  many  had  been  inclined 
to  regard  as  only  an  interesting  toy.  Then  began  a  com- 
mercial warfare  between  the  Bell  interests  and  the  West- 
ern Union  forces.  A  compromise  was  finally  reached,  but 
before  that  came  about,  the  Western  Union,  through  its 
subsidiary,  the  American  Speaking  Telephone  company, 
had  in  operation  between  eighty  and  eighty-five  telephone 
exchanges  and  was  busily  making  apparatus.  Under  the 
terms  of  the  compromise,  the  Bell  company  agreed  to  keep 
out  of  the  telegraphic  field  and  the  Western  Union  with- 
drew from  competition  in  the  field  of  the  telephone. 

The  Western  Union  was  in  a  position  to  exact  certain 
concessions,  among  which  was  a  twenty  per  cent,  royalty 
on  the  earnings  of  the  Bell  system  until  the  Bell  patents 
expired.  From  this  source  alone  it  derived  until  1894 

,76 


EDISON  AND  THE  TELEPHONE 
a  yearly  revenue  of  several  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
This  was  wholly  due  to  Its  ownership  of  the  Edison  pat- 
ents. Dr.  Alexander  G.  Bell  died  on  August  2nd,  1922? 
at  his  country-house  at  Baddeck?  Nova  Scotia;  and  the 
press  notices  and  editorials  that  followed  his  death  testi- 
fied pretty  generally  to  the  fact  that,  so  far  as  the  public 
mind  was  concerned,  old  controversies  had  passed  into 
oblivion.  Such  statements  as  this  were,  however,  made: 
"It  was  a  long  step  from  the  first  feeble  voice  transmitter 
to  the  present  device.  But  the  essentials  are  the  same 
to-day  as  then,  and  the  truly  marvelous  development  lias 
not  been  so  much  In  the  changes  in  the  instrument  itself 
as  in  the  effect  upon  the  world  of  its  widespread  use.59 * 
To  this  the  objection  might  well  be  made  that  the  essentials 
are  not  the  same  to-day  as  then ;  and  that  experts  have  de- 
clared that  without  the  changes  made  by  Edison,  wide- 
spread telephony  as  we  know  it  to-day  would  probably 
have  been  impossible.4 

Edison  also  furnished  to  telephony  an  appliance  known 
as  the  electro-motograph,  the  principle  of  which  was  first 
applied  to  telegraphy,  and  in  the  following  manner. 
The  sounder  (or  relay)  was  absolutely  essential  to  long- 
distance telegraphy,  and  the  operation  of  the  sounder  de- 
pended on  the  use  of  a  spring  to  draw  back  the  armature 
from  the  magnet.  Such  use  of  a  spring  was  covered  by  a 
patent  that  had  been  issued  only  after  years  of  delay  and 
that  was  then  bought  by  Jay  Gould  while  he  was  seeking 
control  of  the  Western  Union.  Edison  succeeded,  by 

s  Editorial  in  the  "New  York  Tribune"  of  August  3,  1922. 

4  "Edison's  lampblack  button  did  not  survive  the  test  of  time,  but 
his  use  of  carbon  as  the  variable  resistance  proved  of  permanent 
value,  and  he  produced  a  telephone  transmitter  of  much  greater  power 
than  the  Bell  magneto  telephone,"— X  A.  Fleming:  "Fifty  Years  of 
Electricity:  The  Memories  of  an  Electrical  Engineer"  (London,  1921), 
p.  83. 

77 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
means  of  the  electro-motograph,  in  entirely  obviating  the 
use  of  a  spring,  and,  more  than  that,  in  finding  a  substi- 
tute for  the  electro-magnet. 

In  place  of  the  magnet,  with  its  vibrating  armature,  he 
had  a  cylindrical  piece  of  chalk  moistened  with  a  chem- 
ical solution  and  rotated  by  a  little  clockwork  motor ;  and 
resting  lightly  against  the  chalk  he  had  a  diminutive  pad 
carried  at  the  upper  end  of  a  vibrating  metal  arm.  The 
chalk  cylinder  was  connected  to  one  pole  of  a  battery,  the 
vibrating  arm  to  the  other.  When  no  current  was  pass- 
ing through  the  chalk,  the  pad  adhered  to  the  cylinder 
by  virtue  of  f rictional  pressure ;  but  when  current  passed 
through  the  chalk,  the  result  was  electro-chemical  de- 
composition of  the  solution  with  which  the  chalk  was  kept 
moist.  Thereupon  the  friction  between  the  pad  and  the 
chalk  was  so  reduced  that  the  pad  slipped,  and  an  op- 
posing spring  at  once  withdrew  the  vibrator  arm.  In 
practice,  the  incoming  current  thus  caused  movements  of 
the  pad  and  vibrating  arm  corresponding  to  the  Morse 
dashes  and  dots  sent  by  the  operator  at  the  transmitting 
station.  This  was  a  wholly  new  method  for  the  repeti- 
tion of  transmitted  telegraphic  signals. 

After  successful  tests,  the  Western  Union  bought  the 
electro-motograph.  Gould,  who  had  bought  the  Page 
patent  covering  a  retractile  spring  for  the  armature  of 
an  electro-magnetic  relay,  for  no  better  reason  than  to 
use  it  as  a  weapon  in  his  attack  on  the  Western  Union, 
was  suddenly  brought  to  realize  that  the  patent  was  value- 
less and  the  weapon  futile.  The  spectacle  of  unscrupu- 
lous force  confounded  by  applied  science  is  not  displeas- 
ing. 

The  general  principle  of  the  electro-motograph  was 
later  employed  by  Edison  in  his  "loud-speaking  tele- 
phone/' In  this  contrivance,  a  cylinder  of  chalk,  mois- 

78 


EDISON  AND  THE  TELEPHONE 
tened  with  a  chemical  solution*  was  used ;  and  the  cylin- 
der was  rotated  by  a  crank  turned  by  the  person  who  re- 
ceived the  message.  Resting  on  the  chalk  was  an  aria 
faced  with  palladium  and  attached  at  its  opposite  end  to 
a  diaphragm  in  a  resonator.  The  variations  in  the  cur- 
rent from  the  transmitting  station  passed  through  the 
chalk  cylinder^  producing  electro-chemical  decomposition. 
This  caused  variations  in  the  adhesion  between  the  arm 
and  the  cylinder^  and  these  variations  in  turn  caused  vi- 
brations of  the  diaphragm.  Both  speaking  and  singing 
could  thus  be  repeated  with,  what  has  been  described  as 
"startling  distinctness."  One  is  inclined  to  think  this 
>  just  description  when  he  learns  that  the  voice  of  a  per- 
son talking  into  the  carbon  transmitter  in  New  York  was 
so  amplified  by  the  loud-speaking  telephone  at  Menlo 
Park  as  to  be  heard  distinctly  in  a  field  at  a  thousand  feet 
from  the  receiver.5 

The  loud-speaker  was  for  a  time  employed  in  England, 
when  the  telephone  was  being  introduced  there  and  the 
Bell  and  Edison  interests  were  in  conflict.  Edison's  car- 
bon transmitter  patent  was  sustained  in  the  British  courts 
against  the  Bell  transmitter  patent.  The  loud-speaker 
provided  a  means  of  escaping  infringement  of  Bell's  re- 
ceiver; but  it  was  afterward  commercially  discarded  in 
favor  of  the  Bell  apparatus^  which  was  less  complicated 
and  could  be  manufactured  at  less  cost.  Edison  sent  rep- 
resentatives to  establish  exchanges  in  Great  Britain  and 
on  the  continent.  In  1879  Bernard  Shaw,  then  a  young 
fellow  of  twenty-three,  was  employed  in  the  London  of- 

s "...  It  might  appropriately  be  called  'The  Shouting  Telephone,' 
for  its  Voice'  is  louder  than  that  of  any  ordinary  speaker,  and  we 
Jiave  failed  to  distinguish  any  difference  in  clearness  of  articulation 
Jbetween  its  utterances  and  those  of  a  person  engaged  in  conversation." 
--"Engineering"  (London),  March  21,  1879. 

79 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
fice  of  the  Edison  company.  Of  this  experience  he  dis- 
coursed most  amusingly  in  the  preface  to  his  novel  "The 
Irrational  Knot.53  The  loud-speaking  telephone  Shaw 
described  as  "much  too  ingenious";  it  being?  lie  said9 
"nothing  less  than  a  telephone  of  such  stentorian7  effi- 
ciency that  it  bellowed  your  most  private  communications 
all  over  the  house,  instead  of  whispering  them  with  some 
sort  of  discretion.55 

"This/5  he  continues,  "was  not  what  the  British  stock- 
broker wanted;  so  the  company  was  soon  merged  in  the 
National  Telephone  Company,6  after  making  a  place  for 
itself  in  the  history  of  literature,  quite  unintentionally, 
by  providing  rne  with  a  job.  Whilst  the  Edison  Tele- 
phone Company  lasted,  it  crowded  the  basement  of  a  huge 
pile  of  offices  in  Queen  Victoria  Street  with  American  ar- 
tificers. These  deluded  and  romantic  men  gave  me  a 
glimpse  of  the  skilled  proletariat  of  the  United  States; 
and  their  language  was  frightful  even  to  an  Irishman. 
They  worked  with  a  ferocious  energy  which  was  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  result  achieved.  Indomitably  resolved 
to  assert  their  republican  manhood  by  taking  no  orders 
from  a  tall-hatted  Englishman  whose  stiff  politeness  cov- 
ered his  conviction  that  they  were,  relatively  to  himself 9 

e  Before  the  telegraphs  were  taken  over  by  the  British  government 
In  1870,  certain  acts  were  passed  in  Parliament  in  1868  and  1869,  by 
which  it  was  provided  that  inter-communication  for  profit  by  any 
means  whatsoever  should  be  a  state  monopoly.  When  the  question 
subsequently  arose  whether,  within  the  meaning  of  these  acts,  the 
telephone  was  a  telegraph,  the  Post  Office  insisted  that  it  was.  The 
question  having  been  decided  in  favor  of  the  Crown,  the  Post  Office 
proposed  to  license  commercial  companies  on  a  royalty  basis,  the 
royalty  to  be  ten  per  cent,  of  the  receipts.  Eventually,  the  telephones 
all  came  under  the  exclusive  management  of  the  National  company 
referred  to  by  Shaw,  The  government,  however,  built  and  owned 
the  trunk  lines.  In  1911  the  telephones  passed  into  the  control  of  the 
state,  as  the  telegraphs  did  forty  years  before.  See  Fleming:  "Fifty 
Years  of  Electricity,"  pp.  84,  88. 

80 


EDISOX  AND  THE  TELEPHONE 
inferior  and  common  persons^  they  Insisted  on  being 
slave-driven  with  genuine  American  oaths  by  a  genuine 
free  and  equal  American  foreman.  They  utterly  de- 
spised the  artfully  slow  British  workman  who  did  as  little 
for  his  wages  as  he  possibly  could;  never  hurried  himself; 
and  had  a  deep  reverence  for  anyone  whose  pocket  could 
be  tapped  by  respectful  behavior.  Need  I  add  that  they 
were  contemptuously  wondered  at  by  this  same  British 
workman  as  a  parcel  of  outlandish  adult  boys,  who 
sweated  themselves  for  their  employer's  benefit  instead  of 
looking  after  their  own  interests?  They  adored  Mr. 
Edison  as  the  greatest  man  of  all  time  in  every  possible 
department  of  science,,  art  and  philosophy,  and  exe- 
crated Mr.  Graham  Bell,  the  inventor  of  the  rival  tele- 
phones as  his  Satanic  adversary;  but  each  of  them  had 
(or  pretended  to  have)  on  the  brink  of  completion,  an 
improvement  on  the  telephone,  usually  a  new  transmit- 
ter. They  were  free-souled  creatures,  excellent  com- 
pany: sensitive,  cheerful,  and  profane;  liars,  braggarts, 
and  hustlers;  with  an  air  of  making  slow  old  England 
hum  which  never  left  them  even  when,  as  often  happened, 
they  were  wrestling  with  difficulties  of  their  own  making, 
or  struggling  in  no-thoroughfares  from  which  they  had 
to  be  retrieved  like  strayed  sheep  by  Englishmen  without 
imagination  enough  to  go  wrong. 

"In  this  environment  I  remained  for  some  months.  As 
I  was  interested  in  physics  and  had  read  Tyndall  and 
Helmholtz,  beside  having  learnt  something  in  Ireland 
through  a  fortunate  friendship  with  a  cousin  of  Mr. 
Graham  Bell  who  was  also  a  chemist  and  physicist,  I  was, 
I  believe,  the  only  person  in  the  entire  establishment  who 
knew  the  current  scientific  explanation  of  telephony ;  and 
as  I  soon  struck  up  a  friendship  with  our  official  lecturer, 
a  Colchester  man  whose  strong  point  was  pre-scientific 

SI 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
agriculture,  I  often  discharged  his  duties  for  him  in  a 
manner  which,  I  am  persuaded,  laid  the  foundation  o£ 
Mr.  Edison's  London  reputation:  my  sole  reward  being 
my  boyish  delight  in  the  half -concealed  incredulity  of  our 
visitors  (who  were  convinced  by  the  hoarsely  startling 
utterances  of  the  telephone  that  the  speaker,  alleged  by 
me  to  be  twenty  miles  away,  was  really  using  a  speaking- 
trumpet  In  the  next  room),  and  their  obvious  uncertainty  9 
when  the  demonstration  was  over,  as  to  whether  they  ought 
to  tip  me  or  not:  a  question  they  either  decided  in  the 
negative  or  never  decided  at  all;  for  I  never  got  any- 
thing.55 7 

In  reporting  a  public  demonstration  of  the  loud- 
speaker by  Edison  at  Saratoga  Springs,  New  York,  In 
August,  18T9  (on  which  occasion  Bell  sat  on  the  plat- 
form), the  "New  York  Tribune9"  said  that  "Mr-  Edison's 
explanations  pleased  the  people  greatly.  His  quaint  and 
homely  manner,  his  unpolished  but  clear  language,,  his 
odd  but  pithy  expressions  charmed  and  attracted  them." 
Describing  the  device,  the  newspaper  said:  "The  ap- 
paratus is  In  a  small  box  with  a  crank  at  the  side  and  a 
glass  front,  through  which  the  receiver  presses  on  the 
arm  extending  from  the  diaphragm  to  the  chalk  cylinder. 
There  is  a  little  round  hole  at  the  top  of  the  box.  The 
Inventor  showed  that  it  made  no  difference  In  which  di- 
rection the  cylinder  was  turned,  or  whether  it  was  turned 
fast  or  slow.  But  If  he  stopped  turning  the  crank,  the 
sound  stopped  the  same  Instant.'9  8  It  should  be  added 
that  In  various  tests  the  electro-motograph  successfully 
repeated  singing  at  considerable  distances.  The  loud- 

7  "The  Irrational  Knot"  first  appeared  as  a  serial  in  a  monthly 
magazine  entitled  "Our  Corner,"  edited  by  Mrs.  Annie  Besant.  The 
quotation  is  from  the  text  of  the  American  edition  of  1905  (New- 
York),  pp.  ix-xi 

s  August  31,  1879. 

82 


EDISON  AND  THE  TELEPHONE 
speaking  receiver  used  in  radio-telephony  is,  of  course, 
an  entirely  different  affair. 

To  this  same  general  earlier  period  at  Menlo  Park  be- 
longs Edison9s  tasimeter,  designed  to  detect  minute 
changes  in  temperature.  The  word  literally  signifies  an 
instrument  that  measures  stretching;  and  this  term  is 
sufficiently  descriptive.  In  the  tasimeter  Edison  again 
utilized  the  fact  that  the  electrical  resistance  of  carbon  is 
decreased  as  pressure  upon  the  carbon  is  increased.  The 
instrument  consisted  of  a  strip  of  some  material  known  to 
be  very  sensitive  to  heat — such,  for  example,  as  vulcanite, 
a  hard  variety  of  vulcanized  india-rubber;  and  beneath 
this  strip,  in  the  order  given,  a  platinum  plate,  a  carbon 
button,  and  another  platinum  plate.  The  carbon  button 
and  the  two  platinum  plates  were  included  in  an  electric 
circuit  that  likewise  contained  a  battery  and  a  galvanom- 
eter. The  minutest  degree  of  heat  caused  an  invisible 
expansion  in  the  sensitive  strip,  the  pressure  of  the  strip 
upon  the  carbon  button  was  increased,  and  at  once  a 
variation  in  the  resistance  of  the  circuit  was  set  up-  This 
variation  the  galvanometer  promptly  indicated.  It  has 
been  stated  that,  with  a  galvanometer  sufficiently  delicate, 
the  tasimeter  (or  microtasimeter,  as  it  sometimes  has  been 
called)  would  show  the  action  of  heat  from  the  hand  of  a 
person  thirty  feet  distant,  Edison  did  not  seek  a  patent 
©n  the  tasimeter,  the  use  of  which  has  been  limited  to 
scientific  investigations,  such  as  the  study  of  heat  from 
remote  suns. 


IX 

"ORGANIZING  THE  ECHOES'3 

KRITESI  had  seen  Edison  accomplish  some  pretty 
amazing  things,  but  John's  credulity  had  its  limits.  One 
day  in  the  autumn  of  18779  Edison  handed  to  him  a  sketch 
of  a  model  to  be  made  as  piece-work;  and  on  the  margin 
of  the  sketch  was  a  memorandum  of  what  Edison  thought 
the  right  price  for  the  job,  $18.  Krnesi  set  to  work.  He 
tried  to  figure  out  what  such  a  queer  affair  was  for ;  then 
he  went  to  Edison  and  asked.  When  Edison  had  told 
him9  he  thought  the  whole  scheme  ridiculous.  His  busi- 
ness was,  however,  to  complete  the  model;  and  so  the 
model  was  completed  and  John  stood  by  to  see  what  would 
happen. 

There  was  no  denying  that  the  model  did  look  rather 
odd.  On  a  wooden  base  a  metal  shaft,  having  a  thread 
cut  in  it  (like  a  horizontal  screw)  and  with  a  handle  at 
one  end,  was  mounted  upon  two  supports.  The  shaft  ran 
through  a  metal  drum,  into  whose  surface  had  been  cut 
a  spiral  groove.  On  either  side  of  the  drum  was  a  little 
tube;  and  over  the  inner  end  of  each  little  tube  was 
stretched  a  parchment  diaphragm.  In  the  center  of  each 
diaphragm  was  a  steel  needle. 

Kruesi  was  positive  the  thing  would  be  a  failure.  So 
was  Carman,  foreman  of  the  machine-shop,  who  (accord- 
ing to  the  accepted  story)  backed  his  opinion  with  the 
bet  of  a  box  of  cigars.  Edison  thereupon  proceeded  to 


"ORGANIZING  THE  ECHOES'3 
act  In  a  highly  absurd  manner.  He  put  a  thin  sheet  of 
tinfoil  around  the  drum.  Then  he  started  to  turn  the 
handle  of  the  shaf  t,  while  at  the  same  time  into  one  of  the 
little  tubes  he  declaimed  in  stentorian  tones  that  immortal 
lyric,  "Mary  had  a  little  lambP?  Then  he  turned  the 
shaft  backward  to  the  starting  point>  drew  away  the  first 
tube,  adjusted  the  other ,  and  once  more  turned  the  shaft 
forward.  Out  from  the  machine,  faintly  but  surely*  came 
the  voice  of  Edison  reciting  the  classic  adventure  of 
Mary  and  the  lamb. 

"Mem  Gott  im  Himmel!"  cried  out  John  Kruesi 
Carman  admitted  that  the  bet  was  lost.  The  entire  staff 
began  to  collect  about  this  marvelous  cylinder  whence 
somehow  had  issued  the  ghost  of  speech.  Edison's  own 
feelings  may  be  judged  by  his  later  words :  "I  was  never 
so  taken  aback  in  my  life.  ...  I  was  always  afraid  of 
things  that  worked  the  first  time.5*  The  machine  was  the 
world's  first  phonograph.  To-day  it  is  carefully  pre- 
served in  the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum,  South  Ken- 
sington, London.1 

All  that  night,  Edison  and  Kruesi  kept  trying  for  bet- 
ter results.  They  learned  how  to  fit  the  tinfoil  more 
neatly  to  the  cylinder,  and  how  to  turn  the  cylinder  more 
steadily  when  they  were  making  a  record.  Each  time,  as 
their  singing  or  their  recitation  was  repeated  from  the 
machines  the  performance  seemed  astonishing.  Next 
morning,  Edison  started  for  New  York,  taking  the  phono- 
graph wrapped  in  a  package.  He  went  to  the  office  of 

iThis  follows  "Mr.  Edison's  own  account"  as  given  in  Dyer  and 
Martin,  I,  206-209  (Meadowcroft,  176-1 79).  Numerous  variants  are 
encountered  in  the  story  as  related  by  Edison  to  G.  P.  Lathrop  and 
published  in  "Harper's"  for  February,  1890.  See  also  an  article  by 
the  inventor  is  the  "North  American  Review"  for  May-June,  1878. 

85 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
F.  C.  Beach  of  the  "Scientific  American55  editorial  staff . 
Let  Beaches  own  narrative  2  tell  what  followed. 

"I  had  not  been  at  my  desk  very  long  that  morning 
when  Mr,  Edison  was  announced.  He  came  in,  and  set 
Ms  parcel,  which  he  appeared  to  handle  somewhat  care- 
fully, on  my  desk.  As  lie  was  removing  the  cover  I  asked 
Mm  what  it  was. 

"  *  Just  a  minute  P  replied  young  Edison. 

"Presently  with  a  'here  you  are,*  he  pushed  the  quaint- 
looking  little  instrument  towards  me.  As  there  was  a 
long  shaft  having  a  heavy  wheel  at  one  end  and  a  small 
handle  at  the  other,  naturally  I  gave  the  handle  a  twist, 
and,  to  my  astonishment,  the  unmistakable  words,  emitted 
from  a  kind  of  telephone  mouthpiece,  broke  out,  *Good 
morning!  What  do  you  think  of  the  phonograph?5 

"To  say  that  I  was  astonished  is  a  poor  way  of  ex- 
pressing my  first  impressions,  and  Edison  appeared  to 
enjoy  his  little  joke  on  me  immensely.  Like  a  flash  the 
news  went  among  the  staff  that  Edison  had  brought  in 
a  machine  which  could  talk,  and  soon  there  was  an  ex- 
cited crowd  around  my  desk. 

"W6  watched  the  inventor  wrap  his  little  sheet  of  tin- 
foil— this  was  the  medium  used  for  recording  the  sound 
waves  in  the  first  machine — round  the  cylinder,  adjust 
the  stylus,  and  intently  followed  the  operation  as  he 
shouted  the  lines  of  the  nursery  rhyme,  *Mary  had  a  little 
lamb,'  into  the  mouth-piece.  We  listened  just  as  sur- 
prisedly  when,  instantly  this  was  completed,  the  machine 
was  started  again  and  the  well-known  words  were  re- 
peated. Time  after  time  the  machine  was  handled  first 
by  myself  and  then  by  my  colleagues,  one  and  all  testing 
the  instrument  both  in  recording  and  reproducing. 

2  As  reported  by  Frederick  A.  Talbot  in  the  English  "World's 
j(London)  for  October,  1911. 

86 


"ORGANIZING  THE  ECHOES" 
^Information  respecting  this  remarkable  demonstra- 
tion leaked  out,  and  in  a  short  space  of  time  the  office  was 
inundated  with  excited  reporters  despatched  in  hot  haste 
from  the  various  newspapers  to  examine  the  machine 
and  witness  the  tests.  Edison  was  kept  going  for  two 
or  three  hours,  but  at  last  the  crowd  attained  such  pro- 
portions that  I  feared  the  floor  would  give  way  under 
the  abnormal  weight,  and  I  requested  the  Inventor  to 
stop," 

On  the  following  day  the  New  York  newspapers  carried 
long  stories  about  the  new  mechanism,  of  whose  princi- 
ples they  had  but  the  vaguest  ideas.  At  the  time  when 
Edison  was  making  public  his  improvements  in  the  tele- 
phone, the  papers  had  begun  to  call  him  "The  Wizard 
of  Menlo  Park" — a  title  that  clung  to  him  even  after  he 
had  left  Menlo  forever.  In  the  common  thought,  the 
phonograph  made  him  far  more  of  a  "wizard55  than  ever 
before.  Probably  no  other  modern  invention  has  aroused 
so  immediate  and  so  great  a  furore.  An  American  pe- 
riodical 3  referred  to  it  as  "an  instrument  destined  to  turn 
the  old  groove  of  every-day  routine  topsy-turvy"!  The 
railway  ran  special  trains  to  Menlo  Park,  and  the  labora- 
tory was  thronged  with  visitors.  Many  suspected  fraud. 
Among  them  seems  to  have  been  the  Rev.  John  H.  Vin- 
cent, a  bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  an 
originator,  with  Lewis  Miller,  of  the  "Chautauqua  move- 
ment." The  bishop  talked  into  the  recorder  at  top  speed 
a  long  collection  of  proper  names  from  the  Bible.  When 
these  had  been  correctly  repeated  by  the  machine,  he  an- 
nounced that  he  was  now  convinced  there  was  no  decep- 
tion, since  not  another  man  in  the  country  could  recite 
the  selected  names  with  an  equal  velocity!  The  bishop 
had  evidently  supposed  a  ventriloquist  was  concealed 

a  "Frank  Leslie's  Illustrated  Newspaper,"  April  20,  1878. 

87 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
somewhere  about  the  premises;  and  this  was  a  frequent 
conjecture. 

Edison  accepted  an  invitation  to  Washington  and  there 
put  a  phonograph  through  Its  paces  In  the  apartment  of 
Mary  Abigail  Dodge  (better  known  by  her  pen-name* 
**Gail  Hamilton'3^  a  journalist,  a  cousin  of  Mrs.  James 
G.  Elaine,  and  author  of  "Twelve  Miles  from  a  Lemon.3* 
Throughout  the  day  the  rooms  were  thronged  with  folk 
prominent  in  legislative  and  other  circles.  Senator  Jtos- 
coe  Conkling  of  New  York  came  In  and  was  Introduced 
to  Edison,  who  apparently  did  not  recognize  him  and  who, 
because  of  deafness,  did  not  catch  the  name.  Edison  re- 
cited Into  the  recorder  the  nonsense  stanza  beginning 
"There  was  a  little  girl  who  had  a  little  cur?5 ;  and  the 
phonograph  repeated  it,  At  this,  there  was  consider- 
able half-suppressed  merriment.  Over  Conkling's  brow 
hung  a  prominent  lock  of  hair,  much  emphasized  by  the 
caricaturists  of  the  period;  and  Conkling  had  become 
highly  sensitive  about  it.  He  was  a  rather  touchy  indi- 
vidual, and  the  "curl"  stanza  with  the  ensuing  laughter 
did  not  please  him  a  bit.  It  is  possible  that  he  may  have 
thought  Elaine,  to  whom  he  was  bitterly  hostile,  was  in- 
directly responsible  for  it.  From  about  11  o'clock  that 
evening  until  3:30  the  next  morning,  Edison  was  at  the 
Executive  Mansion,  explaining  and  operating  the  ma- 
chine for  the  entertainment  of  President  and  Mrs.  Hayes 
and  their  guests — among  them  Carl  Schurz,  who,  as  Edi- 
son entered,  was  playing  the  piano,  as  he  was  so  fond  of 
doing.4 

4".  .  .  Carl  went  into  the  library  and  developed  a  new  accomplish- 
ment. He  played  with  great  skill  and  feeling,  sitting  in  the  dusk 
twilight  at  the  piano  until  the  President  [Lincoln]  came  by  and  took 
him  down  to  tea.  Schurz  is  a  wonderful  man.  An  orator,  a  soldier, 
a  philosopher,  an  exiled  patriot,  a  skilled  musician!" — Thayer:  "Life 
and  Letters  of  John  Hay,"  I,  103. 

88 


"ORGANIZING  THE  ECHOES" 
Edison  at  once  began  mating  a  number  of  improved 
phonographs  of  larger  size  and  better  adapted  to  exhibi- 
tion purposes.  One  diaphragm  served  for  both  record- 
ing and  reproducing;  and  for  reproducing,  a  horn  was 
provided.  A  company  was  formed  to  manufacture  ma- 
chines and  promote  their  use.  The  phonographs  first  of- 
fered for  sale  were  made  by  Sigmund  Bergmann  in  a  little 
shop  on  Wooster  street  in  New  York.  Bergmann  had 
worked  at  the  same  bench  with  Kruesi  in  Newark,,  where 
his  skill  had  attracted  Edison's  attention.  Having  saved 
money,  he  started  in  business  for  himself  and  was  em- 
ployed by  Edison  to  manufacture  not  only  phonographs 
but  also  carbon  transmitters.  Under  the  direction  of 
James  Redpath's  once  noted  Lyceum  Bureau  (Boston), 
the  country  was  parceled  out  in  territories  and  the  rights 
of  exhibition  within  a  given  territory  were  leased  on  a 
percentage  basis.  In  Great  Britain  and  continental 
countries,  manufacturing  and  sales  rights  were  assigned. 
Prof,  Fleeming  Jenkin  (the  subject  of  Stevenson's  "Mem- 
oir") exhibited  the  contrivance  before  the  Royal  Society 
of  Edinburgh  and  also  made  use  of  it  in  scientific  re- 
searches. 

The  phonautograph  (1857)  of  Leon  Scott  has  been 
called  the  "precursor55  of  the  phonograph ;  and  this  in  a 
certain  sense  it  undoubtedly  was,  though  nothing  appears 
to  have  been  authoritatively  stated  as  to  Edison's  pre- 
vious familiarity  with  Scott's  experiments.  It  must  be 
pointed  out,  however,  that  Scott's  device  was  intended 
merely  to  make  on  lampblacked  paper  a  graphic  record 
(or  tracing)  of  sound  vibrations.  This  was  all  it  could 
do.  On  December  24th,  1877,  Edison  filed  an  application 
for  a  United  States  patent,  and  on  February  19th,  1878, 
the  patent  was  issued.  When  Edison's  application  was 
being  examined  at  the  United  States  Patent  Office,  noth- 

89 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
ing  could  be  found  to  show  that  anybody  had  up  to  that 
time  attempted  what  Edison  had  accomplished.  Hence 
it  was  that  the  patent  was  issued  so  promptly  and  with- 
out a  reference-  The  fundamental  idea  of  the  phono- 
graph was  to  make  phonograms  ("records/*  they  now  are 
called)  of  such  kind  that  the  original  sound  vibrations 
could  be  mechanically  reproduced.  From  the  authentic 
account  of  how  the  machine  came  to  be,  it  would  seem 
that  the  working  theory  of  the  phonograph  had  as  its 
starting  point  the  idea  of  reproduced  sound.  In  other 
words,  that  first  crude  apparatus  built  by  John  Kruesi 
was  based  on  what  might  now  appear  like  reverse  reason- 
ing. 

"Speaking  phonograph"  is  what  the  instrument  was 
called  by  a  staff  writer  in  "Frank  Leslie's  Illustrated 
Newspaper" ; 5  and  this  would  seem  to  have  been  an  at- 
tempt to  find  a  more  nearly  accurate  name  for  it.  The 
representative  of  "Frank  LeslieV*  visited  the  laboratory 
at  Menlo  Park,  where  Edison  personally  explained  the 
phonograph  and  its  action.  "The  instrument,"  asserts 
the  article,  "is  so  simple  in  its  construction,  and  its  work- 
ings are  so  easily  understood,  that  one  wonders  why  it 
was  never  before  discovered.  There  is  no  electricity 
about  it,  it  can  be  carried  around  under  a  man's  arm,  and 
its  machinery  is  not  a  fifteenth  part  as  intricate  as  that 
of  a  sewing-machine.  It  records  all  sounds  and  noises." 

An  oft-repeated  story  is  to  the  effect  that  the  invention 
just  happened  through  an  accident — that  Edison  chanced 
to  notice  that  the  sound  waves  of  his  voice  vibrated  the 
diaphragm  of  a  telephone  transmitter  with  such  force  that 
a  steel  point  attached  to  the  diaphragm  was  driven  into 
his  finger.  Just  how  all  this  took  place,  or  how  it  could 
lead  in  the  direction  of  reproducing  sound,  is  not  clear* 

e  March  30,  I87a 


"ORGANIZING  THE  ECHOES" 
Edison  himself  has  explained  that  the  phonograph  had 
a  definite  beginning  during  experiments  with  the  au- 
tomatic telegraph.  He  had  a  revolving  platen  with  a 
volute  spiral  groove  incised  in  its  upper  surf  ace3  suggest- 
ing the  disc  records  of  to-day.  On  the  platen  he  put 
a  circular  sheet  of  paper;  and  then  over  this  sheet  he 
passed  an  embossing  point  that  was  connected  by  an  arm 
to  an  electro-magnet.  When  the  arm  was  actuated  by 
the  magnet,  the  point  embossed  Morse  characters  on  the 
sheet  of  paper.  Then  Edison  discovered  that  when 
the  sheet  of  paper  was  placed  on  a  corresponding  de- 
vice having  a  contact  point,  the  embossed  characters 
were  repeated  and  thus  could  be  re-sent  automatically 
and  at  any  rate  of  speed. 

"This  arrangement  really  dated  back  to  the  brief  period 
(from  the  autumn  of  1864  to  February,  1865)  when  he 
was  a  telegraph  operator  at  Indianapolis.  At  that  time 
lie  was  working  a  circuit  by  day,  but  at  night  he  and 
another  operator  would  take  "press  report**  for  the  sake 
of  the  practice.  Both  found  that  they  "broke5*  pretty 
often.  Edison  thereupon  arranged  two  old  Morse  em- 
bossing registers  in  such  a  way  that  one  recorded  the 
characters  on  a  strip  of  paper  as  rapidly  as  they  were 
transmitted,  and  the  other  repeated  them  at  a  lower 
rate  of  speed.  That  is,  the  "press  report'9  might  be 
received  at  the  rate  of  forty  words  a  minute  and  repeated 
at  the  rate  of  twenty-five.  By  this  means,  Edison  and 
Parmley,  the  other  operator,  relieved  of  the  need  for 
"breaking,*5  could  leisurely  turn  out  "copy**  of  surprising 
regularity  and  clearness.  At  one  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
they  would  quit,  hide  away  the  "automatic  recorder,**  and 
leave  to  the  regular  press  reporter  (who  in  the  meantime 
liad  been  taking  a  nap  or  perhaps  attending  the  theater) 
the  remainder  of  the  report. 

91 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Under  ordinary  conditions  the  system  ran  smoothly — 
so  smoothly5  in  fact,  that  the  manager  of  the  office  was 
puzzled  and  the  newspapers  complained  of  inferior  "copy55 
furnished  after  one  o'clock  Then  one  night  brought  an 
uncommon  pressure  of  work ;  the  system  fell  badly  behind 
and  still  the  receiving  instrument  held  to  top  speed. 
The  newspapers  protested^  the  manager  investigated ;  the 
"automatic  recorder^5  was  discovered  and  banned. 

It  was  this  general  scheme  that  in  1877  was  applied 
by  Edison  to  those  experiments  in  automatic  telegraphy 
to  which  reference  has  already  been  made.  He  had  also 
been  working  on  his  carbon  transmitter  for  Bell's  tel- 
ephone and  studying  the  action  of  diaphragms  in  trans- 
mitting sound  vibrations.  He  now  observed  that  when 
the  paper  on  the  telegraphic  "repeater "  moved  (and  it 
could  be  moved  rapidly  enough  to  send  several  hundred 
words  a  minute) ,  a  humming  note  arose.  Why5  he 
queried*  if  indentations  on  paper  may  be  made  to  repeat 
the  click  of  a  telegraph  sounder,  may  not  the  vibrations 
of  a  diaphragm  also  be  recorded  and  repeated?  Here  we 
have  a  chain  of  reasoning  that  is  directly  connected 
with  the  sketch  Edison  handed  to  Kruesi  on  that  autumn 
day  in  1877,  It  remains  to  be  added  that  in  1879  Edison 
filed  an  application  for  a  United  States  patent  covering 
the  disc  principle  substantially  as  employed  to-day. 
Owing  to  certain  purely  minor  objections^  the  application 
was  held  up ;  and  the  vast  new  detail  of  Edison*s  work  in 
electric  lighting  apparently  caused  the  matter  to  be 
neglected.16 

The  primitive  phonograph  turned  out  to  be  too  im- 
perfect for  general  use.  To  begin  with,  tinfoil  was  not 
a  satisfactory  material  for  records.  It  was  hard  to  ad- 

<*  A  British  patent  obtained  by  him  in  1878  also  embodied  this  prin- 
ciple. 


"ORGANIZING  THE  ECHOES" 

just  and  remove;  the  impressions  made  on  it  were  faint 
and  easily  effaced,  Agains  the  cylinder  could  not  be 
turned  at  a  strictly  uniform  speed,  so  that  satisfactory 
records  of  music  could  not  be  made;  and  speech  might 
be  much  altered  in  pitch,  according  as  it  was  reproduced 
either  too  rapidly  or  too  slowly.  Contemporary  ob- 
servers also  detected  a  certain  softening  of  the  conso- 
nants, by  which  the  character  of  spoken  words  was  ap- 
preciably affected.  For  several  months  the  popular  stir 
continued.  Everywhere  the  exhibitions  aroused  great 
interest;  royalty  receipts  were  large.  Then  the  craze 
subsided,  the  exhibitions  ceased,  and  for  nearly  a  decade 
the  phonograph  was  shelved,  save  for  such  use  as  was 
made  of  it  for  scientific  purposes. 

Nevertheless,  it  remained  Edison's  pet  invention;  and 
in  1887  he  took  it  from  the  shelf  and  started  to  eliminate 
its  defects.  Sure  of  its  possibilities,  he  set  out  to  realize 
them.  It  is  said  that  in  June,  1888,  he  actually  worked 
continuously  for  five  days  and  nights  in  his  effort  to 
develop  a  better  instrument.  This  long  stretch  of  un- 
interrupted labor  was  remarkable  even  for  him.  Some 
testimony  to  the  changes  he  wrought  in  the  phonograph 
may  be  found  in  the  statement  that  up  to  1893  more 
than  sixty-five  patents  had  been  issued  to  him  in  con- 
nection with  it;  and  up  to  1910,  more  than  a  hundred. 

For  tinfoil  strips  he  substituted  hollow  cylinders  of 
specially  prepared  wax*  This  improvement  was  so 
decided  that  the  wax-cylinder  type  of  machine  was  at 
once  established.  The  cylinder  walls  were  something  less 
than  a  quarter-inch  in  thickness,  and  the  maximum  depth 
of  the  record  groove  was  one  one-thousandth  of  an  inch* 
To  take  the  place  of  the  needle  in  making  the  records,  he 
designed  a  cutting-tool  of  sapphire;  and  for  reproduc- 
tion, a  blunt  sapphire  stylus.  Sapphire  is  a  variety  of 

93 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
the  mineral  corundum  and  for  hardness  Is  ranked  next  to 
the  diamond  among  precious  stones.  The  sapphire  stylus 
folowed  the  record  groove  with  a  minimum  of  wear. 
Instead  of  the  unsatisfactory  adjustment  screws  that  had 
been  used  to  hold  the  needle  in  place,  he  added  the  very 
ingenious  "floating  weight/'  which  kept  both  the  cutting- 
tool  and  the  stylus  in  proper  engagement  with  the  wax 
cylinder  and  prevented  distortion  of  tone.  7  Then  he 
altered  the  process  of  recording,  making  the  shaft  or 
mandrel  rotate  in  fixed  bearings  while  the  cutting-tool 
travelled  longitudinally  (as,  for  example,  the  cutting-tool 
of  an  engine  lathe  does).  Other  changes  were  made — 
some  permanently  to  be  retained,  some  later  to  be  rejected. 
Of  decided  importance  in  rendering  possible  the  com- 
mercial success  of  the  phonograph  on  a  large  scale,  was 
the  method  arrived  at  by  Edison  for  making  any  number 
of  copies  of  an  original  record.  In  the  case  of  the  tin- 
foil machine,  attempts  would  appear  to  have  been  made 
to  take  a  plaster  cast  of  the  original  foil  and  thus  to 
get  impressions  on  other  strips.  With  the  wax-cylinder 
type,  difficulty  in  obtaining  a  mold  was  at  once  con- 
fronted through  the  fact  that  wax  is  a  non-conductor; 
hence,  of  course,  the  original  record  in  its  "first  state55 
could  not  be  electroplated.  Edison  at  last  got  around 
this  obstacle  by  the  "vacuous  deposit"  process.  The 
record  was  placed  in  a  vacuum ;  and  suspended  on  either 
side  of  the  record  was  a  piece  of  gold-leaf.  High-tension 
electricity  was  then  discharged  between  these  gold-leaf 
electrodes  while  the  record  was  revolved.  The  electricity 

7 The  "floating  weight"  operated  automatically  on  the  principle  that 
whereas  it  constantly  held  the  stylus  in  contact  with  the  varying  surface 
of  the  record-groove,  it  was  itself  unable,  by  reason  of  its  mass,  to 
respond  to  the  high-speed  vibrations  of  the  stylus  but  passed  them  along 
to  the  diaphragm. 


"ORGANIZING  THE  ECHOES" 
vaporized  the  gold-leaf  and  deposited  it  on  the  record 
in  a  film  so  extremely  thin  that  three  hundred  such  would 
have,  if  superimposed,  a  total  thickness  about  like  that 
of  tissue-paper;  and  three  hundred  thousand  so  placed 
would  not  altogether  be  thicker  than  an  inch.8  A  heavier 
deposit  of  other  metal  could  then  be  electroplated  on  this 
gold  film.  The  result,,  after  the  original  record  had 
been  withdrawn,  was  a  strong*  durable  mold.  When  this 
mold  was  chilled  by  means  of  a  jacket  of  cold  water  and 
dipped  in  liquefied  material  of  a  wax-like  nature,  a  heavy 
deposit,  forming  a  duplicate  records  would  be  congealed 
on  the  chilled  surface. 

A  company  was  organized  in  Philadelphia  to  introduce 
the  "revised"  phonograph  commercially.  This  company 
believed  that  the  future  of  the  instrument  lay  chiefly  in  its 
use  as  a  business  appliance  for  all  sorts  of  dictation  with- 
out the  aid  of  a  stenographer.  The  fact  was  that  the 
phonograph  had  not  yet  reached  the  stage  of  refinement 
and  simplicity  that  later  made  it  easily  adapted,  under 
the  trade-name  "Ediphone,"  to  practical  use  in  offices. 
By  the  first  plan,  the  machines  were  leased ;  but  renewals 
of  the  leases  rarely  followed.  Then  selling  was  tried  and 
proved  unsuccessful.  The  company  failed.  This  time, 
however,  the  phonograph  was  not  permitted  to  lapse  into 
"innocuous  desuetude."  Edison  took  over  the  assets  of 
the  old  company  and  formed  a  new  one  of  his  own,  of 
which  the  policy  was  to  withdraw  from  the  business  field 
and  enter  that  of  entertainment,  especially  musical. 
Thenceforward  he  devoted  a  great  deal  of  energy  to  this 
enterprise,  which  ultimately  passed  into  his  control* 

8  When  it  is  considered  that  the  maximum  depth  of  the  record-groove 
was  one  one-thousandth  of  an  inch,  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  ordinary 
coatings  (such,  for  example,  as  that  used  in  the  electrotyping  process 
for  making  printing  plates)  would  be  fax  too  coarse. 

95 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WOEK 
To  this  general  period  belonged  the  nickel-in-ihe-slot 
phonograph,  a  high  box-like  affair  with  a  glass  top 
through  which,  as  if  looking  into  a  Swiss  music-box,  one 
could  see  details  of  the  mechanism  at  work.  It  had  long 
rubber  listening-tubes,  the  tips  of  which  were  inserted  in 
one*s  ears,  giving  rather  the  effect  of  a  stethoscope  on  a 
grand  scale.  Through  these  were  borne — thinly  and 
squeakily,  as  compared  with  later  results — fragments  of 
music  and  scraps  of  talk. 

Up  to  this  time,  the  motors  used  to  actuate  the  machines 
had  been  of  the  electric  type.  These  were  relatively 
heavy,  rather  expensive,  and  available  only  where  electric 
current  could  be  had.  Furthermore,  at  that  stage  of 
development,  the  management  and  care  of  even  small 
electric  motors  were  matters  too  difficult  for  the  inexpert. 
A  substitute  was  found  in  the  spring  motor  still  in  use — 
a  mechanism  relatively  light,  everywhere  available,  and 
practically  "fool-proof." 

In  February,  1889,  in  connection  with  a  lecture  on 
"Edison  and  His  Inventions5'  before  the  Franklin  In- 
stitute (Philadelphia),  William  J.  Hammer,  one  of  Edi- 
son's ablest  and  most  trusted  assistants  at  Menlo  Park, 
gave  a  noteworthy  demonstration  of  how  the  phonograph 
might  be  combined  with  those  other  Edison  inventions, 
the  carbon  telephonic  transmitter  (or  microphone)  and 
the  "loud-speaking33  telephonic  receiver  (or  electro- 
motograph).  Phonograph  records  made  in  New  York 
were  reproduced  into  a  carbon  transmitter.  The  vibra- 
tions were  sent  to  Philadelphia  over  104*  miles  of  telephone 
circuit,  of  which  six  were  underground  and  underwater; 
received  by  an  electro-motograph  at  the  Philadelphia 
telephone  headquarters  and  repeated  into  a  phonograph ; 
again  reproduced  into  a  carbon  transmitter;  and  deliv- 
ered by  wire  to  the  lecture-hall,  where  an  electro- 

96 


"ORGANIZING  THE  ECHOES" 
Eiotograph  passed  them  to  the  audience.  The  sound 
waves  travelled  by  means  of  fifteen  distinct  mediums ;  and 
their  physical  characteristics  went  through  a  series  of 
forty-eight  changes.  This  may  justly  be  called  an  early 
example  of  "broadcasting."  9 

A  writer  10  ia  the  " Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute" 
for  April,  1878,  thought  it  then  impossible  even  to  con- 
jecture the  uses  to  which  "this  wonderful  instrument" 
might  be  put.  Very  soon  afterward — in  a  signed  article 
in  the  "North  American  Review55  for  May-June,  1878 
— Edison  indicated  the  various  fields  in  which  he  be- 
Heved  the  phonograph  might  reveal  its  usefulness — S6all 
enumerated/9  to  use  Ms  own  words,  "under  the  head  of 
probabilities.9511  These  may  thus  be  summarized:  (a) 
Letter-writing  and  other  forms  of  dictation ;  (b)  records 
of  books  as  read  by  elocutionists;  (c)  educational  pur- 
poses (as?  for  example,  oral  instruction  in  languages  or 
in  elocution)  ;  (d)  music;  (e)  family  record;  (f)  toyss 
musical-boxes,  etc.;  (g)  annunciator  attachments  on 
clocks;  (h)  advertising;  (i)  preserving  the  "voices  as 
well  as  the  words  of  our  Washfngtons,  our  Lincolns,  our 
Gladstones.5* 

"Lastly,  and  in  quite  another  direction/5  he  wrote,  "the 
phonograph  will  perfect  the  telephone  and  revolutionize 

®See  "The  Electrical  Experimenter"  for  September,  1917.  Hammer, 
as  noted  later,  was  prominently  identified  with  the  development  of  Edi- 
son's system  of  incandescent  lighting.  He  afterward  became  a  well- 
known  electrical  engineer;  and  during  the  World  War  was  a  member 
of  the  General  Staff,  U.  S.  Army,  with  rank  of  major.  In  a  letter  to  the 
author,  he  stated,  with  reference  to  this  demonstration,  that  telephone 
men  were  positive  the  experiment  would  not  be  successful. 

10 S.  M.  Plush:  "Edison's  Carbon  Telephone  Transmitter  and  the 
Speaking  Phonograph." 

11  pp.  527-536.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  note  that  this  issue  also  con- 
tained contributions  from  James  A.  Garfield,  James  McCosh,  O.  B. 
FmtMngham,  and  R.  W.  Emerson. 

97 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
present  of  telegraphy.     That  useful  invention  the 

telephone  is  now  restricted  In  its  field  of  operation  by 
reason  of  the  fact  that  it  is  a  means  of  communication 
which  leaves  no  record  of  its  transactions,  thus  restrict- 
ing its  use  to  simple  conversational  chit-chat,  and  such 
unimportant  details  of  business  as  are  not  considered  of 
sufficient  importance  to  record.  Were  this  different^  and 
our  telephone-conversation  automatically  recorded^  we 
should  find  the  reverse  of  the  present  status  of  the  tel- 
ephone. It  would  be  expressly  resorted  to  as  a  means  of 
perfect  record.55  From  this  it  is  evident  that  Edison  had 
even  then  considered  the  general  idea  of  his  telescribe 
device,  which  was  not  to  be  developed  until  long  after- 
ward and  to  which  reference  will  be  made  later  in  this 
yolume. 

Of  the  varieties  of  everyday  use  thus  indicated  by 
Edison  in  1878,  the  phonograph  has  thus  far  been  applied 
with  general  success  to  four — namely,  to  (a)  the  dicta- 
tion of  letters  that  are  subsequently  written  out  on  a 
typewriting-machine;  (b)  the  teaching  of  th$  correct 
pronunciations  of  languages;  (c)  oral  instruction  in 
general,  among  which  may  be  included  that  in  calisthenic 
exercises;  (d)  the  reproduction  of  music  (with  which  may 
also  be  grouped  spoken  selections  designed  for  entertain- 
ment). It  is  for  the  reproduction  of  music  that  most 
phonographs^  as  well  as  similar  instruments  based  on  the 
phonographic  idea,  are  employed ;  and  hence  it  is  for  this 
purpose  that  most  of  the  commercial  records  are  made, 
Doubtless  with  this  fact  in  mind,  James  F.  Cooke,  editor 
of  "The  Etude/*  a  popular  musical  magazine  (Philadel- 
phia) 5  once  declared  Edison  to  be  for  our  time  the  greatest 
living  factor  in  musical  advance.12 

12  "The  Etude,"  October,  192S. 

98 


"ORGANIZING  THE  ECHOES" 
Yet  another  use/s  perhaps  dimly  contemplated  In 
1873  but  not  suggested  in  the  "Review55  article,  was 
found  for  the  phonograph,  as  an  essential  part  of  the 
Mnetophone?  Edisoifs  device  for  the  "telling"  motion- 
picture.  The  Hnetophone  will  be  treated  in  the  proper 
place  in  a  later  chapter  of  this  book.  Scientists  have 
employed  the  phonograph  for  various  purposes,  notably; 
in  analyzing  and  studying  wave-forms,  J.  IL  Hewett, 
editor  of  the  "General  Electric  Review53  (Schenectady), 
wrote :  "This  discovery  is  in  the  realm  of  science  and  the 
uses  of  the  devices  that  can  be,  and  have  been*  made  by 
virtue  of  this  discovery  are  of  real  scientific  import  as 
well  as  of  great  popular  value.59  .  .  »14 

In  1888?  at  a  private  exhibition  of  the  improved 
phonograph  in  England  before  a  distinguished  gathering 
that  included  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  Sir  Morell  Macken- 
zie,* and  W.  E.  Gladstone*  the  instrument  recited  a 
"Salutation**  that  had  been  written  by  the  Rev*  Horatio 
N.  Powers  of  Piermont,  N.  tY.,  and  spoken  into  it  by  the 
author : 

"I  seize  the  palpitating  air.     I  lioard 

Music  and  speech.     All  lips  that  speak  are  mine. 
I  speak,  and  the  inviolable  word 
Authenticates  its  origin  and  sign. 

"I  am  a  tomb,  a  paradise,,  a  throne, 

An  angel,  prophet,  slave,  immortal  friend: 
My  living  records  in  their  native  tone 
Convict  the  knave  and  disputations  end. 

"In  me  are  souls  embalmed.     I  am  an  ear 

Flawless  as  Truth;  and  Truth's  own  tongue  am  I. 

is  See  Chapter  XIV,  pp.  219-223. 
i*  "General  Electric  Review,"  April,  1924. 

99 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
I  am  a  resErrection,  and  men  fcear 

The  quick  and  dead  converse  as  I  reply."  1S 

Archives  for  phonographic  records  have  since  been 
established  both  In  this  country  (for  example.,  by  the 
Library  of  Congress  and  Harvard  University)  and 
abroad.  These  are  intended  to  preserve  the  interpreta- 
tions of  vocal  artists,  the  speaking  voices  of  eminent  per- 
sonsj  folK-songs?  the  peculiarities  of  local  dialects^  and  any 
other  records  that  may  be  thought  desirable. 

The  original  phonograph  patent  expired  and  other 
makers  manufactured  instruments  of  the  phonographic 
sort,  all  depending,  though  under  various  trade-names^ 
on  the  basic  principle  defined  by  Edison.  The  Edison 
machine  had?  however,  come  back  to  stay.  Disc  records 
•were  adopted  for  the  cabinet  phonographs ;  but  in  these 
records  Edison  adhered  to  his  idea  of  a  line  incised  to 
varying  depths  by  what  is  known  as  the  "hffl-and-dale" 
method3  instead  of  a  zig-zag  line  of  uniform  depth.1* 
Never  completely  satisfied  with  the  results  obtained  in 
reproducing  music — striving  for  a  veritable  "re-creation*5 
as  Ms  ideal,  Edison,  after  another  period  of  research  and 
experiment,  developed  for  his  disc  records  a  new  material 
designed  to  be  virtually  indestructible  and  to  have  a 
smoothness  of  surface  that  would  do  away  with  the 
hissing  sound  produced  by  the  friction  of  the  needle. 
He  also  originated  a  new  recorder  and  a  diamond-point 
reproducer.  It  was  stated  that  laboratory  tests  showed 
such  a  reproducer  would  be  unimpaired  after  playing 
more  than  four  thousand  records.  Edison  was  constantly 

is  See  Powers'  "Lyrics  of  the  Hudson,"  p.  §9, 

16  In  the  gramophone  (patented  by  Smile  Berliner  in  1887),  the 
record-groove  took  the  form  of  a  line  varying  laterally  instead  of  per- 
pendicularly. Berliner's  machine  is  to-day  commercially  known  as 
the  nrictrola* 

100 


"ORGANIZING  THE  ECHOES" 
seeking  perf ection?  and  lie  Insisted  on  the  utmost  precision 
and  care  in  all  details  of  manufacture.  "  'Throw  it  out? 
he  would  say  when  some  slight  flaw  in  the  disk  records 
caught  his  ears.  .  .  .  If  the  disk  was  not  perfect  he 
would  not  let  it  go  out  of  Ms  factory."  17 

He  also  clung  stoutly  to  the  opinion  that,  for  the  best 
results,  recording  for  the  phonograph  required  of  vocalists 
a  special  quality  of  "voice  and  a  particular  technique. 
What  he  most  valued  was  a  pleasing  quality  In  the  record ; 
and  he  did  not  think  this  was  always  best  attained  by  the 
much-acclaimed  artists  of  the  opera.  To  Meadowcroft, 
his  secretary,  he  said  on  one  occasion  that  he  wished 
"voices  that  will  stand  the  test  of  the  phonograph  and 
give  permanent  pleasure  to  people^  irrespective  of  stage 
environment,  or  the  press  agent,  or  pleasing  personality  ** 
A  writer  in  "The  Independent"  related  that,  having 
ordered  some  disc  records  to  be  destroyed,  Edison  added: 
"People  may  think  some  of  these  folks  are  great  singers* 
Lots  of  little  defects  don't  sound  in  the  concert  hall,  but 
when  they  come  out  of  that  hole  they  do!  They  can't 
fool  my  phonograph!  I've  got  them!5*18 

One  might  naturally  wonder  how  Edison,  with  his 
pronounced  deafness — so  pronounced,  indeed,  that  he 
could  not  hear  at  all  a  phonograph  three  feet  from  Bin* — • 
could  successfully  experiment  with  such  an  apparatus 
or  could  prove  to  be,  as  he  did,  an  unsparing  critic  of 
phonographic  records.  "I  hear  through  my  teeth,"  he 
explained  to  an  interviewer,  "and  through  my  skull. 
Ordinarily  I  merely  place  my  head  against  a  phonograph. 
But  if  there  is  some  faint  sound  that  I  don't  quite  catch 

17  G.  E.  Walsh:  "With  Edison  in  His  Laboratory,"  in  "The  Inde- 
pendent" for  Sept.  4,  1913. 

isMeadowcroft,  1921  ed.,  p,  3S9. G.  E.  Walsh:    "With  Edison  in 

His  Laboratory,"  in  "The  Independent"  for  Sept  4,  1913. 

101 


EDISON;  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
tihis  way,  1  bite  into  the  wood,  and  then  I  get  It  good  and 
strong.33 1S  He  thought  his  inner  ear  particularly  sensi- 
tive because  it  had  been  "protected  from  the  millions  of 
noises  that  dim  the  hearing  of  ears  that  hear  everything/5 
It  was  said  that  he  once  rejected  an  orchestra  record  as 
defective^  remarking^  "The  keys  on  that  fellow's  flute 
squeak,'5  aDo  you  hear  the  pedal  of  that  harp  ?'9  he  sud- 
denly asked  an  interviewer  as  a  record  was  being  tested. 
al  could  hear  no  pedal,"  the  interviewer  afterward  ad- 
mitted, icbut  the  Wizard's  splendidly  attuned  ear  could 
detect  it  as  well  as  other  imperfections.55  20 

In  1922  the  forty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  invention  of 
the  phonograph  was  made  by  Edison's  associates  the 
occasion  for  various  informal  celebrations  in  honor  of  the 
inventor,  "Now,"  declared  he,  "I  have  set  my  heart  on 
reproducing  perfectly  Beethoven's  Ninth  Symphony  with 
seventy-five  people  in  the  orchestra.  When  I  have  done 
that,  I'll  quit."  Forty-five  years  before,  he  had  begun 
with  that  feeble,  halting  rendition  of  "Mary  had  a  little 
lamb?' 

i»  A.  L.  Benson:  "Edison's  Dream  of  New  Music/*  in  the  "Cosmopoli- 
tan** for  May,  1913. 

20  Bailey  Millard:  "Pictures  That  Talk,"  In  the  "Technical  World 
Magazine"  for  March,  1013. 


102 


X 

A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 

IN  order  now  to  resume  the  main  course  of  Edison's  story, 
we  must  go  back  to  the  year  1878,  when  the  invention 
and  exhibition  of  the  tinfoil  phonograph  made  so  much 
stir.  In  July  of  1878,  Edison,  who  had  had  no  real 
vacation  in  ten  years,  found  opportunity  to  take  one  and 
at  the  same  time  to  make  a  test  of  the  tasimeter  under 
field  conditions.  A  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  occurred  on 
July  29th;  and  one  of  Edison's  friends,  Prof.  George  R 
Barker,  professor  of  chemistry  and  physics  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  suggested  that  Edison  accom- 
pany a  scientific  expedition  to  Rawlins,  Wyoming  (then 
Wyoming  Territory),  where  eclipse  and  corona  were  to 
be  observed. 

Though  the  heat  from  the  corona  greatly  exceeded 
the  index  capacity  of  the  tasimeter  used,  so  that  no  real 
results  were  obtained,  yet  the  essential  value  of  the  instru- 
ment was  manifest.  After  the  eclipse,  Edison  went  with 
a  hunting  v  party  to  northwestern  Colorado.  Having 
much  enjoyed  his  glimpses  of  the  frontier  northwest,  he 
was  back  at  work  by  the  end  of  August  and  was  casting 
about  for  some  new  enterprise.  Professor  Barker  pro- 
posed a  problem  in  which  Edison  had  already  been  in- 
terested— the  problem  of  subdividing  the  electric  current 
for  illximinating  purposes.  Just  what  this  involved  can- 
not be  made  clear  until  we  have  briefly  examined  the 
status  of  electric  lighting  at  that  time. 

108 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Electric  lighting  was  no  new  thing*  Away  back  at 
the  very  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Sir  Hum- 
phry Davy  had  produced  it.  With  his  Royal  Institution 
battery  of  £,000  cells,  he  was  able  to  give  a  large-scale 
display  of  it.  At  the  end  of  each  of  the  two  battery 
wires  he  had  a  piece  of  charcoal.  He  brought  the  char- 
coal electrodes  into  contact,  then  separated  them.  At 
once  the  intervening  space  was  filled  with  flame.  The 
electrodes  were  horizontal  and,  lifted  by  the  heated  air, 
the  flame  bent  upward  in  the  form  of  a  bow  or  arc. 
Davy's  only  source  of  current  was  the  battery.  For 
many  years,  batteries  remained  the  sole  available  current- 
sources  for  such  lights,  since  frictional  machines  gave 
but  feeble  currents  and  these  at  such  high  potentials  as 
to  be  unadaptable.  It  was  quite  out  of  the  question  to 
supply  current  on  a  really  large  scale  by  means  of  bat- 
teries ;  the  reason  being,  of  course,  the  prohibitive  cost  of 
the  materials  necessary  to  chemical  action. 

In  1831  Michael  Faraday  discovered  the  principle  of 
the  magneto-machine,  which  converted  mechanical  energy 
into  electrical  energy.  In  the  magneto-machine  (present- 
day  examples  of  which  are  widely  familiar  through  their 
use  in  motor-cars)  the  modern  dynamo  had  its  beginnings. 
The  dynamo  meant  relatively  cheaper  current,  and  this 
relatively  cheaper  current  helped  to  further  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  arc-light.  What  we  now  call  electrical  en- 
gineering had  its  earliest  form  of  growth  in  the  instal- 
lation of  arc-lighting  for  public  service.  Before  that, 
applied  electricity  had  been  limited  to  telegraphy  of 
various  sorts  and,  in  a  small  way,  to  electro-plating.1 
By  1878,  much  had  been  accomplished  in  arc-lighting 

*The  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  was  not  founded 
until  1884;  and  in  the  same  year,  at  Philadelphia,  the  first  American 
electrical  exhibition  was  held. 

104 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 

both  here  and  abroad.  Plants  had  been  installed  in  light- 
houses on  the  English  and  French  coasts.  In  London 
the  light  had  been  tried  in  the  offices  of  the  "Times95  and 
on  portions  of  Holborn  Viaduct  and  of  the  Thames  Em- 
bankment. Among  the  noteworthy  sights  of  the  Centen- 
nial Exposition  at  Philadelphia  in  1876,  were  arc-lamps 
and  the  dynamo  that  supplied  them  with  current.  Dy- 
namo and  lamps  were  results  of  the  experimental  labors 
o£  William  Wallace  (1826-1904)-  Wallace,  head  of  a 
large  manufactory  of  brass  and  copper  goods  in  Ansonia, 
Connecticut^  made  scientific  research  his  hobby  and  was 
one  of  the  pioneers  of  electric  lighting.  He  it  was  that 
first  built  a  dynamo  in  the  United  States  (February5 
1874) ;  and  among  American  manufacturers  he  was  the 
first  to  use  the  dynamo  in  electro-plating.  In  his  dynamo 
work  he  obtained  the  aid  of  Moses  G.  Farmer  2  as  tech- 
nical assistant;  and  in  1875  he  began  commercial  pro- 
duction of  Wallace-Farmer  dynamos.  Up  to  1880  he 
continued  to  experiment  with  various  types  of  machine, 
including  one  that  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  to  employ 
laminated  plates  for  the  core  of  the  armature.  He  in- 
vented and  made  (early  in  1875)  the  first  American  arc- 
lamp — a  crude  affair  consisting  of  a  wooden  frame  on 
which  were  slotted  two  movable  cross-bars,  each  holding 
a  Carbon  plate.  The  arc,  once  established  by  a  piece  of 
carbon  or  wire  placed  in  contact  with  the  plates,  followed 
the  line  of  least  resistance,  shifting  along  a  horizontal 
path  between  them.  The  adjustment  device  that  Wallace 
commonly  found  most  convenient,  was  a  small  boy  who 
drove  the  plates  together  by  hitting  the  cross-bars  with 
a  hammer. 

2  In  the  primitive  days  of  telegraphy,  Farmer  had  been  an  operator 
at  Framinghiam,  Massachusetts;  and  there  in  1847-1848  he  applied  the 
principle  of  the  telegraph  to  the  first  practicable  fire-alarm, 

105 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Subsequent  models  of  his  lamp  showed  constant  im- 
provement. He  was  the  first  American  manufacturer  of 
arc-lamp  carbons*  and  claimed  to  be  the  inventor  of  the 
cylindrical  carbon  pencil  that  superseded  other  forms  of 
carbon  electrode.  With  an  installation  of  his  plate  lamps 
in  the  Ansonia  works,  he  originated  series  arc-lighting; 
arc-lamps  having  previously  been  run  on  separate  cir- 
cuits. This  series  arrangement  he  never  patented  and  it 
was  speedily  imitated.  He  was  a  pathfinder  whose  serv- 
ices are  not  to-day  so  well  known  as  they  deserve  to  be.3 
Others  who  in  this  country  had  been  devoting  their 
attention  to  the  development  of  the  arc-lamp  and  the  study 
of  arc-lighting  systems,,  were  Elihii  Thomson,  Edward 
Weston,  and  Charles  F.  Brush.  At  the  Mechanics*  Fair 
in  Boston  in  I8785  Brush  exhibited  a  small  arc-lighting 
dynamo  that  later  was  used  in  illuminating  and  advertis- 
ing a  Boston  clothing-shop.  Brush's  lamps  were  placed 
in  the  public  squares  of  Cleveland9  Ohio  (his  native 
town),  and  in  Madison  and  Union  squares.  New  York, 

The  arc-lamp,  when  its  carbon  electrodes  and  its 
automatic  adjustment  had  been  gradually  improved,  was 
undoubtedly  efficient  in  converting  energy  into  light. 
But  it  had  many  defects.  Its  carbons  burned  rapidly 
away  and  had  constantly  to  be  replaced.  As  they  burned, 
they  made  a  hissing  sound.  Although  the  lamp's  effec- 
tiveness did  not  extend  so  far  as  one  might  reasonably 
have  supposed,  yet  immediately  beneath  the  lamp  the  light 
was  so  intensely  bright  as  to  be  unpleasant  and  even 
harmful  to  the  eyes-  Harsh  shadows  were  cast.  The 

s  See  a  series  of  articles,  ''William  Wallace  and  His  Contributions 
to  the  Electrical  Industries,"  by  W.  J.  Hammer,  in  "The  Electrical  En- 
gineer" for  February  1,  8,  15,  and  22,  1893.  This  series  is  based  on 
first-hand  knowledge  and  is  abundantly  illustrated.  The  "History  of 
Hew  Haven  County"  (New  York,  1892),  edited  by  J.  L.  Hockey  and 
others,  has  a  sketch  (vol  II,  pp.  525-528). 

106 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 

are  flickered.  It  burned  in  an  open  globe ;  theref  ore5  like 
other  exposed  flames.,  it  not  only  consumed  and  fouled 
the  air  but  in  many  places — as,  for  example,  flour-milling 
plants,  coal  mines,  and  powder-works — was  too  hazardous 
to  use.  It  could  not  be  produced  on  a  small  scale ;  hence 
for  small  rooms  it  was  impossible. 

Up  to  1878,  it  was  with  the  arc-lamp  in  various  forms 
that  all  "practical"  electric  lighting  had  been  done.  A 
lamp  of  another  sort  had,  however,  long  been  attempted. 
When  the  electric  arc  was  produced.,  the  carbons  became 
incandescent  at  their  tips ;  that  is  to  say,  heat  made  these 
tips  luminous  and  they  glowed  as  coals  will  in  a  grate 
or  like  the  extremities  of  an  electric  fuse.  This  phenom- 
enon, so  readily  observed,  may  have  led  to  experiments 
with  the  glow,  or  incandescent,  lamp.  At  all  events, 
students  of  electric  lighting  were  early  aware  that  when 
current  traversed  a  conductor  possessing  a  high  melting- 
point  and  high  resistance,  heat  would  make  that  conductor 
to  some  extent  a  source  of  light ;  and  as  a  substance  for 
the  conductor,  carbon  was  repeatedly  tried.  Kefractory 
metals  also  were  favored  material. 

As  early  as  1841,  Frederick  de  I!oleyns3  an  English- 
man, took  the  first  decisive  forward  step  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  incandescent  lamp;  he  inclosed  a  metallic- 
wire  conductor  in  a  glass  bulb  from  which  he  had  ex- 
hausted most  of  the  air.  In  1845  J.  W.  Starr,  an 
American,  with  E.  A.  King,  an  English  associate,  brought 
out  a  lamp  in  which  a  rod  of  plumbago,  fastened  at  either 
end  to  a  metallic  conductor,  was  inserted  in  a  barometric 
or  Torricellian  vacuum — that  is,  in  the  apparent  vacuum 
above  the  mercury  column  in  the  tube  of  a  barometer. 
One  encounters  the  names  of  many  other  experimenters — 
such  as  W.  E.  Staite  (1848)  and  J,  J.  W.  Watson 
(1853)  ;  or  Joseph  W.  (later  Sir  Joseph)  Swan,  who  in 

107 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
1860  devised  a  lamp  with  a  conductor  in  the  form  of  a 
strip  of  carbonized  paper;4  or  Moses  G.  Farmer,  who 
used  (1859)  platinum  and  iriditim  wire  in  lamps  con- 
nected to  primary  batteries;  or?  coming  down  to  1878* 
W.  E.  Sawyer  and  A.  Man,  who  in  that  year  introduced 
the  Sawyer-Man  lamp.  This  had  various  new  features* 
among  them  being  an  inclosing  vessel  charged  with 
nitrogen  gas.  (Nitrogen  gas  is  highly  inert;  it  will  not 
burn  nor  will  it  support  combustion  as  oxygen  does.  It 
would  therefore  permit  of  higher  temperatures  than 
would  a  vacuum,  at  the  same  time  assuring  longer  life 
to  the  conductor.)  Despite  these  efforts,  however,  no 
inventor  had  yet  constructed  a  satisfactory  incandescent 
lamp. 

Such  was  the  general  situation  in  the  electric-lighting 
ield  when  Edison,  following  Professor  Barker's  sugges- 
tion, started  out  to  subdivide  the  electric  current.  What 
did  this  "subdividing"  mean?  It  meant  that  with  the 
same  current  used  to  light  a  single  arc-lamp,  Edison 
purposed  to  light  a  given  number  of  separate  or  divided 
lamps,  the  sum  of  which  should  equal  the  single  arc.  It 
meant  that  he  was  to  try  to  produce  electric  light  in  small 
units — in  lamps  of  about  the  same  candlepower  as  the 
flame  of  illuminating  gas  from  an  ordinary  gas- jet.  He 
saw  clearly  that  the  lamp  would  be  the  determining  factor 
in  any  electric-lighting  system.  He  saw  that  the  arc- 
lamp,  with  its  £00  or  800  candlepower5  was  too  large  and 
bright  for  the  purpose  he  had  in  view.  Therefore  he 
chose  the  incandescent  type — the  type  that  never  yet  had 
been  made  to  work  successfully;  and  he  was  quite  un- 
deterred by  the  fact  that  experts  were  ready  to  pronounce 

4  His  source  of  current,  a  battery  of  Grove  voltaic  cells,  made  the 
strip  red-hot  but  was  not  powerful  enough  to  render  it  fully  incan- 
descent. 

108 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 

subdivision  an  absurd  notion.  "The  electric  light/5 
Edison  in  later  years/  "has  caused  me  the  greatest  amount 
of  study  ?  and  has  required  the  most  elaborate  experi- 
ments^  although  I  was  never  myself  discouraged^  or  in- 
clined to  be  hopeless  of  success.  I  cannot  say  the  same 
for  all  my  associates.  And  yet  through  all  those  years  of 
experimenting  and  research  I  never  once  made  a  discovery. 
All  my  work  was  deductive,  and  the  results  I  achieved 
were  those  of  invention  pure  and  simple.  I  would  con- 
struct a  theory  and  work  on  its  lines  until  I  found  it 
untenable,  then  it  would  be  discarded  at  once  and  an- 
other theory  evolved.  This  way  was  the  only  possible 
way  for  me  to  work  out  the  problem.55  .  .  . 

In  I877?  the  year  in  which  he  had  been  working  on  his 
telephone  with  the  carbon-button  transmitter,  Edison  had 
done  some  experimenting  (from  September  onward  until 
about  the  end  of  the  year)  in  incandescence:  first  with 
carbon  strips  attached  to  clamps  forming  the  poles  of  a 
battery;  then  with  refractory  metals  (such  as  boron, 
chromium,  ruthenium) ,  either  placed  directly  in  a  circuit 
or  inserted  between  carbon  points.  He  also  tried  "elec- 
tric candles,55  made  by  sealing  into  a  glass  tube  a  mixture 
of  powdered  silicon  and  a  refractory  oxide,  such  as  lime. 
Carbon  strips  heated  in  open  air  sufficiently  to  incan- 
desce, at  once  oxidized  and  crumbled  to  pieces.  A  similar 
strip  in  a  vacuum  produced  by  a  hand-operated  pump, 
remained  at  incandescence  "for  about  eight  minutes.5* 
Neither  refractory  metals  nor  electric  candles  appeared 
to  Edison  to  promise  anything  practical.  From  the  be- 
ginning of  1878  until  the  time  of  the  eclipse  expedition 
in  July  of  that  year,  the  introduction  of  the  phonograph 
had  claimed  all  his  attention;  but  in  the  late  summer  he 

*  Arthur  Churchill,  "Edison  and  His  Early  Work,"  in  the  "Scientific 
American  Supplement"  for  April  1,  1905. 

109 


EDISON:  THE  AND   HIS  WORK 

determined  at  Professor  Barker's  suggestion  to  return 
to  the  lighting  experiments  that  had  been  laid  aside  but 
never  wholly  forgotten.  Thus  began  the  long  campaign 
for  an  incandescent  lamp  that  should  make  subdivision 
of  the  electric  current  a  reality. 

Early  in  September  he  went  to  Ansonia  for  a  personal 
view  of  what  William  Wallace  was  doing.  With  him 
went  Professor  Barter  (who,  like  many  other  scientific 
men  of  the  day*  was  a  friend  of  Wallace),  Charles 
Batchelor,  Prof.  Charles  F.  Chandler/  and  Dr.  Henry 
Draper.  From  Wallace  he  obtained  a  Wallace-Farmer 
dynamo  and  a  set  of  Wallace  arc-lamps  to  light  the 
laboratory  at  Menlo  Park.  He  and  the  other  members 
of  the  party  inscribed  their  names  with  a  diamond-point 
on  goblets  used  at  that  time.  Edison  wrote  in  minute 
script  upon  his  goblet,  long  and  carefully  treasured  by 
Wallace:  "Thomas  A.  Edison,  Sept.  89  1878,  made 
under  the  electric  light."  After  a  full  survey  of  Wal- 
lace's devices  and  methods,  Edison  frankly  declared; 
"Wallace,  I  believe  I  can  beat  you  making  electric  light, 
1  do  not  think  you  are  working  in  the  right  direction/* 
(Wallace  not  only  was  firm  in  allegiance  to  the  arc-lamp, 
but  was  even  experimenting  with  multi-carbon  lamps,  one 
such  lamp  of  his  having  forty-eight  pencils.)  Each  of 
these  men  had,  however,  a  high  regard  for  the  other. 
Hammer  says  that  Wallace  often  spoke  in  praise  of 
Edison;  and  to  a  question  of  Hammer's  Edison  once 
replied  that  Wallace  had  "done  a  great  deal  of  good  work 
for  which  others  have  received  the  credit"  and  which 
"others  have  benefited  largely  by,"  7 

«  Chandler  was  at  that  time  professor  of  chemistry  In  Columbia  Uni- 
versity. Draper  was  a  scientist  whose  chief  work  was  in  the  field  of 
celestial  photography. 

T  "The  Electrical  Engineer,"  February  I,  1893,  p.  105. «.  ,  .  Al 

number  of  "very  important  patents  taken  out  by  inventors  in  this  country^ 

110 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 

When  Edison  got  back  home,  the  first  thing  lie  did  was 
to  delve  Into  the  subject  of  gas  lighting.  He  rounded 
up  and  read  the  back  files  of  technical  periodicals  and  the 
"Transactions"  of  societies  o£  gas  engineers.  His  lab- 
oratory notes  (which,  during  the  period  of  his  electric- 
lighting  researches,  filled  more  than  two  hundred  note- 
books containing  a  total  of  over  40^000  pages)  Included 
such  jottings  as  these:  uEdison5s  great  effort — not  to 
make  a  large  light  or  a  blinding  light,  but  a  small  light 
having  the  mildness  of  gas/5  "Object,  Edison  to  effect 
exact  imitation  of  all  done  by  gas5  so  as  to  replace  light- 
ing by  gas  by  lighting  by  electricity."  .  .  .  "So  un- 
pleasant is  the  effect  of  the  products  of  gas  that  in  the 
new  Madison  Square  Theatre  every  gas  jet  is  ventilated 
by  special  tubes  to  carry  away  the  products  of  combus- 
tion*" There  were  figures  giving  the  world's  estimated 
investment  in  illuminating  gas;  a  chart  of  the  relative 
consumption  of  gas  during  the  various  months  of  the 
year ;  a  prediction  that  gas  would  be  used  less  for  light- 
ing, more  for  heating.  Few,  probably  3  were  the  gas  en- 
gineers that  knew  the  broader  phases  of  gas  illumination 
more  thoroughly  than  did  Edison  when  he  had  finished 
this  preliminary  survey.8 

The  facts  qf  this  method  of  approach  have  an  especial 
interest  as  helping  to  refute  popular  errors  regarding 

which  have  led  to  expensive  litigation  and  claims  of  priority  by  various 
inventors,  have  been  given  their  quietus  through  the  discovery  that  these 
inventions  were  anticipated  by  the  work  of  William  Wallace  and  his 
assistants.  A  notable  instance  is  the  arc  lamp  clutch  mechanism 
claimed  by  Mr.  Chas.  F.  Brush,  found  to  have  been  first  used  in  the 
Wallace  lamp  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Leroy  White  of  Waterbury; 
and  the  claim  of  Mr,  Edicon  covering  the  controlling  of  the  output  of 
a  dynamo  by  the  putting-in  and  cutting-out  of  coils  in  the  field  circuit 
was  found  to  have  been  applied  to  an  early  Wallace  dynamo  used,  I 
believe,  for  plating  purposes."  15.,  February  22,  1893,  p.  182. 
»D.  and  ML,  I.  264-266;  II,  604. 

Ill 


EDISOX:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS 
Edison.     He  lias  represented   as 

results  by  lucky  chance;  or  as  a  sort  of  necromancer, 
eye  "in  a  fine  frenzy  rolling."     Authentic  evidence 
fails  to  support  either  view. 

To  provide  the  sinews  of  war,  a  syndicate^  the  Edison 
Electric  Light  company,  capitalized  at  was 

formed.  Its  guiding  spirit  was  Grosvenor  P.  Lowrey^ 
for  many  years  Edison's  legal  adviser;  J.  P.  Morgan, 
Henry  Villard,  and  other  financiers  participated.  Menlo 
Park,  tiny  settlement  in  the  midst  of  gently-undulating 
farmland*  was  now  to  be  for  many  months  the  scene  of  a 
driving  activity  that  was  destined  to  make  it  famous. 
It  lay  a  bit  west  of  the  railway  and  above  the  level  of 
the  line — a  half-dozen  or  so  of  dwelling-houses  ands 
beyond  these,  the  inclosure  containing  Edison^s  establish- 
ment. In  the  northeast  corner  of  the  inclosure  was  a 
small  brick  structure  housing  the  business  office  on  the 
lower  floor  and  Edison's  technical  library  on  the  upper. 
At  the  rear  and  southwest  of  this  building,  stood  the  long, 
two-story*  frame  main  building.  Its  first  floor  was 
devoted  to  various  purposes.  Here  were  chemical  lab- 
oratories ;  and  here,  equipped  with  wire  connections,  was 
a  specially  constructed  table  carrying  testing  instru- 
ments, portable  forms  of  such  instruments  being  then 
unknown*  On  the  second  floor  was  the  principal  lab- 
oratory— one  big  rodm  in  which  were  conducted  all  major 
experiments  in  connection  with  the  incandescent  electric 
lamp.  Along  the  side  walls  of  the  laboratory,  from  floor 
to  ceiling,  ran  shelves  packed  with  containers  holding  a 
motley  assemblage  of  chemicals  and  other  supplies. 
Scattered  about  were  batteries  of  cells  and  long  tables 
covered  with  many  sorts  of  instruments  and  apparatus. 
At  the  rear  (ot  western)  end  was  an  organ  that  had 
been  obtained  from  Hilborne  Roosevelt.  On  this  organ 

112 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 
would   sometimes    "play   tunes   in   a   primitive 


Back  of  the  main  building  came  a  carpenter-shop  and 
the  gasoline-gas  outfit  ;  and  beyond  was  a  spacious  brict 
machine-shop^  under  wliose  roof  were  also  engine-room 
and  boiler.  Behind  the  machine-shop,  where  Kruesi  was 
in  charge,  a  stretch  of  woods  began, 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  set  of  Wallace  arc-lamps 
was  ever  used.  The  Wallace-Farmer  dynamo  was  pre- 
sumably needed  for  service  in  experiments.  At  any  rate5 
while  Edison  was  working  away  at  his  incandescent  elec- 
tric lamp?  gasoline  gas  was  used  for  artificial  illumination 
when,  as  was  the  rule  through  many  months,  the  end  o£ 
day  brought  no  respite  from  intensive  toil. 

During  those  early  years  of  electric-lighting  develop- 
ment, young  men  of  parts  and  promise  gathered  to 
Edison's  staff.  Francis  R.  Upton5  the  chief  mathemati- 
cian* had  studied  at  Princeton  and  later  been  a  pupil  of 
Hermann  von  Helmlioltz.  An  associate  said  that  "any 
wrangler  at  Oxford5'  would  have  delighted  in  watching 
Upton  "  juggle  with  integral  and  differential  equations*5' 
The  chief  technician,  Charles  Batchelor  —  sometimes  called 
aEdison5s  hands/*  had  originally  come  from  England  to 
install  thread-winding  machinery  in  Clark's  thread  man- 
ufactory in  Newark.  Upton  described  Batchelor  as  "a 
wonderful  mechanic5*  and  as  possessed  of  good  judgment 

9  Hilborne  L.  Roosevelt  (1849-188$),  a  cousin  of  Theodore,  was  an 
organ-builder  well  known  in  his  day.  Among  the  large  organs  he  built, 
were  that  in  the  main  building  of  the  Centennial  Exposition  (Philadel- 
phia) and  those  in  Grace  Church  (New  York)  and  the  Garden  City 
(Long  Island)  cathedral.  "He  was  widely  known  among  electricians, 
invented  several  important  details  of  the  telephone,  enjoyed  a  royalty 
for  many  years  in  the  telephone-switch,  and  was  largely  interested  in  the 
Bell  telephone  company."  ("Appleton's  Cyclopaedia  of  American  Biog- 
raphy/* YoL  V,  p.  319.) 

113 


EDISON:  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 

and  untiring  patience.     Edison's  most  intimate  personal 
friend  and  most  valued  consultant  was  Edward  H.  John- 
son, who,  having  left  the  employ  of  the  Denver  and  Rio 
railroad,  had  already  assisted  Edison  in  long- 
demonstrations  (1878)  of  automatic  telegraphy 
and  had  in  England  to  represent  Edison's  electro- 

motograph  interests.     Johnson's  duties  kept  him  away 
from  Menlo  for  much  of  the  time.     Ludwig  K.  Boehm, 
Force,  Francis  Jelil,  and  John  W.  Lawson  were 
also  associates. 

Others  who  joined  the  Menlo  group  prior  to  1881,  were : 
William  S.  Andrews  (like  Batchelor,  an  Englishman), 
who  for  nearly  a  quarter-century  held  posts  in  various 
Edison  companies  and  later  became  a  consulting  en- 
gineer of  the  General  Electric  company;  William  J* 
Hammer,  who  had  been  assistant  to  Edward  Weston  in 
Weston5s  malleable-nickel  works  in  Newark  and  who  after- 
ward, besides  rendering  Edison  important  and  confidential 
services  both  at  home  and  abroad,  was  allied  with  Frank 
J.  Sprague  in  instaEing  at  Richmond*  Virginia*  the 
world?s  first  large-scale  electric-traction  line  (1887); 
John  W.  Lieb?  in  after  years  vice-president  of  the  New 
York  Edison  company,  who  began  at  Menlo  as  a  draughts- 
man; Charles  L.  Clarke,  who  subsequently  was  appointed 
chief  engineer  of  the  Edison  Electric  Light  company  in 
New  York  and  in  time  became,  like  Andrews,  one  of  the 
General  Electric  company9®  engineers;  and  Edward  G. 
AcJiesons  who  in  1891  invented  the  abrasive  carborundum 
(silicon  carbide)  and  the  carborundum  furnace.10  Dr. 

i®Acheson  Iras  using  the  electric  furnace  in  experiments  to  make 
artificial  diamonds  and  accidentally  hit  on  carborundum.  Carborundum 
is  used  in  place  of  corundum  or  emery  for  polishing  or  sharpening.  It 
is  the  result  of  the  action  of  carbon  on  silicon  at  high  temperature  , 
coke  powder  supplying  the  carbon,  and  sand  the  silicon,  while  sawdust 
ordinary  salt  (sodium  chloride)  are  used  to  facilitate  the  process* 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 
JL  Nichols,  after  study  at  the  universities  of 
Leipzig,  Berlin,  and  Gottlngen  and  a  fellowship  at  Johns 
Hopkins^  was  at  llealo  doing  special  scientific  research 
for  Edison  during  the  winter  of  1880-1381.  He  was 
professor  of  pliysics  in  Cornell  University  from  1SST  to 
1919  and  published  several  test-books. 

Batclielor*  Uptoz^  and  Edison  had  houses  of  their  own. 
Edison's  place  was  distinguished  by  a  windmill  that 
pumped  water  for  the  household  reservoir.  Close  at 
hand  was  Mrs.  Jordan5s  boarding-house  for  Edison  em- 
ployees. In  the  experimental  wort,  according  to  Edison's 
account^  "we  had  all  the  way  from  forty  to  fifty  mem/5  X1 
"They  worked,*5  he  continues,  "all  the  time.  Each  man 
was  allowed  from  four  to  sis  hours'  sleep.  We  had  a 
man  who  kept  tally,  and  when  the  time  came  for  one  to 
sleep,  lie  was  notified-55  Said  Francis  JeH:  "It  often 
happened  that  when  Edison  had  been  working  up  to  three 
or  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  he  would  lie  down  on  one  of 
the  laboratory  tables,  and  with  nothing  but  a  couple  of 
books  for  a  pillow,  would  fall  into  a  sound  sleep.  .  .  . 
Some  of  the  laboratory  assistants  could  be  seen  now  and 
then  sleeping  on  a  table  in  the  early  morning  hours.** 
Small  wonder  that  R.  U.  Johnson,  who  several  times 
visited  Menlo  during  this  period,  has  written:12  "It 
was  a  time  of  great  intensity,  every  one  being  keyed  up 
to  concert  pitch.55  Upton  once  commented:  ".  .  .  I 
have  often  felt  that  Mr.  Edison  could  never  comprehend 
the  limitations  of  the  strength  of  other  men,  as  his  own 
physical  and  mental  strength  have  always  seemed  to 
be  without  limit.  He  could  work  continuously  as  long 

The  crystallized  carborundum  is  nearly  as  hard  as  a  diamond;  sulphuric 
acid  and  other  extremely  powerful  acids  do  not  affect  it 
11 IX  and  WU  II,  634. 

i-  "Remembered  Yesterdays,"  p.  115. 

115 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
as  lie  wished*  and  he  had  sleep   at  Ms  command.55  ia 

Not  only  was  Edison  possessed  of  great  physical 
stamina3  but  lie  was  also  Inured  to  night-work  through 
his  experience  as  a  telegraph  operator,  A  favorite 
dogma  of  Ms  was  that  we  sleep  too  much.  He  was  per- 
haps too  ready  to  suppose  that  al  other  men  had  similar 
physiques  or  could  adapt  themselves  to  his  methods. 
There  Is  record  of  his  enthusiastic  praise  of  a  man  whom 
he  chose  to  run  one  of  his  Newark  shops.  "When  In  need 
of  rest/"  said  Edison,  "he  would  lie  down  on  a  work-bench, 
sleep  twenty  or  thirty  minutes,  and  wake  up  fresh.  As 
this  was  just  what  I  cowld  do,14  I  naturally  conceived 
a  great  pride  In  having  such  a  man  in  charge  of  my 
work."  It  has  been  written  of  him  that  he  "never  hes- 
itated to  use  men  up  as  freely  as  a  Napoleon  or  Grant; 
seeing  only  the  goal  of  a  complete  invention  or  perfected 
device."15  .  .  .  Yet  Francis  JeH  declared16  that  Edi- 
son's ^winning  ways  and  manners"  made  the  laboratory- 
workers  at  Menlo  "ever  ready  with  a  boundless  devotion 
to  execute  any  request  or  desire55;  that  Edison  "was 
respected  with  a  respect  which  only  great  men  can  ob- 
tain?* This  probably  reflects  the  sentiments  of  the 
majority.  Most  of  the  assistants  were  young  men,  en- 
thusiastic and  at  the  beginning  of  their  careers.  They 
believed  In  themselves;  they  believed  in  their  chief;  and, 
though  sometimes  discouraged,  they  believed  in  the  future 
of  the  art  they  were  helping  to  evolve. 

When  the  staff  was  working  late,  a  midnight  meal  was 
brought  in,  supplying  excuse  for  a  pause  In  the  night's 
occupation.  Now  and  then  some  of  the  men  from  the 

is  D.  and  M.,  I,  281. 
i*I&.,  I,  140.    The  italics  are  ours, 
is  16.,  I,  134-135, 
I,  297, 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 

office  were  present  on  these  occasions;  sometimes  old 
acquaintances  of  Edison's  joined  the  circle;  often  the 
meal  would  be  followed  by  music — noisy  choruses,  an 
organ  "selection/5  a  vocal  solo  by  Boehm  (who  played 
his  own  accompaniment  on  a  zither)  or  somebody  else. 
Save  for  these  intervals,  we  hear  of  but  one  officially- 
recognised  form  of  relaxation,  "During  the  summer- 
time/9 said  Edison,  "after  we  had  made  something  which 
was  successful,,  I  used  to  engage  a  brick-sloop  at  Perth 
Amboy  and  take  the  whole  crowd  down  to  the  fishing- 
banks  on  the  Atlantic  for  two  days.53 17  Edison  had  the 
patience  necessary  to  the  complete  angler.  Once,  inside 
Sandy  Hook,  he  fished  without  a  bite  for  two  days  and  two 
nights  and  then  quit  only  because  the  other  members 
of  the  party  compelled  him  to  by  raising  anchor  and 
sailing  away. 

For  the  long  train  of  experiments  now  undertaken  to 
achieve  a  satisfactory  lamp  as  the  prime  requisite  of  sub- 
division of  the  electric  current,  Edison  naturally  returned 
to  his  earlier  researches  as  a  starting-point.  To  be  satis- 
factory, the  lamp  would  have  to  meet  successfully  both 
scientific  and  commercial  tests.  Scientifically,  it  must 
have  an  incandescing  substance  with  high  resistance  and 
small  radiating  surface,  and  capable  of  sustaining  for 
a  thousand  or  more  hours  a  temperature  in  excess  of  two 
thousand  degrees.  Commercially,  it  must  be  proof 
against  the  ordinary  impacts  of  daily  use;  simple  to 
manage ;  cheaply  produced ;  and  permitting  the  maximum 
economy  in  the  outlay  for  copper  wires  to  bring  current 
to  it.  Furthermore,  as  part  of  a  system  intended  even- 
tually to  supplant  gas  for  illuminating  purposes,  it  must 
be  independent  of  every  other  lamp  on  the  circuit — that 
is,  it  must  be  so  arranged  that  it  could  be  lit  or  extin- 

.  and  M«  II,  634. 

117 


EDISON:  THE  MAX  AND  HIS  WORK 
guished  without  reference  to  any  other  lamp*  just  as  gas 
could  be  at  the  individual  jet.     And  the  lamps  must  be 
units  of  a  system  that  could  be  operated  at  charges 
reasonable  enough  to  make  it  a  real  competitor  of  gas. 

In  order  that  the  lamps  should  be  independent  of  each 
other,  it  was  necessary  to  run  them  in  "multiple  circuit.5* 
They  could  not  be  run  in  "series."  "Multiple  circuit'* 
and  "series*5  are  the  terms  used  for  the  leading  two  sys- 
tems of  distributing  electric  current  for  general  use.  To 
gain  a  rough  idea  of  the  series  system,  one  may  regard  it 
as  a  big  loop  or  ellipse-like  arrangement  on  which  all 
the  lamps  are  directly  carried.  The  current  acts,  there- 
fore, along  the  path  of  the  loop,  and  to  reach  the  suc- 
cessive lamps  it  must  pass  through  the  preceding  lamp  or 
lamps;  that  is,  to  reachs  say,  the  fourth  lamp  it  must 
pass  through  the  first,  second,  and  third;  and  to  reach 
the  last  lamp  of  the  circuit  it  must  pass  through  all  the 
others.  Hence,  if  one  lamp  were  out  of  order,  the  path 
would  be  broken  and  the  current  interrupted ;  for,  in  order 
that  an  electric  current  may  flow,  the  circuit  must  be 
"closed**  or  "made"  throughout,  either  wholly  along  the 
route  of  a  wire  conductor  or  with  the  earth  as  a  "return." 
In  the  series  system,  the  lamps  are,  to  borrow  an  apt  com- 
parison, "like  beads  on  a  string,  and  therefore  not  in- 
dependent of  one  another,  but  all  dependent  on  the 
integrity  and  continuity  of  the  circuit  or  string."  1S 

Now,  the  multiple-circuit  system  may  be  rudely  repre- 
sented as  a  ladder.  The  sides  of  the  ladder  are  two 
parallel  conductors,  one  positive  and  the  other  negative. 
The  rungs  of  the  ladder  are  the  circuits  of  the  individual 
lamps,  each  lamp  having  its  own  rung.  Thus  each  lamp 
is  connected  by  one  electrode  (or  pole)  to  the  positive 

is  Address  of  J.  W.  Lieb  before  the  Edison  Pioneers,  February  II* 
1920  (Edison's  seventy-third  birthday). 

US 


A  N"EW  LIGHT  SHINES 

conductor^  by  the  other  to  the  negative*     If  one  Is 

broken — that  is,  If  one  lamp  is  out  of  order,  the 
the  other  rungs  remain  intact — that  is5  the  parallel  con- 
ductors continue  to  function  and  so  do  the  other  lamp- 
circuits  and  lamps.  This  will  make  it  sufficiently  clear 
that  for  a  distribution  such  as  Edison  had  in  mind^  in 
which  electric  light  was  to  be  provided  in  small  independ- 
ent units  as  gas  light  was5  the  multiple-circuit  system  was 
inevitable. 

The  individual  lamp  to  be  used  with  such  a  system  must5 
as  has  already  been  said,,  have  an  incandescing  substance 
of  small  cross-section  (or  radiating  surface)  and  high  re- 
sistance. The  reason  for  this  is  readily  grasped.  In- 
candescence was,,  of  course,  to  be  obtained  from  heat  pro- 
duced by  the  action  of  the  current  in  passing  through  the 
incandescing  substance.  The  resistance  of  a  conductor 
is  inversely  proportional  to  its  cross-sectional  area. 
Therefore  the  resistance  offered  by  the  incandescing  sub- 
stance (or  burner)  must  be  greater  than  that  offered  by 
the  wires  bringing  the  current  from  the  source  of  supply; 
for,  if  the  reverse  were  true,  heat  needed  in  the  burner 
would  be  wasted  in  the  wires.  Yet  Edison's  predecessors 
had  worked  in  the  opposite  direction — that  of  burners 
with  large  cross-section  (or  radiating  surface)  and  low 
resistance.  With  relation  to  the  resistance  of  the  burner, 
it  was  necessary  to  consider  the  voltage  (or  electromotive 
force)  of  the  current — voltage  being  comparable  to  pres- 
sure or  "head"  in  hydraulics.  The  electromotive  force 
must  be  relatively  high,  the  current-flow  relatively  small 
The  higher  the  voltage,19  the  greater  would  have  to  be 
the  resistance  of  the  burner.  The  lower  the  voltage,  the 

is  The  volt  is  the  working  unit-of-meastire  of  electromotive  force; 
being  such  an  electromotive  force  as  will  convey  a  current  of  one 
ampere  against  a  resistance  of  one  ohm. 

JI9 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
greater  would  have  to  be  the  size  of  the  wires  supplying 
the  current. 

On  the  ascending  scale,  a  point  would  be  reached  where 
it  would  be  virtually  impossible  to  provide  a  burner  with 
adequate  resistance.  On  the  descending  scale,  a  point 
would  be  reached  where  the  amount  of  copper  for  wires 
would  be  so  large  as  to  make  prohibitive  the  cost  of  com- 
mercial manufacture.  In  other  words,  the  current  must 
be  of  a  voltage  high  enough  to  render  commercial  instal- 
lation feasible*  but  not  so  high  as  to  make  light  by  In- 
candescence a  vastly  difficult  thing  to  attain;  and  the 
burner  must  be  of  a  cross-section  small  enough  to  offer 
adequate  resistance,  yet  not  so  small  that  the  material 
used  would  be  unstable  and  short-lived. 

Facing  such  difficulties  at  the  outset,  Edison  renewed 
his  attempts  with  carbon  strips,  of  which  he  made  "a 
very  large  number  of  trials."  20  The  strips  were  of  car- 
bonized paper,  and  this  was  also  tried  in  a  great  variety 
of  other  forms*  Wood  carbons  and  hard  carbon  (as  in 
the  arc-lamp)  were  put  to  the  test.  So  were  sticks  (or 
wires)  of  paper  tissue  that  had  been  coated  with  lamp- 
black and  tar,  then  rolled  out  thin  and  carbonized.  These 
burners,  in  such  vacuum  as  Edison  was  able  to  create  with 
an  ordinary  air-pump,  lasted  only  ten  or  fifteen  minutes. 
Edison  had  been  inclined  to  select  carbon  as  the  most 
promising  substance  for  incandescence,  but  there  was  no 
denying  that,  even  under  the  best  conditions  he  could 
then  furnish,  it  was  not  practicable ;  so,  for  the  time  be- 
ing and  reluctantly,  he  abandoned  it.  Then  he  again 
took  up  refractory  metals. 

The  resistances  of  platinum  and  of  iridium,  a  silver- 
vhitish  metal  of  the  platinum  group,  were  known  to  be 
relatively  high.  Edison  therefore  made  wire  burners  of 

*>  IX  and  M.,  I,  249. 

120 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 

indium,  of  platinum,  and  of  refractory  alloyss  and 
lie  experimented  with  both  in  the  open  air  and  in  the  best 
vacua  lie  could  get  with  the  same  common  type  of  air- 
pump  that  he  had  used  in  the  case  of  the  carbon  burners* 
When  incandescent,  the  metal  wires  showed,  it  is  true,  a 
longer  life  than  had  the  carbon  burners ;  but  the  current 
required  to  bring  them  to  incandescence  was  so  powerful 
as  to  melt  them  in  a  short  time.  To  control  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  wires  and  thus  to  keep  them  from  being  melted* 
Edison  introduced  regulating  devices  into  the  circuit;  but 
these  devices  proved  to  be  unreliable*21  He  next  coiled 
platinum  around  a  bobbin  of  refractory  oxide — still  with- 
out the  results  he  sought.  In  connection  with  these  in- 
vestigations, he  made,  on  the  evidence  of  one  of  Ms  note- 
books* some  1,600  different  tests  of  earths,  minerals,  and 
ores.22 

In  the  spring  of  1879,  metallic-wire  lamps  were  pri- 
vately exhibited  at  Menlo  to  members  of  the  syndicate. 
Several  lamps  with  platinum  burners  were  <chooked  up" 
in  series  in  the  machine-shop;  current  being  furnished, 
according  to  Francis  Jehl,  by  a  dynamo  "of  the  Gramme 
type.5523  The  exhibition  was  not  enheartening.  Cur- 
rent was  turned  on.  "A  little  more  juice,5*  said  Edison 
to  Kruesi;  and  a  second  time,  "A  little  more."  For^a 
fleeting  moment  one  lamp  gave  forth  "a  light  like  a  star  in 
the  distance."  Then  followed  an  explosion — a  puff — 
darkness!  Batchelor  removed  the  wrecked  lamp;  ia- 

21  In  one  type,  the  current  was  led  through  a  metal  bar  that,  when 
the  current  became  too  strong,  acted  as  a  shunt  or  short-circuit.    In 
another,  expansion  of  gas  or  air  inclosed  in  a  tube  operated  a  dia- 
phragm that  worked  in  similar  fashion. 

22  D.  and  M.,  II,  605-606. 

2.8  D.  and  M.,  I,  289.  This  was  presumably  the  Wallace  dynamo, 
"Wallace  built  dynamos  of  various  types.  His  first  machine  and  the  cm® 
used  at  the  Centennial  Exposition  had  Gramme-ring  armatures.  See 
{Hammer's  article  in  "The  Electrical  Engineer"  for  February  8,  1803, 

121 


EDISON:  THE  MAX  AND  HIS  WORK 

a  fresh  one.  The  same  thing  happened.  One  or 
two  more  trials  were  made,  with  like  finale.  "After  that 
exhibition/5  commented  Jehl,  "we  had  a  house-cleaning 
at  the  laboratory.55  *  ,  . 

was  making  progress.     First,  he 

had  that  the  Incandescing  substance  must  be  her- 

metically inclosed  In  a  container  (now  known  as  a  "bulb*') 
formed  entirely  of  glass  and  exhausted  of  air  as  thor- 
oughly as  possible.  Thus  inclosed9  his  platinum  wire 
would  yield,  without  melting*  a  light  of  twenty-five  can- 
dles, in  the  open  air  It  would  melt  while  yielding 
but  four  candles.  Second,*  he  had  learned  that  when  the 
air  was  pumped  out,  a  current  must  fee  sent  through 
the  Incandescing  substance.  He  noticed  that,  even  with 
high  vacua,  oxygen  appeared  to  be  present  to  a  perplex- 
ing extent,  hastening  the  destruction  of  his  platinum  wire. 
This  oxygen*  he  reasoned,  must  be  held  in  the  material  of 
the  wire  when  the  wire  was  sealed  into  the  glass ;  perhaps, 
if  the  wire  were  kept  aglow  while  pumping  was  under 
way,  the  oxygen  might  be  driven  from  the  wire,  where- 
upon it  would  be  pumped  out  as  the  free  air  was.  Tests 
showed  his  reasoning  was  correct. 

He  now  returned  to  carbon*  and  returned  to  stay,  tak- 
ing with  him  his  invaluable  new  knowledge.  In  the  case 
of  carbon,  it  was  realized  that  the  importance  of  passing 
a  current  through  the  burner  while  a  vacuum  was  being 
produced  was  even  greater  than  in  the  case  of  the  metal 
wires;  for  carbon  in  its  more  porous  states  has  a  marked 
property  of  absorbing  (or  occluding)  gases — a  common 
example  being  afforded  by  charcoal,  which  by  virtue  of 
this  property  is  of  help  in  preserving  foods.  Through 
his  experiments  with  platinum,  Edison  had  learned  some- 
thing else:  though  platinum  had  a  melting-point  rela- 
tively too  low  for  his  purpose,  and  though  it  was  inferior 

122 


A  LIGHT  SHINES 

In  light-giving  quality  *  yet  It  was  long  to  play  an 
tial  part  in  the  construction  of  incandescent  lamps.  For 
it  was  found  to  have  the  same  coefficient  of  expansion  as 
glass  had ;  hence  it  was  used  as  the  material  of  the  "leads/5 
the  wires  that  respectively  brought  current  to  the  lamp 
and  conveyed  It  from  the  lamp.  Consequently  no  gaps 
developed  to  cause  leakage  at  the  points  where  the  wires 
were  sealed  into  the  glass.  Leads  were  made  of  platinum 
for  many  years,  but  platinum  "was  costly  and  search  was 
therefore  begun  for  a  substitute,  which  lucidly  was  dis- 
covered through  the  use  in  combination  o£  two 
whose  joint  coefficient  of  expansion  \ras  of  proper  value. 

From  the  date  of  the  invention  of  the  phonograph,  Edi- 
son had  been  regarded  by  the  gentlemen  of  the  press  as  a 
likely  source  of  "copy.55  It  was  not  long  before  the  ob- 
jective of  his  new  labors  became  known.  He  believed,  so 
It  transpired,  that  the  electric  current  could  be  subdi- 
vided; more  than  that,  he  was  proposing  to  subdivide  it. 
If  outside  of  the  Menlo  Park  organization  and  a  few  of 
Edison's  friends,  like  Professor  Barker,  there  were  ex- 
perts either  at  home  or  abroad  who  agreed  with  Mm  in 
belief  or  who  anticipated  a  successful  outcome  for  Ms  ex- 
periments, they  neglected  to  say  so.  On  the  contrary, 
William  H.  (later  Sir  William)  Preece,  a  distinguished 
English  electrician,  somewhat  contemptuously  declared,, 
".  .  .  The  subdivision  of  the  light  is  an  absolute  igms 
fatum";  thus  supplying  a  catch-phrase  that  was  to  re- 
turn boomerang-like  upon  its  inventor,  A  committee  of 
the  House  of  Commons  met,  with  Dr.  Lyon  Playfair 
(later  Baron  Playfair  of  St.  Andrews)  as  chairman,  to 
take  counsel  upon  the  matter  of  electric  lighting;  but  its 
report  dismissed  Edison  with  short  shrift  indeed.24  More 

24  gee  B.  and  M.,  I,  242;  T.  C.  Martin,  "Forty  Years  of  Edison 
Service"  (New  York,  1922),  pp.  S-4. 

123 


EDISON:  THE  MAX  AND  HIS  WOBK 
graciously*  more  judicially*  but  hardly  more  hopefully, 
the  famed  John  TyndaH  said  in  a  lecture  before  the 
Royal  Institution :  "Edison  has  the  penetration  to  seize 
the  relationship  of  facts  and  principles  and  the  art  to 
reduce  them  to  novel  and  concrete  combinations.  Hence5 
though  he  has  thus  far  accomplished  nothing  new  in  re- 
lation to  the  electric  light,  an  adverse  opinion  as  to  his 
ability  to  solve  the  complicated  problem  on  which  he  is 
engaged  would  be  unwarranted.  .  .  .  Knowing  some- 
thing of  the  intricacy  of  the  practical  problems  I  should 
certainly  prefer  seeing  it  In  Mr.  Edison's  hands  to  hav- 
ing it  in  mine.53  25  Others  were  much  less  courteous  and 
reserved,  4C<Dreamer/  4fooV  'boaster5  were  among  the 
appellations  bestowed  upon  him  by  unbelieving  critics. 
Kidicule  was  heaped  upon  him  in  the  public  prints,  and 
mathematics  were  [sic]  called  into  service  by  learned  men 
to  settle  the  point  forever  that  he  was  attempting  the  ut- 
terly impossible.55  m 

Meanwhile,  Edison  was  cultivating  his  garden.  Of 
aJl  substances,  carbon  has  the  maximum  fusing-point 
(7000  degrees  F-,  equivalent  to  about  3900  degrees  C.) ; 
but  this  advantage  alone  was  not  enough.  Carbon  must, 
for  Edison's  purpose,  be  formed  into  a  homogeneous, 
stable  burner  of  properly  tenuous  cross-section.  More 
than  a  quarter-century  later,  Edison,  speaking  in  a  gen- 
eral way  of  the  obstructions  encountered,  had  this  to  say : 
aJust  consider  this;  we  have  an  almost  infinitesimal  fila- 

ss  p.  M.  White,  "Edison  and  the  Incandescent  Lamp,"  In  "The  Out- 
look1* for  February  26,  1910.  Also,  "Forty  Years  of  Edison  Service," 
pp.  3-4;  D.  and  M.,  I,  243.  In  the  "Fortnightly  Review"  (February* 
1879)  Tyndal!  remarked,  <fThough  we  have  possessed  the  electric  lig'at 
[i«v  the  arc  light]  for  seventy  years,  it  has  been  too  costly  to  come 
general  use."  He  added  his  belief  that  electricity  would  in  time  ** 
lumine  our  streets,  halls,  quays,  squares,  warehouses,  and  $>er]iap& 
no  distant  day,  our  homes."  (The  italics  are  ours.) 

*J  IX  and  M-,  II,  719-714 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 

ment  heated  to  a  degree  which  It  is  difficult  for  us  to  com- 
prehend, and  it  Is  in  a  vacuum*  under  conditions  of  which 
we  are  wholly  Ignorant*  You  cannot  use  your  eyes  to 
help  you  In  the  investigation,  and  you  really  know  noth- 
ing of  what  is  going  on  in  that  tiny  bulb.  I  speak  with- 
out exaggeration  when  I  say  that  I  have  constructed  three 
thousand  different  theories  in  connection  with  the  electric 
light,  each  one  of  them  reasonable  and  apparently  likely 
to  be  true.  Yet  in  two  cases  only  did  my  experiments 
prove  the  truth  of  my  theory.  My  chief  difficulty  was  in 
constructing  the  carbon  filament,  the  incandescence  of 
which  is  the  source  of  the  light?5  27 

Edison  persistently  studied  not  only  carbon  as  1mm- 
nous  material  but  also  high  vacua  and  the  means  for  ob- 
taining them  in  an  increasingly  suitable  degree.  By 
about  October  1st,  1879*  he  had  a  pump  that  was  capable 
of  creating  a  vacuum  as  high  as  one  one-millionth  part 
of  an  atmosphere.  "If  he  [Edison]  wanted  material,** 
wrote  Francis  Upton,  fi<he  always  made  it  a  principle 
to  have  it  at  once,  and  never  hesitated  to  use  special 
messengers  to  get  it.  I  remember  in  the  early  days  o£ 
the  electric  light  he  wanted  a  mercury  pump  for  exhaust- 
ing the  lamps.  He  sent  me  to  Princeton  to  get  it. 
I  got  back  to  Metuchen  late  in  the  day,  and  had  to 
carry  the  pump  over  to  the  laboratory  on  my  back  that 
evening,  set  it  up,  and  work  all  night  and  the  next  day 
getting  results.55  28  Finally  it  occurred  to  Edison,  stiU 
vainly  pondering  a  carbon  conductor  that  should  be  small 
enough  and  durable  enough,  to  see  what  might  be  done 
with  cotton  sewing-thread.  Of  a  compacted,  fibrous 
structure  and  certainly  with  a  small  cross-section,  this 
might  when  carbonized  turn  out  to  be  the  very  thing. 

21  Arthur  Churchill,  "Edison  and  His  Early  Work,*9  In  the  "Scientific 
'American  Supplement**  for  AprE  ls  1905. 
28  D.  and  M.,  I,  299. 

125 


EDISOX:  THE  MAN  AND  WORK 

For  a  short  piece  of  the  thread, 

placed  in  a  nickel  mold,          then  the 
to  remain  for  five  hours  la  a  muffle- 
furnace,  the  mold  was  removed  from  the  furnace 
and                 coo!5  it  was  opened;  and  then  the  carbon 

of  Bad  to  be  withdrawn  from  the 

aad  into  a  bulb.     It  was  a  task  of  fortitude  and 

delicacy.  All  Bight,  the  next  day,  and  another  Bight, 
Edison*  and  Batchelor  tept  at  it.  From  a  whole  spool 
of  thread,  they  finally  succeeded  In  getting  a  carbonized 
piece  that  did  not  break  while  being  taken  from  the 
moid.  .  .  .  "It  was  necessary/5  Edison  related,  "to  take 
It  to  the  glass-blowers  house.29  With  the  utmost  pre- 
caution Batchelor  took  up  the  precious  carbon,  and  I 
marched  after  him*  as  if  guarding  a  mighty  treasure. 
To  our  consternation.,  just  as  we  reached  the  glass- 
blower's  bench  the  wretched  carbon  broke.  We  turned 
back  to  the  main  laboratory  and  set  to  work  again.  It 
was  late  in  the  afternoon  before  we  had  produced  another 
carbon*  which  was  again  broken  by  a  jeweller's  screw- 
driver falling  against  it.  But  we  turned  back  again,  and 
before  night  the  carbon  was  completed  and  inserted  in  the 
lamp.  The  bulb  was  exhausted  of  air  and  sealed,  the 
current  turned  on5  and  the  sight  we  had  so  long  desired  to 
see  met  our  eyes.55  The  date  was  October  81st 

That  lamp  continued  at  incandescence  for  more  than 
forty  hours*  while  Batchelor5  Edison,  and  others  watched 
it  and  bets  were  laid  as  to  how  long  it  was  going  to  burn. 

»H.  A.  Jones,  Thomas  Alva  Edison,*  p.  106.  The  glass-blowing 
was  at  that  time  done  by  the  aid  of  gasoline  gas  in  a  "small  building 
on  one  side  of  the  laboratory9*  (D.  and  M.,  I,  272).  Manufacture  of 
incandescent  lamps  was  later  carried  on  in  an  old  wooden  building  on 
the  other  side  of  the  railway  tracks.  The  little  structure  in  which  was 
blown  the  first  glass  for  Edison  bulbs  is  preserved  at  the  lamp  works 
of  the  General  Electric  company  at  Harrison*  New  Jersey. 

126 


A  LIGHT  SHINES 

the  light  failed.     But  the  sewing-thread  had 

rendered  its  reasonable  service  and  won  a  place  in  the 
story  of  modern  invention.  It  had  shown  that  carbon 
would  sustain  temperatures  before  which  platinum  would 
quickly  melt;  that  subdivision  of  the  electric  current  was 
truly  possible.  Some  thirteen  months  had  passed  in  ex- 
periments and  more  than  had  been  spent;  but 
Edison  and  Batchelor  now  doubtless  felt  that  the  ex- 
penditure of  time  and  money  had  been  justified.  As  for 
Batchelor9  it  may  be  doubted  whether  anybody  else  at 
Menlo — even  Edison  himself — could  have  accomplished 
what  he  accomplished  with  that  brittle  filament. 

Nevertheless,  those  forty  hours,  although  they  estab- 
lished a  principle,  did  not  answer  to  the  commercial 
requirements  for  a  stable  burner.  Forthwith  Edison  in- 
augurated the  most  whole-hearted  carbonizing-bee  on 
record.  Among  the  things  he  carbonized  were ; 

bagging  maple  shavings 

baywood  PaPer  saturated  with  tar 

boxwood  plumbago  (graphite) 

cardboards  of  many  kinds  punk 

cedar  shavings  red  hairs  from  the  beard  of 

celluloid  J-    U.    Mackenzie    (who 

cocoanut  hair  ^as  staying  at  Menlo) 

cocoanut  shell  threads,  cotton   and  linen, 

cort  of  all  sorts 

cotton  soaked  in  boiling  tar  threads  of  fine  size,  plaited 

drawing-paper  in  great  va-  threads  treated  with  tarred 

rjety  lampblack 

fish-line  tissue-paper 

flax  twine 

hickory  vulcanized  fiber 

lampwick  wood-splints 

127 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
One  of  the  very  early  types  of  Incandescent  lamp  was  that 
having  a  spiral  filament  of  tar  and  lampblack  kneaded 
and  rolled  into  a  kind  of  paste  or  putty-like  mixture. 
Edison  once  directed  a  member  of  the  laboratory  staff  to 
make  up  a  quantity  of  this  paste  and  bend  it  into  fila- 
ments. By  and  by  the  assistant  carried  the  stuff  to  Edi- 
son. 

"There's  something  wrong  about  this/*  he  complained, 
afor  it  crumbles.5'  .  .  . 

"How  long,5'  asked  Edison,  "did  you  knead  it?59 
aOh,?>  said  the  assistant,  "more  than  an  hour." 
<cWel!595  replied  Edison,  "just  keep  on  for  a  few  hours 
more  and  it  will  come  out  all  right." 

Which,  sure  enough,  it  did.  It  is  stated  that  filaments 
with  a  cross-section  of  but  7/1,000  of  an  inch  were  rolled 
from  material  of  this  kind.80 

Of  all  the  substances  tested  during  this  period,  paper, 
however,  appeared  the  most  likely — so  likely,  indeed,  from 
the  more  strictly  commercial  viewpoint,  that  Edison 
started  the  regular  manufacture  of  lamps  with  looped 
filaments  of  carbonized  paper.  Scores  of  these  were  put 
into  service,  not  merely  within  the  laboratory  but  also  in 
dwellings  at  Menlo  and  along  the  neighborhood  roads. 
Doubters  might  cavil  and  wiseacres  argue :  folk  travelled 
to  the  spot  and  went  away  to  report  that  a  new  light  was 
actually  burning  there. 

On  the  morning  of  December  21st,  1879,  Albert  E.  Orr, 
city  editor  of  the  "New  York  Herald,"  was  at  his  desk  in 

SOD.  and  M.3  II,  610-611.  Acheson  made  for  Edison  16,000  filaments 
cut  from  sheets  of  graphite  that  Lad  been  subjected  to  hydraulic  pres- 
sure of  one  hundred  tons.  He  contracted  to  make  30,000  but  quit  be- 
cause they  turned  out  to  be  inefficient.  They  "produced  a  magnificent 
light,  but  they  did  not  last  long  in  use,  disintegrating  rapidly'1  (Acbe- 
son's  "My  Pays  with  Edison,"  in  the  "Scientific  American"  for  February 
11,  1911;  p.  i43). 

128 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 

the  <tfHeral(P  (then  at  the  corner  of  Ann  and 

Broadway).  Of  a  sudden^  In  rushed  Thomas  B.  Con- 
nerjj  the  paper's  managing  editor^  and  spread  accusingly 
upon  the  desk  a  copy  of  that  day's  sheet.  Orr  looked 
up  in  natural  surprise,  for  Connery  did  not  usually  ap- 
pear at  the  office  until  two  or  three  hours  later. 

"How/'  demanded  Connery,  adld  that  stuff  get  into  the 
paper,  Mr.  Orr?  Lights  strung  on  wires,  indeed! 
You've  made  a  laughing-stock  of  the  *HeralcF !  Oh,  what 
E?i2  Mr.  Bennett  say!** 

"Hell  probably  say/5  Orr  answered  calmly,  "that  it  is 
the  biggest  newspaper  beat  in  a  long  time.9' 

Connery  was  pointing  at  a  fill-page  story  about  Edi- 
son*s  incandescent  lighting. 

"But  don't  yon  know/'  he  continued  in  a  plaintive  tone 
— "don't  you  know  that  it  has  been  absolutely  demon- 
strated that  that  kind  of  light  is  against  the  laws  of  na- 
ture? Who  wrote  the  article?5' 

"Marshall  Fox." 

]?ox  was  classed  among  the  "star"  reporters  of  New 
.York's  newspaperdom.  He  had  represented  the  "Her- 
ald95 on  the  eclipse  expedition  to  Wyoming  in  the  pre- 
vious year. 

"How  could  he,"  protested  the  managing  editor,  <chave 
allowed  himself  and  the  paper  to  be  imposed  upon  so? 
Where  is  he?  Send  for  him.  We  must  do  something  to 
save  ourselves  from  ridicule.  .  .  .  No — don't  try  to  ex- 
plain— just  find  Fox  and  send  him  to  me," 

With  that,  Connery  flung  out  of  Orr's  office  and  into 
his  own,  determined  to  know  how  it  befell  that  one  of 
his  most  trustworthy  men  had  been  so  grossly  eredu- 
lous,81 

si  See  P.  M.  White,  "Edison  and  tlie  Incandescent  Lamp,"  in  "The 
Oiittook9*  for  February  26,  1910. 

129 


EBISOX:  THE  MAX  AND  HIS  VOSX 

Far  ridicule  the  "Herald," 

such  interest  that  It  was  decided  to 
a  public  exhibition.     This  was  held  at  llenlo  oa 

Year's  Eve,  1879*     The  railway  ran  special  trains, 
and  than  visitors,  including  many  persons  of 

prominence,  the  trip  to  view  the  strange*  brilliant 

hanging  on  wires  stretched  from  one 
to  another?2 
By  January  10th,  Edison's  had  evidently 

fully  accepted  in  editorial  offices,  for  we 
Leslie's75  of  that  date  enthusiastically  explaining 
to  its  readers : 33 

4C,  .  .  Edison's  electric  light,  incredible  as  it  may  ap- 
pear, is  produced  from  a  little  piece  of  paper — a  tiny 
strip  of  paper  that  a  breath  would  blow  away.  Through 
this  little  strip  of  paper  is  passed  an  electric  current,  and 
the  result  is  a  bright,  beautiful  light,  like  the  mellow  sun- 
set of  an  Italian  Autumn.  He  has  made  this  little  piece 
of  paper  more  infusible  than  platinum3  more  durable  than 
granite [!].  And  this  by  no  complicated  process.  The 
paper  is  merely  baked  in  an  oven  until  all  the  elements 
have  passed  away  except  its  carbon  framework.  The  lat- 
ter is  then  placed  in  a  glass  globe  connected  with,  the  wires 

j$2  ''Possibly  events  might  have  happened  differently  had  Edison  been 
able  to  present  the  announcement  of  Ms  electric-light  Inventions  until 
he  was  entirely  prepared  to  bring  out  the  system  as  a  whole,  ready  for 
commercial  exploitation,  but  the  news  of  Ms  production  of  a  practical 
and  successful  incandescent  lamp  became  known  and  spread  like  wild- 
fire to  ail  corners  of  the  globe.  It  took  more  than  a  year  after  the 
evolution  of  the  lamp  for  Edison  to  get  Into  position  to  do  actual  busi- 
ness, and  during  that  time  Ms  laboratory  was  the  natural  Mecca  of 
every  inquiring  person.  SmaH  wonder,  then*  that  when  he  was  pre- 
pared to  market  his  invention  he  should  find  others  entering  that 
market,  at  home  and  abroad,  at  the  same  time,  with  substantially 
similar  mercliandise.w~D.  and  M.,  II,  714-715. 

sa  pp.  353-354, 


A 

to  the  electricity-producing  the  air 

from  the  Then  the  is 

to  give  out  a  light  that  no  deleterious  no 

no  offensive          —  -a  light  without  without 

requiring  no  matclies  to  ignite,  giving  out  but 

little  heat,  vitiating  no  ah%          free  from  all  flickering. 

this  light,   the  Inventor  claims,  be  produced 

than  that  from  the  cheapest  oil." 
The  article  thus  describes  how  the  lamps  were 
**The  paper  carbons  are  prepared  quite  simply.     With 
a  punch  there  Is  cut  from  a  piece  of  ^Bristol* 

cardboard  a  strip  of  the  same  In  the  form  of  a  miniature 
torseslioe?  about  two  Inches  in  length  and  one-eighth  of  an 
inch  in  width.  A  number  of  the  strips  are  laid  flatwise 
In  a  wrought-iron  mold  about  the  size  of  the  hand? 
separated  from  each  other  bj  tissue-paper.  The  mold  Is 
then  covered  and  placed  in  an  oven5  where  It  Is  gradualy 
raised  to  a  temperature  of  about  six  hundred  degrees 
Fahrenheit.  The  mold  is  then  placed  In  a  furnace  and 
heated  almost  to  a  white  heat,  and  then  removed  and  al- 
lowed to  cool  gradually.  On  opening  the  mold  the 
charred  remains  of  the  little  horseshoe  cardboard  are 
found.  After  being  removed  from  the  mold  It  is  placed  ia 
a  little  globe  and  attached  to  the  wires  leading  to  the 
generating  machine.  The  globe  Is  then  connected  with 
an  air  pump9  and  the  latter  is  at  once  set  to  work  ex- 
tracting the  air.  After  the  air  has  been  extracted  the 
globe  is  sealed^  and  the  lamp  is  readj  for  use.55 

"Scribner's  Monthly35  for  February,  1880,  contained 
an  article  by  Upton  entitled  "Edison's  Electric  Light5* 
and  indorsed  by  Edison  as  "the  first  correct  and  author- 
itative account.  *?34  Upton's  scientifically  trained  mind 
is  evidenced  not  merely  In  the  treatment  of  detail  but  in. 


131 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
the  following  generalized  remark;  "Besides  the  enor- 
mous practical  value  of  the  electric  light,  as  domestic 
illuminant  and  motor,  it  furnishes  a  most  striking  and 
beautiful  illustration  of  the  convertibility  of  force.  Mr. 
Edison's  system  of  lighting  gives  a  completed  cycle  of 
change.  The  sunlight  poured  upon  the  rank  vegetation 
of  the  carboniferous  forests,  was  gathered  and  stored  up5 
and  has  been  waiting  through  the  ages  to  be  converted 
again  into  light.  The  latent  force  accumulated  during 
the  primeval  days,  and  garnered  up  in  the  coal  beds,  is 
converted,  after  passing  in  the  steam-engine  through  the 
phases  of  chemical,  molecular  and  mechanical  force,  into 
electricity,  which  only  waits  the  touch  of  the  inventor's 
genius  to  flash  out  into  a  million  domestic  suns  to  illu- 
minate a  myriad  homes." 

But  if  the  cotton-thread  lamp  had  not  satisfied  its  in- 
ventor, neither,  in  spite  of  its  comparative  success,  did  the 
paper  lamp.  Although  he  was  in  a  limited  way  manu- 
facturing lamps  of  that  sort,  yet  he  was  unceasingly 
prospecting  for  something  better — exploring  with  a  mi- 
croscope this  specimen  and  that.  When  he  started  in 
to  carbonize  pretty  nearly  everything  that  lay  around 
loose,  he  not  only  experimented  with  the  materials  listed 
above  but  also  studied  and  tried  certain  grasses,  canes, 
and  similar  vegetable  growths.  In  the  laboratory  one 
<Jay — it  was  "in  the  early  part  of  1880" — he  picked  up  a 
palm-leaf  fan  and  examined  it.  Palm-leaf  fans  were  ob- 
jects common  enough,  but  never  before  had  he  looked  at 
one  so  carefully.  He  saw  that  the  edge  of  the  fan  was 
bound  with  a  long,  thin,  flexible  strip  of  bamboo.  This 
strip  he  tore  from  its  moorings  and  gave  to  an  assistant, 
with  directions  to  divide  it  into  the  largest  possible  num- 
ber of  pieces  suitable  for  carbonizing  into  filaments. 
When  tried,  these  filaments  proved  markedly  successful 

132 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 

„ much  superior  to  anything  else  employed  up  to  that 

time;  so  superior  that  here,,  he  judged,  was  the  very  stuff 
for  a  practicable  lamp.  Yet  not  exactly  that — char- 
acteristically, he  was  sure  that  the  world  must  hold  a 
bamboo  still  more  fit;  possibly  (who  could  tell?)  the  per- 
fect bamboo  for  his  use ;  or  else  a  palm  or  other  plant  that 
would  surpass  any  bamboo. 

Then  foEowed  the  adventurous  episodes  of  the  fiber- 
hunt.  From  time  to  time,  for  the  greater  part  of  a 
decade*  men  were  sent  out  to  comb  various  tropical  re- 
gions in  the  quest  for  the  elusive  material.  They  were 
instructed  in  the  minutiae  of  drawing  and  carbonizing  fi- 
bers, and  took  with  them  a  set  of  Implements  by  means  of 
which  tests  could  be  made  in  the  field.  As  they  travelled, 
they  shipped  to  Menlo  bale  after  bale  of  the  more  worth- 
while specimens  they  had  collected.  Each  specimen  was 
put  through  most  thoroughgoing  laboratory  tests.  It 
has  been  reckoned  that,  from  first  to  last,  Edison  carbon- 
ized and  tried  as  filaments  in  lamps  the  fibers  of  as  many 
as  6,000  distinct  species  of  plants — chiefly  bamboos. 
(For  bamboo  filaments,  sections  running  "with  the  grain" 
were  taken  from  the  rim  of  the  stem,  immediately  beneath 
the  epidermis.)  In  his  pursuit  of  "the  things  that  are 
more  excellent,"  he  spent  approximately  $100,000. 

Inasmuch  as  China  and  Japan  were  known  to  possess 
an  extensive  assortment  of  bamboos,  it  was  to  those  coun- 
tries that  the  first  representative  went.  He  was  William 
H.  Moore,  and  he  started  for  the  Orient  in  the  summer  of 
J880.  He  made  his  way  into  the  far  interior  of  both 
Japan  and  China,  encountering  many  obstacles  and  some- 
times being  at  first  received  in  a  not  wholly  friendly  man- 
ner by  the  natives.  From  the  quantity  of  specimens  he 
obtained,  a  certain  kind  of  Japanese  bamboo  was  chosen 
as  the  best  material  yet  tried  for  filaments,  A  contract 

183 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
was  forthwith  made  with  a  Japanese  farmer  to  supply 
this ;  and  so  skilful  was  he  in  the  growing  of  it  that  he 
steadily  improved  it  in  quality.  For  years,  Edison  lamp 
filaments  were  manufactured  from  these  particularly 
homogeneous  fibers. 

On  the  far  side  of  the  world,  bamboo  had  long  been  the 
chief  natural  resource.  To  a  degree  that  most  Occi- 
dentals probably  do  not  appreciate,  this  grass  of  the  field 

for  it  is  a  grass — had  conditioned  human  existence* 

A.  B.  Freeman-Mitford  (Baron  Redesdale)  has  eloquently 
detailed  the  supreme  value  of  bamboo  to  a  Japanese  or  a 
Chinaman.35  ".  .  .  It  furnishes  the  framework  of  his 
house  and  thatches  the  roof  over  his  head,  while  it  sup- 
plies paper  for  his  windows,  awnings  for  his  sheds,  and 
blinds  for  his  verandah.  His  beds,  his  tables,  his  chairs, 
his  cupboards,  his  thousand  and  one  small  articles  of  fur- 
niture are  made  of  it.  Shavings  and  shreds  of  bamboo 
are  used  to  stuff  his  pillows  and  his  mattresses.  The  re- 
tail dealer's  measures,  the  carpenter's  rule,  the  farmer's 
water-wheel  and  irrigating  pipes,  cages  for  birds,  crickets, 
and  other  pets,  vessels  of  all  kinds,  from  the  richly  lac- 
quered flower-stands  of  the  well-to-do  gentleman  down  to 
the  humblest  utensils,  the  wretchedest  duds  of  the  very 
poor,  all  come  from  the  same  source.  The  boatman's 
raft,  and  the  pole  with  which  he  punts  it  along ;  his  ropes, 
his  mat-sails,  and  the  ribs  to  which  they  are  fastened ;  the 
palanquin  in  which  the  stately  mandarin  is  borne  to  his 
office,  the  bride  to  her  wedding,  the  coffin  to  the  grave; 
the  cruel  instruments  of  the  executioner,  the  lazy  painted 
beauty's  fan  and  parasol,  the  soldier's  spear,  quiver,  and 
arrows,  the  scribe's  pen,  the  student's  book,  the  artist's 
brush  and  the  favourite  study  for  his  sketch ;  the  musi- 
cian's flute,  mouth-organ,  plectrum,  and  a  dozen  various 

as  In  "Tfoe  Bamboo  Garden*  (London,  1896),  pp. 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
instruments  of  strange  shapes  and  still  stranger  sounds— 
in  the  making  of  all  these  the  Bamboo  is  a  first  necessity. 
Plaiting  and  wicker-work  of  all  kinds,  from  the  coarsest 
baskets  and  matting  down  to  the  delicate  filigree  with 
which  porcelain  cups  are  encased — so  cunningly  that  it 
would  seem  as  if  no  fingers  less  deft  than  those  of  fairies 
could  have  woven  the  dainty  web — are  a  common  and  ob- 
vious use  of  the  fibre.  The  same  material  made  into  great 
hats  like  inverted  baskets  protects  the  coolie  from  the 
sun,  while  the  labourers  in  the  rice  fields  go  about  looking 
like  animated  haycocks  in  waterproof  coats  made  of  the 
dried  leaves  of  Bamboo  sewn  together.  See  at  the  corner 
of  the  street  a  fortune-teller  attracting  a  crowd  around 
him  as  he  tells  the  future  by  the  aid  of  slips  of  Bamboo 
graven  with  mysterious  characters  and  shaken  up  in  a 
Bamboo  cup,  and  every  man  around  him  smoking  a  Bam- 
boo pipe.  See  in  yonder  cook-shop  the  son  of  Han  regal- 
ing himself  with  a  mess  of  Bamboo  shoots,  which  have 
been  cooked  In  a  vessel  of  the  same  material  coated  with 
clay,  and  are  eaten  with  chopsticks  which  may  have  grown 
an  the  same  parent  stem.  Such  shoots,  either  in  the 
shape  of  pickles  or  preserved  in  sugar,  are  an  article  of 
export  from  south  to  north  where  they  are  esteemed  a 

delicacy." 

For  this  marvelous  vegetable,  Edison  had  disclosed  a 
new  function.  Modifying  it  by  heat,  he  discovered  in  it 
new  properties.  Servant  of  man  from  primitive  ages,  it 
now  became  an  adjunct  to  modern  science. 

In  December  of  1880,  John  C.  Brauner,  a  man  already 
considerably  familiar  with  the  South  American  flora, 
sailed  for  Para,  Brazil.  On  foot  and  by  canoe  he  trav- 
elled some  two  thousand  miles  through  the  swamps  and 
forests  of  lower  Brazil  and  along  its  rivers,  in  a  region 
then  practically  unknown  to  white  men.  He  collected  a 

135 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 

great  number  of  specimens  of  grasses  and  palms,  but 
found  nothing  that  was  to  be  preferred  to  Moore's  Japa- 
nese bamboo. 

To  Cuba  went  Segredor*  one  of  the  laboratory  workers. 
Segredor  had  once  caused  rather  a  flurry  at  Menlo. 
Some  of  the  others  thought  it  amusing  to  tease  him.  At 
last  he  said  to  the  force,  "The  next  man  that  does  it,  I 
will  kill  Mm" ;  but  they  did  not  take  this  seriously.  Next 
day,  a  taunt  was  cast  at  him  and  he  hurried  from  the 
laboratory.  In  a  few  moments  he  was  seen  coming  up 
the  slope  from  his  boarding-house,  carrying  a  gun.  Then 
the  laboratory  folk  ran  to  cover  of  the  woods — all  but 
one*  who  finally  succeeded  in  pacifying  him.  Quiet  was 
restored*  but  nobody  deemed  it  wise  to  badger  Segredor 
after  that.  Now  he  was  sent  to  Cuba  to  look  for  fiber. 
He  landed  at  Havana  only  to  die  of  yellow  fever  before 
the  week  was  out,  "On  the  receipt  of  the  news  of  his 
death/5  said  Edison,  "half  a  dozen  of  the  men  wanted 
Ms  job.9?  .  .  .  No  one  else  was  sent,  however,  as  it  was 
believed  that  the  chances  of  finding  superior  bamboo  in 
Cuba  were  not  particularly  favorable.  Search  was  also 
made  in  Florida  for  palmettos,  in  Jamaica  for  bamboos ; 
but  none  of  the  palmetto  fibers  was  up  to  test;  and  of 
the  bamboo  fibers,  none  equalled  the  Japanese  kind 
that  already  was  exclusively  used  for  Edison's  commer- 
cial production  of  lamps.  C.  P.  Hanington  journeyed 
through  Uruguay,  Argentina,  Paraguay,  and  the  ex- 
treme southern  portion  of  Brazil. 

Most  colorful  of  all  these  tours  for  Edison,  was  that 
of  Frank  McGowan  in  the  wilds  of  Peru,  Ecuador,  and 
Colombia.  At  one  period,  McGowan  did  not  remove  his 
clothes  for  ninety-eight  days.  His  path  was  through 
country  made  dangerous  by  wild  beasts,  venomous  snakes, 
and  hostile  tribesmen,  with  swarms  of  insects  a  constant 

186 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
annoyance.  He  encountered  floods,  was  deserted  by  Ms 
native  guides,  and  twice  was  stricken  with  fever.  For 
about  fifteen  months  he  was  in  the  wilderness.  An 
editorial  in  the  "Evening  Snn?*  (New  York)  declared: 
aAs  a  sample  story  of  adventure,  Mr.  McGowan's 
narrative  ^  is  a  marvel  fit  to  be  classed  with  the  his- 
toric journeyings  of  the  greatest  travellers/'  Strangely 
enough,  having  survived  the  hardships  and  perils  of  the 
jungle  and  returned  to  the  United  States,  he  vanished  so 
completely  as  to  leave  not  the  slightest  trace.  He  dined 
with  friends  at  a  New  York  restaurant,  entertained  them 
with  anecdotes  of  his  wanderings,  bade  them  good-night 
at  the  door — and  from  that  moment  nothing  further  was 
ever  seen  or  heard  of  him. 

Yet  another  who  joined  in  the  fiber-hunt  was  James 
Bicalton,  a  school-principal  of  Maplewood,  New  Jersey, 
and  an  experienced  traveller.  He  went  by  way  of  Eng- 
land and  the  Suez  Canal  to  Ceylon;  thence  to  India, 
where  he  ransacked  river-bottoms  and  tablelands;  on  t© 
Burma  and  other  parts  of  the  Malay  Peninsula;  home- 
ward through  China  and  Japan.  In  exactly  one  year 
from  the  time  when  he  had  said  farewell  to  his  pupils 
on  the  platform  of  the  railway  station  at  Maplewood^  he 
yas  greeted  by  them  there,  having  "put  a  girdle  round 
the  earth.5'  Ricalton  did,  indeed,  discover  a  fiber  that 
(so  he  states)  tested  "one  to  two  hundred  per  cent,  better 
than  that  in  use  at  the  lamp  factory ."  This  was  from 
the  so-called  giant  bamboo,  which  he  found  growing  in 
both  Ceylon  and  Burma,  with  a  height  of  as  much  as  a 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  and  frequently  a  diameter  of  a 
foot.87  In  the  meantime,  however,  Edison  had  been 

se  As  given  in  an  interview  in  the  same  issue,  that  of  May  2,  188§. 
37  Ricalton's  own  narrative  may  be  found  in  the  Dicksons'  'The  Life 
and  Inventions  of  Thomas  Alva  Edison"  (New  York,  1894),  pp.  212k 

137 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
developing  an  artificial  filament — a  "squirted*5  filament, 
as  it  was  termed.  A  soluble  cellulose  was  prepared  and 
then  forced  through  a  dies  the  result  being  a  long  thread 
hardened  looked  somewhat  like  catgut.  The 
thread  was  cut  into  lengths  and  these  could  be  formed 
into  desired  shapes.  After  this  material  was  carbonized 
at  a  high  temperature  (the  higher  the  better),  the  carbon 
residue  was  found  to  be  both  extremely  dense  and  highly 
elastic.  Gradually  the  new  process  was  adopted  for  the 
commercial  production  of  lamps. 

With  the  bamboo  filament,  however,  Edison5s  incandes- 
cent lamp  was  established  and  won  its  early  triumphs; 
with  the  bamboo-filament  lamp,  Edison's  electric-lighting 
system  was  introduced.  During  about  nine  years  the 
Japanese  farmer's  bamboo  fiber,  constantly  bettered, 
went  to  the  making  of  a  really  serviceable  new  light- 
giver,  for  whose  burner  nothing  else  was  used.  Indeed, 
well  into  the  'nineties  bamboo  was  employed  for  many 
lamps ;  and  so  late  as  1908  for  certain  particular  designs. 

Upon  Edison's  fundamental  work  on  the  incandescent 
lamp,  the  lamp's  further  development  by  others  was 
largely  based.  The  cellulose  filament  was  improved  by 
the  research  laboratory  of  the  General  Electric  company 
in  what  was  known  as  the  Gem  (General  Electric  Metal- 
lized) lamp.  The  carbonizing  of  the  Gem  filament  was 
done  at  temperatures  higher  than  ever  previously  used; 
so-called  metallized  filament,  of  decidedly  increased  re- 

266;  and  repeated  In  D,  and  M,,  I,  307-315.  In  a  letter  to  the  present 
writer,  Ricalton  said,  "While  I  made  a  trip  around  the  world  in  search 
for  fibre  for  him  [Edison],  I  had  only  occasionally  any  personal  associa- 
tion with  him."  ...  In  welcoming  Ricalton,  Edison  "extended  Ms  hand 
and  said:  *Did  you  get  it?"*  Ricalton  was  at  one  time  employed  by 
Underwood  and  Underwood  (New  York)  in  making,  in  various  parts 
of  the  world,  scenic  photographic  views  that  many  readers  of  these  lines 
doubtless  gazed  upon  as  adapted  to  the  once-popular  stereoscope* 

138 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 

«stance?  was  thus  obtained.  Hence  the  lamp  could  be 
run  at  a  temperature  not  possible  up  to  that  time.  The 
term  "metallized95  was  applied  because  this  filament  be- 
haved  more  nearly  like  a  filament  of  refractory  metal  and, 
less  like  an  ordinary  carbon  one5  which  at  points  of  high 
resistance  and  high  temperature  tended  to  volatilize  (L  e.9 
the  carbon  tended  to  scatter  )3  with  the  combined  results 
that  the  filament  speedily  broke  down  and  on  the  inside 
of  the  bulb  a  carbon  deposit  was  formed  that  blackened 
the  glass  and  reduced  the  lighting  efficiency  of  the  lamp. 

Next,  a  return  was  made  to  refractory  metals.  Tan- 
talum, drawn  into  fine  wire,  was  used,  but  with  only 
moderate  success.  Its  melting-point  was  high  but  its  re- 
sistance relatively  so  low  that  quite  an  amount  of  filament 
was  needed  for  a  tantalum  lamp,  and  therefore  the  man- 
ufacture of  the  lamp  involved  extra  difficulties.  A  tan- 
talum lamp  could  be  recognized  by  the  zigzag  pattern  of 
the  filament,  which  was  stretched  from  metal  supports 
held  by  a  glass  frame* 

Tantalum  was  supplanted  by  tungsten,  from  which 
filaments  were  made  by  the  "squirted"  process.  At  first* 
the  brittleness  of  the  tungsten  filament  made  it  exceed- 
ingly fragile ;  but  by  persistent  experimenting  this  draw- 
back was  overcome,  and  it  was  learned  that  after  suitable 
preliminary  treatment  tungsten  could  be  drawn  into  wire 
of  extreme  fineness  and  great  tensile  strength.38  Tung- 
sten-filament lamps  in  all  sizes  then  came  into  practically 

38  "William  D.  Coolidge,  of  Schenectady,  has  tlras  far  mlsged  the 
praise  he  deserves.  When  he  began  experiments,  tungsten  was  so  brit- 
tle as  to  be  almost  worthless  for  lamp-filaments.  He  succeeded  In  giv- 
ing the  metal  perfect  ductility,  and  that  moment  he  trebled  the  ef- 
ficiency of  electric  lighting." — Letter  of  George  lies  to  the  author. 
Coolidge,  a  member  of  the  research  staff  of  the  General  Electric  com- 
pany, in  1914  received  the  Kumford  medal  for  his  services  in  COBE«O 
Mon  with  tungsten. 

139 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
universal  use.     For  some  of  these  lamps  (e*  g.y  those  used 
in   street   lighting) ,   the   Idea    originally    advanced   by 
Sawyer  and  Man  was  again  taken  up  and  the  bulb  was 
filled  with  argon,  nitrogen,  or  other  inert  gas.89 

Then  there  were  the  Nernst  lamp,  employing  a  filament 
of  magnesia,  which  when  heated  by  means  of  radiation 
from  a  coil  of  platinum  placed  near  it,  became  incandes- 
cent; and  the  helion-filament  lamp,  in  which  a  carbon 
filament  was  covered  with  silicon.  The  Nemst  lamp  had 
a  higher  luminous  efficiency  than  carbon-filament  lamps 
had*  but  was  more  complicated  and  could  not  be  produced 
in  units  of  small  candle  power.  Its  burner  did  not  re- 
quire a  bulb  exhausted  of  air  but  was  inclosed  in  an  opal 

globe. 

William  J.  Hammer,  an  authority  on  the  history  of 
incandescent  electric  lamp-making,  assembled  a  collection 
of  lamps  representing  the  development  of  the  art  from 
its  earliest  days  to  1913.  This  unique  and  instructive 
collection,  for  which  Hammer  received  the  Elliott  Cresson 
gold  medal  from  the  Franklin  Institute,  is  a  permanent 
exhibit  at  the  headquarters  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  in  the  United  Engineering  Society's 
building,  New  York.  By  1924,  incandescent-lamp  tech- 
nique had  produced  at  one  end  of  the  scale  a  bulb  no 
bigger  than  a  rice-grain,  at  the  other  a  bulb  with  a  max- 
imum diameter  of  fifteen  inches  and  a  candlepower  of 

il505000.40 

Nearly  thirty-six  full  years  after  that  cotton-thread 
filament  shone  at  Menlo,  Edison,  stressing  the  need  and 
importance  of  constant  experimenting,  said : 

aNo  invention  is  perfect,  and  the  incandescent  lamp 

^According  to  census  figures,  154,971,000  tungsten  lamps  were  made 
m  the  United  States  in   1921. 

the  "New  York  Times"  for  January  25, 
140 


A  NEW  LIGHT  SHINES 

of  today  is  not  an  exception.  Light  without  heat  is  the 
ideal,  and  that  is  still  far  off.  The  electric  incandescent 
lamp  of  today  is  the  cheapest  form  of  filament  that  has 
ever  been  produced,  but  some  day  it  will  be  cheaper  and 
colder  than  it  is.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  truth  in  the 
saying  that  the  firefly  is  the  ideal  It  is,  so  far  as  cold- 
ness goes.  But  its  color  is  against  it.  You  couldn't 
use  a  thousand-candle  firefly  to  match  colors,  and  you 
wouldn't  want  the  insect  to  light  up  a  street,  because  his 
light  would  be  a  hideous  greenish-yellow.  But  some  day 
we  will  get  reasonably  near  the  firefly  for  efficiency  with- 
out copying  his  disagreeable  color.  The  task  needs  much 
investigation,  much  research  of  the  kind  we  did  in 
J879."  41 

41  "Electrical   Review  and  Western  Eledtridan,"   October  %  1916; 
.  678. 


141 


XI 

THE   "EDISON  SYSTEM"  INTRODUCED 

A  SUITABLE  lamp  was,  indeed,  tiie  determining  factor  in 
Edison^s  electric-lighting  system,  as  it  was  in  any.  Be- 
fore the  system  could  be  realized,  however,  much  else  was 
required.  Generators  of  the  right  sort  had  to  be  designed 
and  built;  a  scheme  had  to  be  worked  out  whereby  current 
could  be  satisfactorily  distributed  to  customers ;  measur- 
ing instruments  must  be  contrived  that  would  keep  trust- 
worthy records  of  the  current  each  customer  used;  and 
along  the  various  stages  of  the  path  from  current-source 
to  filament  important  details  of  equipment  must  be  pro- 
vided. Outside  of  the  boilers  and  steam-engines  for  driv- 
ing the  generators,  Edison  had  literally  to  originate  every 
component  part.  "A  still  popular  misconception  of  his 
real  work,5*  wrote  T.  C.  Martin,  "stops  at  the  lamp,  which 
is  about  as  near  the  truth,  as  would  be  an  assertion  that 
the  Welsbach  burner  is  the  whole  of  gas  lighting.  Edison 
really  invented  a  new  art."  .  „  .x 

As  for  dynamo-electric  machines,  only  those  used  for 
arc-lighting  were  in  existence ;  and  for  Edison's  purpose 
they  would  not  do  at  all.  Far  too  little  of  their  motive 
power  was  actually  utilized  in  effecting  light.  Not  more 
than  forty-one  per  cent,  of  the  work  done  by  the  Gramme 
machine  was  available  in  the  arc;  and  the  Gramme 
machine  was  pronounced  the  most  economical  of  the  lot. 
In  other  words,  more  than  half  of  the  electrical  energy 
i  "Forty  Years  of  Edison  Service,"  p.  5. 

142 


"EDISON  SYSTEM9' 

produced  never  managed  to  get  outside  the  generator  that 
produced  It  and  the  conductor  that  conveyed  it.  Edison 
couldn't  believe  that  this  was  right.  A  goodly  number  of 
the  experts  of  those  days  thought  that  in  order  to  get  the 
best  results  from  a  dynamo,  the  internal  resistance  (or 
that  of  the  machine)  should  be  as  great  as  the  external 
resistance  (or  that  of  the  circuit).  Edison  was  con- 
vinced that  although  this  might  serve  for  a  primary 
battery,  it  wasn5t  the  grade  of  efficiency  that  might 
rightly  be  expected  of  a  dynamo  properly  built.  Fur- 
ther, there  was  the  more  strictly  commercial  side: 
"He  said  he  wanted  to  sell  the  energy  outside  of  the 
station  and  not  waste  it  in  the  dynamo  and  conductors, 
where  it  brought  no  profits.*5  2 

When  it  became  known  that  Edison  really  was  figuring 
on  a  dynamo  that  in  economy  and  efficiency  should  over- 
top the  standards  of  the  time,  he  was  scoffed  at,  stormed 
at,  and  lectured — very  much  as  he  had  been  for  his  temer- 
ity in  fancying  he  could  subdivide  the  electric  current. 
To-day  this  seems  not  a  little  curious.  One  must,  how- 
ever, bear  in  mind  that  Edison's  critics  and  opponents 
were  so  positive  mainly  because  they  were  so  ignorant. 
No  thoroughgoing  study,  either  mathematical  or  empir- 
ical, had  then  been  devoted  to  dynamo  problems.  Edi- 
son, partly  through  the  knowledge  that  as  a  telegrapher 
he  had  gained  of  magnetism  and  the  action  of  currents, 
partly  through  underived  reasoning,  set  the  whole  scheme 
of  dynamo-building  on  a  new  track.  Dr.  John  Hopkin- 
son  and  others  were  later  to  put  the  subject  through 
mathematical  analysis  and  unfold  its  theory ;  but  in  those 
days  at  Menlo,  Upton,  compiling  tables,  plotting  curves, 
and  making  drawings,  had  not  the  benefit  of  such  guid- 
ance. The  few  textbooks  were  hazy  and  incomplete. 

2  JeH  a*  quoted  in  D.  and  M.,  p.  292. 

14.3 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Even  a  terminology  was  lacking.  Upton  testifies:  "I 
remember  distinctly  when  Mr.  Edison  gave  me  the  problem 
of  placing  a  motor  in  circuit  in  multiple  arc  with  a  fixed 
resistance;  and  1  had  to  work  out  the  problem  entirely, 
as  I  could  find  no  prior  solution.  There  was  nothing  I 
could  find  bearing  upon  the  counter  electromotive  force 
of  the  armature  on  the  work  given  out  by  the  armature.9'  3 

Edison  set  about  improving  the  contemporary  dynamo, 
and  he  did  improve  it.  From  the  summer  of  1879,  some 
of  this  work  was  going  on  simultaneously  with  that  upon 
the  incandescent  lamp.  One  of  the  first  things  he  did  was 
to  study  armature-cores.  Armature-cores  were  at  that 
time  solid.  Foucault  (or  "eddy")  currents  were  devel- 
oped in  them.  These  currents  produced  heating  that 
resulted  in  marked  losses.  Edison  tried  sheet-iron  cyl- 
inders with  concentric  windings  of  iron  wire;  also  rolls 
of  insulated  iron  wire,  no  cylinder  being  used.  Then  he 
divided  the  solid  iron  core  into  thin  layers,  with  paper 
between  them.  This  laminated  structure  very  largely  did 
away  with  eddy  currents  and  the  consequent  losses  from 
heating.  Edison  likewise  split  up  the  commutator  into 
sections  and  insulated  these  with  mica,  which  it  is  said 
he  was  the  first  to  use  for  this  purpose.4  The  amount 
of  iron  in  the  magnets,  he  greatly  increased ;  and  in  that 
respect  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  differences  between 
the  Edison  machine  and  its  predecessors  was  to  be  noted* 
The  yoke  of  the  Edison  magnets  was  in  those  days  con- 
sidered quite  tremendous. 

Other  matters  specially  entered  into  were  a  comparison 
of  the  magnetic  features  of  various  sorts  of  iron ;  study  to 
determine  the  approximate  saturation-point  of  the  field — 
that  is,  the  maximum  intensity  of  magnetization  of  which 

SB.  and  M.,  I,  296. 
*  Jehl  as  quoted  in  D.  and  M*  I,  295. 

144 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

the  magnets  were  capable  (an  important  item  to  know, 
that  current  might  not  be  wasted)  ;  and  the  winding 
of  armature-cores,  Jehl  and  others  experimented  with 
dummy  armatures  of  wood,  on  which  they  wound  twine 
instead  of  wire — the  process  being  expedited  by  wagers 
as  to  who  first  would  get  the  job  done.  On  the  basis  of 
what  was  determined  with  the  dummies,  Upton  calculated 
the  windings  of  the  sure-enough  armatures.  It  does  not 
appear  that  this  work  of  Upton's  was  ever  published; 
but  the  practical  effect  of  it  was  far-reaching.  After 
Kruesi  had  completed  the  first  practical  Edison  machine 
in  the  Menlo  shop,  and  the  machine  had  been  tested,  it 
looked  as  if  the  gain  in  economy  and  efficiency  were  rather 
startling.  So  Upton  repeatedly  checked  over  the  ap- 
parent results.  There  was  no  mistake;  this  dynamo  was 
nothing  less  than  90  per  cent,  efficient, 

If  this  was  surprising  to  Upton  and  gratifying  to  Edi- 
son, to  many  it  was  ridiculous.  They  said  so.  Upton 
had  the  effrontery  to  make  a  public  statement  of  the 
Edison  claims.5  Dynamo  manufacturers  and  other  crit- 
ics, amateur  and  professional,  leaped  into  print.  From 
that  time  onward,  a  new  duty  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  busy 
Upton — that  of  replying  and  instructing. 

Then  there  was  the  question  of  how  to  drive  this  re- 
markable new  generator.  Dynamos  had  commonly  been 
driven  with  belts.  In  1880  Edison  installed  at  Menlo  a 
demonstration  outfit  of  ten  eight-horsepower  dynamos^ 
each  driven  by  a  slow-speed  steam  engine  through  an 
intricate  arrangement  of  countershafts.  Considerable 
waste  was  involved,  and  waste  always  bothered  Edison* 
He  made  plans  to  replace  the  ten  small  dynamos  by  one 
large  machine,  the  low-speed  engine  by  an  engine  of  high- 
speed type,  and  the  countershafts  by  direct  coupling. 

5  "Scientific  American,"  October  18,  1879. 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
This  outfit  was  completed  early  In  1881,  but  It  was  soon 
discovered  that  the  engine  speed  was  higher  than  either 
economy  or  safety  would  warrant.  The  genera!  idea — 
that  of  large,  direct-connected  units — was  right*  as  was 
not  long  afterward  established* 

Out  of  a  series  of  varied  experiments,  the  Edison  elec- 
trolytic (or  chemical)  meter  was  evolved.6  The  principle 
of  tills  meter  was  simple.  In  a  glass  ceE  two  zinc  plates 
were  held  in  a  solution  of  zinc  sulphate.  A  certain 
definite  proportion  of  current  was  turned  aside  to  flow 
through  this  cell  from  the  anode  to  the  cathode  plate, 
and  by  electrolytic  action,  within  a  given  time,  a  precise 
amount  of  zinc  would  be  taken  from  the  one  and  deposited 
on  the  other.  Thus  the  one  would  lose  in  weight  exactly 
what  the  other  gained,  and  the  difference  would  be  a 
pretty  accurate  index  of  the  current  used  for  any  given 
period  on  the  circuit  in  which  the  meter  was  placed.  The 
ceE  was  removed  (another  being  left  in  its  stead)  to  a 
meter-room,  where  the  two  plates  were  washed^  dried,  and 
weighed  in  a  chemical  balance,  and  on  the  basis  of  the 
ascertained  weight  the  service-charge  was  reckoned.  The 
Edison  meter  worked  well  and  was  widely  adopted  in  this 
country  and  abroad.  Owing,  however,  to  the  fact  that 
the  zinc-sulphate  solution  would  freeze,  the  meter  had  to 
include  an  incandescent  lamp  and  a  thermostat  by  means 
of  which  as  the  temperature  fell  or  rose  the  lamp  could 
be  cut  into  the  circuit  or  out.  When  the  temperature 
dropped  to  40  degrees  F.  or  below,  the  office-telephone 
bell  would  incessantly  prelude  such  messages  as  "Our 
meter's  red-hot*  Is  that  al  right?" — or  "Our  meter's  on 

«*M0ntliIy  charges  for  arc  lighting  had  been  arrived  at  on  a  loose 
and  crude  flat-rate  basis — a  lamp  was  supposed  to  burn  a  specified 
number  of  light-hours  for  a  certain  number  of  nights.  Deduction  was 
made  for  time  during  which  a  lamp  was  out  of  service. 

146 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

ire  inside  and  we  poured  water  on  it.  Did  that  hurt 
it?"  Of  even  more  consequence  from  the  customer's  view- 
point was  the  fact  that  readings  of  the  meter  could  be 
taken  by  the  service-company  only?  without  possibility  of 
check.  In  time?  therefore,  the  electrolytic  type  was 
replaced  by  the  mechanical  type5  developed  by  Elihu 
Thomson  and  other  workers  and  generally  familiar  in 
the  watt-hour  meter  of  to-day.7 

There  was9  too,  the  matter  of  fixtures.  At  Menlo  were 
simply  the  lamps  "strung  on  wires"  that  Connery  pooh- 
poohed,8  or  (as  in  Edison9s  own  house)  a  pair  of  flexible 
conductors  wound  with  tape  and  dangling  from  a  fasten- 
ing on  the  ceiling.  When  first  the  incandescent  lamp 
was  introduced  beyond  Menlo's  borders,,  the  common 
method  was  to  wind  the  wires  round  the  gas  chandeliers 
and  attach  the  lamp-sockets  to  small  brackets  hitched  to 
the  jet.  Until  Stieringer  devised  the  insulating  joint 
for  keeping  the  gas  and  electric  systems  apart,  thunder- 
storms would  cause  a  lively  exhibition  of  sparks  between 
wires  and  chandelier.  It  was  likewise  Stieringer  who 
brought  into  use  the  canopy-block  (or  ceiling-block)  9  to 
which  the  outlet-box  was  attached  when  special  electric- 
lighting  fixtures  (or  "electroliers")  were  later  made. 
Before  such  fixtures  came  into  vogue,  the  "combination5* 
fixture,  for  both  electric  and  gas  service,  was  the  pre- 
vailing thing;  it  being  thought  expedient  to  have  gas 
available  in  case  of  an  interruption  in  the  supply  of 
current.9 

All  along  the  line,  it  was  the  same:  conduits,  switches, 
fuses,  connections,  service-boxes,  lamp-sockets  —  these  and 


p.  68  of  "Forty  Years  of  Edison  Service5*  is  an  excellent  half- 
tone picture  from  a  photograph  of  one  of  these  obsolete  meters. 
*  Chap.  X,  p.  129, 
s  See  **Forty  Yeats,"  pp.  68-69;  D.  and  M.,  I,  438, 

147 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
devices  atoo  numerous  to  mention/9  as  auction-bills 
phrase  it,  had  all  to  be  designed,  constructed,  and  made 
to  function  as  parts  of  the  new  system.  This  system,  as 
broadly  outlined  in  Edison's  application  for  a  patent,  was 
for  "multiple  distribution  from  a  number  of  generators 
through  a  metallic  circuit/5  The  application  was  signed 
on  January  £8th,  1880,  but  it  was  not  until  more  than 
seven  years  later — on  August  SGth,  1887 — that  the  basic 
patent  (369,280)  was  issued  by  the  United  States  Patent 
Office.  Meanwhile,  no  end  of  water  had  passed  under  the 
bridge. 

By  about  the  beginning  of  188G,  the  laboratory  staff 
at  Menlo  comprised  "at  least  one  hundred  earnest  men."  10 
That  year  is  described  as  "extraordinarily  busy9*  for  Edi- 
son and  for  "his  whole  force,  which  from  time  to  time  was 
increased  in  number.'5  u  During  the  year,  Edison  ap- 
plied for  sixty  patents — five  relating  to  auxiliary  parts* 
six  to  dynamos,  thirty-two  to  incandescent  lamps,  seven 
to  distributing  systems — one  of  these  last  being  the 
basic  patent  already  referred  tos  another  being  for  his 
6ifeeder-and-main?*  method  of  preventing,  in  the  words 
of  the  application,  "what  is  ordinarily  known  as  a  *drop? 
in  those  portions  of  the  incandescent-lighting  system  the 
more  remote  from  the  central  station."  ...  It  had  been 
found  that  whereas  the  two  lamps  or  groups  of  lamps 
nearest  the  current-source  burned  at  their  indicated 
candle  power,  yet  beyond  that  point  a  progressive  loss 
in  candle  power  was  to  be  noted — so  much  so  that  the 
last  lamp  or  group  of  lamps  burned  at  only  approxi- 
mately two-thirds  the  candle  power  of  the  first  two  lamps 
or  groups.  This  was  because  of  the  resistance  inherent 

10 1>.  and  JVL,  I,  324. 
d.,  I,  340. 


"EDISON   SYSTEM" 

in  the  copper  conductors*  The  resistance  transformed 
part  of  the  initial  voltage  (or  electrical  pressure)  into 
heat;  and  heat,  although  of  use  in  the  lamp,,  in  the  con- 
ductors was  absolute  waste.  By  the  feeder-and-main 
method,  the  main  conductors  (or  "mains")  had  no  con- 
nection with  the  current-source.  Other  conductors,,  the 
"feeders,"  were  connected  with  the  current-source.  They 
were  called  "feeders"  because  through  them  the  current 
was  fed  into  the  mains,  to  which  they  were  connected  at 
central  points.  A  drop  occurred?  to  be  sure,  but  it  was 
limited  to  the  feeders  and  did  not  affect  the  lamps;  the 
feeders  being  so  arranged  as  to  deliver  current  to  the 
mains  at  a  potential  (or  electromotive  force)  correspond- 
ing to  the  average  voltage  of  the  individual  lamps,  and 
the  extreme  loss  of  voltage  in  the  mains  being  so  small  as 
to  make  no  appreciable  difference. 

When  extensive  distribution  in  a  large  town  is  con- 
sidered, it  will  readily  be  seen  that  by  the  feeder~and~ 
main  method  the  saving  in  copper  for  wires  was  very 
decided,  for  the  mains  did  not  have  to  be  run  to  the  central 
station  but  only  along  a  given  block ;  and  the  feeders  were 
of  relatively  small  size.  In  order  to  avoid  a  drop,  a  con- 
ductor eight  times  as  large  would  otherwise  have  been 
required.  Any  large  economy  in  copper  was  important 
if  incandescent  lighting  was  to  compete  with  gas.  Lord 
Kelvin  (Sir  William  Thomson) ,  the  distinguished  phys- 
icist, asked  why  the  feeder-and-main  method,  essentially 
so  simple,  had  not  previously  been  hit  upon  by  somebody 
else,  replied,  "The  only  answer  I  can  think  of  is  that  no 
one  else  was  Edison.55  Though  in  another  field,  it  was 
something  like  the  case  of  Edison's  process  for  making 
duplicates  of  an  original  phonograph  record.  A  judge 
of  a  Federal  court  proclaimed  this  process  to  be  "obvious 

149 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WOEK 
to  any  one"  —  hence  devoid  of  true  invention  and  therefore 
not  patentable  ! 

Gradually  during  1880  Edison's  plans  for  central- 
station  lighting  —  a  commonplace  now  but  then  without 
precedent  —  had  been  crystallizing.  While  the  means 
was  being  patiently  developed  at  Menlo,  the  end  —  that 
of  installing  a  commercial  system  and  testing  It  out  under 
actual  everyday  conditions  o£  demand  and  supply  —  was 
steadily  held  in  view.  Edison  had  always  fancied  New 
York  as  the  locale  of  this  initial  enterprise  in  public 
utility.  In  1880  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  com- 
pany of  New  York  was  incorporated.  This  company 
was  a  licensee  of  the  Edison  Electric  Light  company 
(the  original  syndicate)  and  paid  for  the  license  partly 
in  cash,  partly  in  shares  of  capital  stock.  Such  was  the 
regular  business  arrangement  with  all  the  local  distribut- 
ing companies  operating  under  the  Edison  system.  The 
Edison  Electric  Light  company  on  its  part  granted  to  the 
licensee  exclusive  use  of  the  system  In  a  given  territory  — 
this  being  held  to  include  any  isolated  plants  installed 
within  the  area  specified. 

The  first  president  of  the  New  York  company  was* 
Norvin  Green,  afterward  president  of  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  company.  The  New  York  company  filed  an 
application  for  a  franchise.  Their  Honors  the  Board  of 
Aldermen  were  not  at  first  persuaded.  As  Pope's  "Odys- 
sey" observes,12  "How  prone  to  doubt,  how  cautious  are 
the  wise!"  Thereupon  a  special  train  was  provided  for 
them  and  they  were  taken  out  to  Menlo.  At  Menlo  and 
nowhere  else  in  the  world  a  real  multiple-arc  distributing 
system  was  to  be  seen  in  operation  not  only  for  incandes- 
cent lighting  but  also  for  power.  Edison  realized  that 
distributed  current  was  likely  to  have  extensive  use  in 


375. 

150 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

k>- 
driving  motors^  and  so  motors  were  on  circuit  in  this  first 

system. 1S 

The  system  carried  about  425  incandescent  lamps. 
The  underground  conductors  were  in  tubes,  with  asphal- 
turn  around  the  tubes  to  insulate  them  and  with  a  wood 
sheathing  around  the  asphaltum.  On  the  occasion  of 
the  aldermen's  visit5  everything  went  well.  The  lights 
were  brilliant,  for  the  voltage  had  been  raised  a  bit ;  and 
Edison  in  person  explained  the  more  important  features. 
An  informal  banquet  followed  in  the  laboratory  and  Edi- 
son, rarely  a  public  speaker,  signalized  the  affair  by  mak- 
ing an  after-dinner  address. 

Other  visitors  there  were,  not  less  distinguished  than 
the  aldermen.  For  example,  to  Menlo  came  Lieut.  George 
W.  DeLong,  leader  of  the  "Jeannette55  expedition,  of 
which  Bennett  of  the  "Herald"  was  financial  backer. 
DeLong,  then  outfitting  the  "  Jeannette,"  told  Edison  of 
the  plans  for  the  trip;  and  Edison  promised  him  a 
specially-built  dynamo — the  first  for  marine  use — with  a 
lighting  equipment  consisting  of  an  arc  lamp  and  a  few 
incandescent  lamps-  Since  the  ship  did  not  have  a  steam- 
engine  available  for  driving  the  dynamo,  Edison  made  the 

is  "The  motors  which  to-day  furnish  power  from  currents  on  a  large 
commercial  scale  are  little  else  than  dynamos  reversed,  yet  the  reversal, 
obvious  as  it  seems  now,  was  not  adopted  until  1373,  although  it  was 
known  to  Jaeobi  in  1850,  and  probably  to  Lenz  twelve  years  before.  In 
1873  several  Gramme  dynamos  were  to  be  shown  at  the  Vienna  Exposi- 
tion. A  workman,  seeing  a  pair  of  loose  wires  near  one  of  the  machines, 
connected  them  with  it;  the  other  ends  of  the  wires  proved  to  be  bound 
to  a  dynamo  in  full  rotation,  its  source  of  power  being  a  steam-engine 
near  by.  The  second  and  newly  attached  machine  at  once  began  to 
revolve  in  a  reverse  direction— as  a  motor.  Thus,  in  all  likelihood  by 
sheer  accident,  it  was  discovered  that  one  dynamo  may  yield  in  mechan- 
ical power  the  electric  energy  sent  to  it  from  another  dynamo  at  a  dis- 
tance. In  the  whole  realm  of  industrial  art  there  is  no  more  striking 
example  than  this  of  a  rule  that  works  both  ways/*— lies,  "Flame, 
Electricity  and  the  Camera,"  p.  106. 

151 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
little  machine  so  that  It  could  be  operated  by  hand  and, 
as  lie  said,  "keep  the  boys  warm.59 14  On  the  paper  in- 
sulation put  between  the  iron  layers  of  the  armature- 
core,  the  members  of  the  Menlo  laboratory  staff  wrote 
their  names.  Ship  and  aboys"  were  lost  in  the  Arctic^ 
and  with  them  the  first  incandescent-lighting  outfit  that 
ever  entered  the  polar  regions. 

Sarah  Bernhardt  came.  "One  evening" — this  is 
Edison's  version — "Robert  L.  Cutting,  of  New  York  [a 
director  of  the  New  York  company] ,  brought  her  out  to 
see  the  light.  She  was  a  terrific  'rubberneck/  She 
jumped  all  over  the  machinery 5  and  I  had  one  man 
especially  to  guard  her  dress.  She  wanted  to  know  every-, 
thing.  She  would  speak  in  French,  and  Cutting  would 
translate  into  English.  She  stayed  there  about  an  hour 
and  a  half.  Bernhardt  gave  me  two  pictures,  painted 
by  herself,,  which  she  sent  me  from  Paris.59 15 

From  Bernhardt's  account 16  we  learn  that  she  went 
to  Menlo  by  special  train,  arriving  at  two  in  the  morning 
of  December  5th,  1880,  and  leaving  at  four  to  return  to 
New  York.  As  she  was  being  driven  from  the  station 
to  the  laboratory,  the  outdoor  lamps  "strung  on  wires'5 
glittered  suddenly  in  the  winter  darkness,  and  great 
were  her  astonishment  and  delight.  She  found  Edi- 
son "simple55  and  "charming,5'  with  a  manner  of  "timid 
graciousness  and  perfect  courtesy'5  and  a  "profound  love 
of  Shakespeare.55  "I  looked,55  declares  Sarah,  "at  this 

i*  For  an  importer  in  the  China  trade  he  later  made  a  similar  one  to 
be  sent  to  China,  where  steam-power  was  more  costly  than  man-power. 

is  D.  and  M.,  II,  743.  Bernhardt  made  her  first  New  York  appear- 
ance on  November  8,  1880,  and  visited  Menlo  before  she  left  for  Boston. 
She  was  said  to  be  Edison's  choice  as  <ethe  greatest  of  women"  (see  the 
editorial  "Edison  at  Seventy-Five"  in  "The  World"  of  February  13, 
1922). 

is  "Memories  of  My  Life?  (New  York,  1907),  pp.  392-396. 

152 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

man  of  medium  size,  with  rather  a  large  head,  and  I 
thought  of  Napoleon  I.  There  is  certainly  a  great  phys- 
ical resemblance  between  these  two  men,  and  I  am  sure 
that  one  compartment  of  their  brain  would  be  found  to 
be  identical  Of  course  I  do  not  compare  their  genius. 
The  one  was  'destructive5  and  the  other  'creative.5 "  .  *  , 

The  preparative  year  of  1880  went  by,  with  aU-and- 
sundry  "on  their  toes,"  improving  and  re-improving 
endless  items.  Edison  alone  found  time  for  avocations. 
In  looking  over  the  list  of  patent-applications  executed 
during  the  twelvemonth,  one  runs  across  the  entry: 
"Preserving  Fruit,  Dec.  IF5 1  Early  in  1881,  offices  of 
the  Edison  Electric  Light  company  were  opened  in  the 
fine  old  David  W.  Bishop  mansion  at  65  Fifth  avenue — 
on  the  east  side  of  the  avenue,  just  below  14th  street. 
These  headquarters  were  always  referred  to  by  Edison, 
associates  as  "Sixty-five.'5  Here  were  an  isolated  gener- 
ating plant;  offices  for  Edison  and  for  Major  Eaton,  who 
had  succeeded  Norvin  Green  as  president  of  the  company; 
a  reception-room ;  in  the  top  story,  a  library.  The  house 
had  been  selected  primarily  because  at  this  stage  of  pro- 
ceedings  it  was  necessary  to  demonstrate  the  quality  of 
incandescent  lighting  for  interiors,  and  "Sixty-five,"  with 
its  spaciousness  and  dignity,  conveyed  the  desired  effect. 

For  many  months,  throngs  filled  the  public  rooms  by 
night,  the  place  remaining  open  until  eleven  or  twelve 
o'clock.  During  four  years  or  more,  indeed,  this  con- 
tinued to  be  a  much-frequented  spot.17  Edison,  though 
for  a  while  compelled  to  spend  considerable  time  here, 
seems  hardly  to  have  felt  at  home.  He  much  preferred 
the  comparative  seclusion  of  the  laboratory  at  Menlo. 
He  did  not  like  the  general  air  of  being  on  parade.  But 
at  this  juncture  he  was  needed  to  direct  the  educational 

17  See  Meadowcroft,  p.  218. 

153 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
campaign  that  was  heralding  the  new  light.  One  has 
glimpses  of  him — an  absorbed  figure*  grown  a  trifle 
stouter;  draped  (as  a  slight  concession  to  the  heavy 
convention  of  the  period)  in  a  well-worn  frock-coat,  the 
gravity  of  which  was  somewhat  impaired  by  a  silk  hand- 
kerchief knotted  about  Ms  neck  in  place  of  a  collar;  an 
unruly  lock  of  thick  hair  drooped  across  his  brow;  his 
headgear  a  broad-brimmed  covering  of  soft  felt.  He  was 
only  thirty-four;  and,  smooth-shaven  amid  the  luxu- 
riantly bewhiskered  faces  that  were  then  the  mode,  looked 
scarcely  that. 

Hours  were  long,  but  there  were  compensations;  for 
after  the  last  sightseer  had  gone,  friends  would  drop  in 
for  a  chat  in  the  library  and  one  of  them,  Eduard 
Remenyi,  the  distinguished  Hungarian  violinist,  would 
play  Ms  violin — sometimes  "$2,000  worth53  as  Edison  cal- 
culated, with  a  slant  at  the  American  bent  for  applying 
to  everything  the  appraisals  of  trade.  Nor  was  humor 
lacking.  "...  I  was  telling  a  gentleman  one  day,"  Edi- 
son alleged,  "that  I  could  not  keep  a  cigar.  Even  if  1 
locked  them  up  in  my  desk  they  [his  associates  at  fiSixty~ 
five5]  would  break  it  open.  He  suggested  to  me  that  he 
had  a  friend  over  on  Eighth  Avenue  who  made  a  superior 
grade  of  cigars,  and  who  would  show  them  a  trick.  He 
said  he  would  have  some  of  them  made  up  with  hair  and 
old  paper  t  and  I  could  put  them  in  without  a  word  and 
see  the  result.  I  thought  no  more  about  the  matter.  He 
came  in  two  or  three  months  after,  and  said :  'How  did 
that  cigar  business  work?9  I  didn't  remember  anything 
about  it.  On  coming  to  investigate,  it  appeared  that  the 
box  of  cigars  had  been  delivered  and  had  been  put  in  my 
desk,  and  I  had  smoked  them  all!"  .  *  . 

The  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  company  of  New 
York  was  capitalized  at  $1,000,000 — and  small  enough 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

the  amount  is  likely  to  appear  to  those  familiar  *  itii  the 
grandiose  "promotions'*  of  these  later  days.  'None  of 
this  capital  could  be  used  for  manufacturing.  The 
Edison  Electric  Light  company,  so  far  as  it  was  con- 
cerned, was  not  inclined  to  go  in  for  any  manufacture; 
hence  Edison  "clipped  deeply  into  Ms  own  resources." 
a  *If  there  are  no  f actoiies,3  he  said5  6to  make  my  inven- 
tions, I  will  build  the  factories  myself.  Since  capital  is 
timid,  I  will  raise  and  supply  it.55 1S  .  .  .  In  addition  to 
what  he  could  get  from  other  quarters,  he  finally,  when 
it  became  necessary  to  finance  the  works  he  had  estab- 
lished, raised  further  cash  by  the  sale  of  his  holdings  in 
the  Edison  Electric  Light  company.  The  upshot  was 
but  another  variation  of  an  old  story.  After  Edison  had 
by  personal  effort  and  sacrifice  brought  his  manufactur- 
ing interests  to  the  point  where  they  were  of  high  com- 
mercial value,  financiers,  no  longer  "timid,??  thought  it 
quite  worth  their  while  to  engineer  the  merging  of  them 
into  the  Edison  General  Electric  company,  with  a  capital 
of  $1^,000,000  on  the  basis  of  an  eight  per  cent,  dividend. 
Pressed  for  funds  to  manage  an  ever-increasing  volume 
of  business,  Edison  thought  it  best  to  sell  out.  That  was 
in  1889. 

On  March  2nd,  1881,  he  took  over  from  the  veteran 
shipbuilder  John  Roach  the  idle  xEtna  Iron  works  plant 
on  Goerck  street  in  an  "East  Side'5  region  of  decayed 
tenements  and  other  tumble-down  buildings.  For  several 
years  he  ran  this  plant  as  the  Edison  Machine  works,  his 
first  manufactory  of  dynamos.  Gradually,  however,  it 
became  totally  inadequate,  and  the  works  were  removed 
to  a  new  plant  at  Schenectady.  Meters,  chandeliers, 
switches,  sockets,  "and  such  small  deer"  were  made  by 

is  From  a  statement  by  Major  Eaton  (quoted  in.  D*  aad  M.9  II,  719), 

155 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Signrand  Bergmann— first  at  a  shop  in  Wooster  street* 
afterward  In  a  large  manufactory  on  east  Seventeenth 
street  at  Avenue  B.  Berginann,  who  had  been  a  bench- 
worker  for  Edison  in  Newark  and  had  later  built  pho- 
nographs in  the  Wooster-street  shop,  became  a  partner 
in  this  manufacturing  enterprise  and  eventually  chief 
owner  of  electrical  works  in  Berlin.  When  the  Edison 
Bluminating  company  had  obtained  its  franchise  and  per- 
mit to  open  the  streets,  the  underground-tube  conductors 
and  junction-boxes  were  made  by  the  Electric  Tube  com- 
pany at  65  Washington  street,  where  John  Kruesi  (the 
Menlo  machine-shop  having  been  closed)  was  in  charge. 
The  lamp-factory  was  taken  from  Menlo  to  Harrison, 
New  Jersey,  near  Newark,  and  there  housed  in  a  big 
structure  originally  used  in  the  making  of  oiled-cloth. 
The  stock  of  the  Harrison  works  was  divided  into  a  hun- 
dred shares  at  par  $100,  some  of  which  were  distributed 
among  Edison's  assistants.  "One  of  the  boys  was  hard 
up  after  a  time,"  said  Edison,  "and  sold  two  shares  to 
Bob  Cutting.  Up  to  that  time  we  had  never  paid  any- 
thing; but  we  got  around  to  the  point  where  the  board 
declared  a  dividend  every  Saturday  night.  We  had 
never  declared  a  dividend  when  Cutting  bought  his  shares, 
and,  after  getting  his  dividends  for  three  weeks  in  succes- 
sion, he  called  up  on  the  telephone  and  wanted  to  know 
what  kind  of  a  concern  this  was  that  paid  a  weekly 
dividend.5919  There  were  also  the  short-lived  Thomas 
A.  Edison  Construction  Department  (known  to  Edi- 
son men  as  the  "Destruction  Department"),  formed  to 
"boom"  and  install  central-station  plants  at  a  time  when 
the  central-station  idea  seemed  to  be  hanging  fire  for  lack 
of  financial  support;  and  the  Edison  company  for  Iso- 
lated Lighting,  which  installed  independent-generating 
is  Meadowcroft,  pp.  215-216;  IX  and  M.,  I,  35S-359. 

156 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

sets  at  points  remote  from  central-station  supply.  'At 
S4Sixty-five"  a  night  school  was  maintained  for  the  in- 
struction of  artisans  in  the  practice9  both  electrical  and 
mechanical,  of  the  incandescent-lighting  art. 

During  that  year  of  1881,  while  the  Edison  system  was 
being  explained  and  ushered  in.  Captain  Burnaby  by 
crossing  the  English  Channel  in  a  balloon  amazed  folk 
quite  as  much  as  did  the  "air  Magellans"  of  1924  who, 
in  a  hundred  and  seventy-five  days,  first  sailed  around  the 
world  in  heavier-than-air  flying-ships.  In  that  year  of 
grace,  Gladstone  introduced  his  Irish  land  bill;  aTom" 
Platt  and  Conkling — he  of  the  "little  curl" — resigned  in 
a  huff  their  seats  in  the  Senate  (who  now  remembers 
why?)  ;  the  "Jeannette"  was  crushed  in  northern  ice;  the 
slaves  in  Egypt  were  set  free;  the  "Great  Eastern"  was 
sold  for  $150,000;  all  summer  long,  the  wounded  Gar- 
field  fought  with  death.  In  that  year,  those  benevolent 
and  disinterested  spirits  Fernando  Wood  and  "Honest 
John"  Kelly  passed  from  the  scene  of  their  earthly  labors. 
Cody's  c*Wild  West"  had  not  yet  been  launched,  nor  the 
Brooklyn  Bridge  opened.  An  international  electrical 
exposition,  first  display  of  its  kind,  was  held  in  Paris, 
greatly  to  the  benefit  of  the  whole  electrical  industry. 
Thither  Edison  sent  an  exhibit  of  his  lighting  inventions, 
for  which  he  received  a  diploma  and  was  made  an  officer 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 

The  center  of  this  exhibit  was  a  direct-connected 
dynamo,  the  largest  he  or  any  one  else  had  yet  built* 
This  dynamo,  colossal  for  the  year  1881,  weighed  twenty- 
seven  tons  (including  the  engine  and  a  six-ton  armature) 
and  would  serve  to  light  from  1,000  to  1,200  standard 
lamps.  It  was  started  for  a  test  run  at  the  Goerck  street 
works  on  June  25th  and  ran  until  five  o'clock  the  next 
morning,  when  the  engine  crank-shaft  snapped,  flying 

157 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
aclear  across  the  shop."    A  new  shaft  was  attached  and 
a  second  test  was  satisfactorily  run.     Only  about  four 
hours   remained   In   which  to   get  the  dynamo   to   the 
"French  Line53  pier.     A  of  sixty  men5  each  with 

his  particular  Instructions,  took  down  the  machine  and 
loaded  it  on  waiting  trucks.  Then  through  specially- 
policed  streets  dashed  the  horses^  preceded  by  a  clanging 
bell ;  and  with  but  an  hour  to  spare,  the  dynamo  was  got 
aboard.  When  set  up  and  running  at  the  exposition^  it 
was  admiringly  studied  by  foreign  electricians,  and  was 
a  factor  In  the  introduction  of  the  Edison  system  on  the 
Continent.  It  was  the  first  example  of  what  was  styled 
the  a  Jumbo5*  type — so  called  from  Barnum  and  Bailey's 
big  elephant,  which  P.  T.  Barnura's  publicity  methods 
made  so  well  known  that  its  name  passed  into  English 
speech  and  found  place  in  the  dictionaries. 

With  the  exception  of  the  little  experimental  station 
at  Menlo  Park,  the  world's  first  central  station  for  incan- 
descent lighting  was  that  Installed  In  London  by  the 
English  Edison  Electric  Light  company,  of  which  E.  H. 
Johnson  was  general  manager  and  W.  J.  Hammer  chief 
engineer.  On  January  12th,  18829  Hammer  closed  the 
switch  by  which  the  plant  was  put  into  service.  The  sta- 
tion was  on  Crown  land  on  Holborn  Viaduct  and  its  three 
thirty-ton  "Jumbos'*  supplied  8,000  lamps  in  that  neigh- 
borhood20— including  four  hundred  In  the  telegraph 
operating-room  of  the  General  Post  Office  at  St.  Martin  V 
le-Grand.21  Hammer  says  that  Johnson  "was  kept  busy 

20  Information  kindly  supplied  by  W.  J.  Hammer. 

21  As  already  stated  in  a  foot-note  to  Chapter  VIII    (p,  SO),  the 
British  telegrapfis  were  taken  over  by  the  government  in  1870.    Tele- 
graph service  was  put  under  the  direction:  of  the  postal  authorities. 
These  lamps  in  the  General  Post  Office  were  placed  at  the  instance  of 
W.  H.  (Sir  William)  Preece,  who  had  ceased  to  regard  the  light  as 

158 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

not  only  with  the  cares  and  responsibilities  of  this  pioneer 
English  plantj  but  by  negotiations  as  to  company  f orma- 
tlons5  hearings  before  Parliamentary  committees5  and 
particularly  by  distinguished  visitors,  Including  all  the 
foremost  scientific  men  In  England?  and  a  great  many 
well-known  members  of  the  peerage."  22 

From  MS.  notes  by  Johnson,,  T.  C.  Martin  quotes  as 
follows : 

"At  this  time  tall  masts  surmounted  by  a  group  of 
high  candle  power  arc  lamps  were  much  in  vogue  In  Lon- 
don?  and  I  desired  to  enter  into  competition  with  them  by 
substituting  an  electric  lamp  of  82  candle  power  for  the 
ordinary  gas  jet  on  each  gas  post  throughout  the  length 
of  the  Holborn  Viaduct.  For  this  permission  was  granted 
me  by  the  city,  and  the  work  was  carried  out  eliciting  an 
extremely  favorable  criticism  from  the  press  and  public 
generally-  This  was  unquestionably  the  beginning  of  the 
end  of  group  arc  lighting,  and  I  think  may  now  be  taken 
as  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  arc  light  itself."  2S 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  British  electric-lighting  act 
that  provided  that  at  the  end  of  a  twenty-year  interval 
electric-light  plants  were  to  be  taken  over  by  the  govern- 
ment, the  Holborn  Viaduct  station  would,  one  may  sup- 
pose, have  become  the  basis  of  a  great  metropolitan  sys- 
tem and  the  prototype  of  other  such  stations  throughout 
the  British  Isles.  The  act  was  later  repealed.  But  just 
as  the  early  development  of  the  horseless  vehicle  In  Eng- 
land had  been  Impeded  by  legislation  affecting  the  use  of 
steam  carriages  on  highways,  so  now  the  Incandescent- 

an  ignis  fatuus  and  was  now  among  its  most  outspoken  supporters 
in  England, 

22  D.  and  M.,  I,  337-388. 

23  "Forty  Years,"  p.  29. 

159 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
lighting  industry  received  a  set-back.     The  station  was 
dismantled*  the  service  given  up ;  but  not  until  Hammer 
and  Johnson  had  accomplished  much  of  interest  and 
learned  much  that  was  later  useful. 

The  next  central  station,  the  first  in  the  United  States,, 
was  the  Pearl  street  station  in  New  York.  To  the  work 
connected  with  planning  and  installing  the  entire  plantte 
Edison  devoted  a  large  amount  of  direct  personal  atten- 
tion. The  station  was  in  a  double  building  at  255-25? 
Pearl  street,  four  stories  high,  on  a  lot  measuring  50  X 
I00.24  Of  the  two  parts,  257  was  converted  into  the 
generating  plant,  255  was  used  for  storage,  repair-shops^ 
and  a  factory  in  which  were  made  the  tubes  for  the  under- 
ground distribution  system.  Over  fifteen  miles — more 
than  80,000  linear  feet — of  these  tubing  conductors  were 
needed  for  the  district  that  Edison  had  selected  and 
mapped.  This  First  district  had  an  area  of  about  a 
square  mile  in  a  region  sometimes  called  "The  Swamp.5* 
It  was  bounded  on  the  north  by  Spruce  and  Ferry  streets 
and  Peck  Slip ;  on  the  east  by  the  East  river ;  on  the  south 
by  Wall  street ;  on  the  west  by  Nassau  street. 

Edison  had  originally  planned  a  district  of  mucK 
greater  area,  reaching  from  Wall  street  on  the  south  to 
Canal  street  on  the  north,  and  from  the  East  river  to 
Broadway.  Before  long,  however,  he  decided  that  this 
was  altogether  too  much  ground  to  cover.  In  the  mean- 
time he  had  conducted  a  preliminary  survey  of  the  whole 
tract  with  a  view  to  learning  the  number  of  gas  jets  in 
each  building,  how  much  gas  on  the  average  was  daily 
used  throughout  the  district  and  by  each  customer ;  how 

24  D.  and  M™  I,  394.  Cf.  "...  I  could  only  get  two  buildings  each 
25  feet  front,  one  100  feet  deep  and  the  other  85  feet  deep."  (From 
Edison's  notes  furnished  to  T.  C.  Martin  and  quoted  by  Martin  in 
"Forty  Years/'  p.  84.) 

160 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

much  power  was  demanded  and  by  whom;  where  hoist- 
ways  and  elevator-shafts  were  In  which  electric  power 
could  be  made  available.  After  the  invention  of  the 
feeder-and-main  method,25  large-scale  maps  were  pre- 
pared showing  every  last  detail  necessary  for  installing 
the  system. 

Pearl  street  (the  name  of  which  harks  back,  it  is  said, 
to  the  wampum  currency  employed  in  trading  with  the 
Indians)  is  a  thoroughfare  marked  by  notable  beginnings. 
Some  have  said  it  was  the  first  street  to  be  occupied  when 
white  men  settled  on  Manhattan  island.  On  it?  at  any 
rate,  the  first  stadt-huys  (or  city  hall)  of  New  Amster- 
dam was  built ;  on  it  was  the  structure  in  which  William 
Bradford  set  up  the  colony's  first  printing-press.  When 
the  nineteenth  century  was  younger,  here  were  abodes  of 
the  wealthy,  the  fashionable,  the  socially  ambitious. 
What  says  Halleck  in  "Fanny?35 

"Her  father  kept,  some  fifteen  years  ago, 
A  retail  dry-goods  shop  in  Chatham  street, 

And  nursed  his  little  earnings,  sure  though  slow, 
Till,  having  mustered  wherewithal  to  meet 

The  gaze  of  the  great  world,  he  hreathed  the  air 
Of  Pearl  street,  and  set  up  in  Hanover  Square." 

But  by  1881,  Time  and  Change  had  so  wrought  that 
Edison  picked  out  Pearl  as  "the  worst  dilapidated  street 
there  was."  "I  thought/5  he  afterward  wrote,  "that  by 
going  down  on  a  slum  street  near  the  waterfront  I  would 
get  some  pretty  cheap  property?5  2e  About  $£05000?  he 
figured,  would  take  the  two  buildings.  He  learned  some- 
thing about  New  York's  highly  artificial  real-estate  prices 
— even  on  "the  worst  dilapidated  street.55  "...  I  found 

as  gee  a  previous  reference  in  this  chapter,  pp.  148-149. 
*»  Notes  furnished  to  Martin.    See  "Forty  Years,"  p.  849 

161 


EDISON":  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
that  they  wanted  $75,000  for  one  and  for  the 

other."  A  tentative  plan  of  Ms  had  been  for  a  station 
200  X  209.  Such  spaciousness  lie  was  compelled  to 
forego.  The  old  flooring  of  257  was  cleared  out  and 
an  Inner  structure  of  Ironwork — stout  columns  carrying 
substantial  girders — running  about  three-quarters  of  the 
building's  depth,  was  snugly  fitted  within  the  walls.  Sis 
*£Jumbo"  dynamos  with  their  direct-coupled  Porter  en- 
gines were  located  on  the  second  floor*27 

Laying  of  mains  was  begun  late  In  the  autumn  of  1881, 
interrupted  by  frost,  and  renewed  in  the  spring  of  1883. 
Day  and  night  the  wort  was  carried  forward ;  and  by  day 
and  by  night  Edison  might  be  found  with  the  ditch- 
ing gang.  A  contemporary  illustration  in  aHarper?s 
Weekly"  shows  him  testing  tubes  for  insulation.  ".  .  .  I 
saw  every  box  poured/9  were  his  own  words,  "and  every 
connection  made  on  the  whole  job."  2S  On  the  third  floor 
of  the  station  a  bedroom  had  been  provided  for  him,  but 
he  found  another  more  convenient.  In  the  cellar  at  Pearl 
street  a  stock  of  tubes  was  kept.  "As  I  was  on  all  the 
time,  I  would  take  a  nap  of  an  hour  or  so  in  the  daytime 
• — any  time — and  I  used  to  sleep  on  those  tubes  in  the 
cellar."  2Q  Two  men  who  were  employed  in  testing  in  that 
damp,  chill  cellar,  died  of  diphtheria.  "It  never  affected 
me'5  was  Edison's  comment ;  his  high  vital  resistance  stood 
him  in  good  stead — and  then,  as  Martin  observes,  he 
wasn?t  in  the  cellar  long  enough  at  any  one  time.  He 
was  his  own  superintendent  of  construction  and  more  im- 
mune to  fatigue  than  was  any  of  his  assistants  around  the 

27  A  detailed  account  of  the  chief  features  of  this  installation  may 
|>e  found  in  Martin's  "Forty  Tears,"  pp.  43-51. 

ss  Statement  for  the  "Electrical  Review,"  quoted  by  Jones,  pp. 
110. 

29  "Forty  Years,"  p.  43$  D.  and  M.,  I,  400. 

162 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

station,  for  whom  "a  shave  and  a  clean  shirt  were  rare 
enjoyments.55 

It  lias  been  inferred  that  no  precedent  existed  for  the 
underground  disposal  of  conductors.  This  is  not  quite 
correct.  In  1889  Cooke  and  Wheatstone9  when  they  ran 
their  thirteen  miles  of  telegraph-line  from  the  Paddington 
station  (London)  of  the  Great  Western  railway  to  West 
Drayton,  put  inside  wrought-iron  tubing  six  copper  wires. 
The  tubing  was  laid  by  the  side  of  the  railway  and  about 
six  inches  from  the  ground.  Morse  tried  for  his  Wash- 
ington-Baltimore telegraph-line  (1843—1844)  some  ten 
miles  of  cable  drawn  through  lead  pipe.  The  wires  of 
Cooke  and  Wheatstone  were  covered  with  hemp ;  Morse's 
with  cotton  and  shellac.  Cooke  in  1842  introduced  the 
method  of  stringing  wires  from  insulating  supports  placed 
on  poles — with  excellent  results.  Only  when  his  under- 
ground cable  had  completely  failed,  did  Morse,  in  his 
struggle  to  establish  his  invention  commercially  in  the  face 
of  apathy  and  doubt,  resort  to  Cooke's  second  scheme. 
His  success  led  to  a  long  abandonment  of  underground 
conductors.  It  was  inevitable  that  the  business  heads  of 
public-utility  corporations,  solicitous  for  themselves  and 
their  stockholders,  should  consider  little  else  but  the  lower 
initial  cost  of  overhead-wire  installation.  They  went 
ahead  with  little  or  no  check.  THey  said  underground 
conductors  were  silly;  and  practically  no  more  experi- 
menting was  done  in  that  field.  A  brief  study  of  pho- 
tographs dating  from  the  late  'seventies  and  early 
'eighties,  will  show  that  in  larger  American  cities  the 
leading  streets  had  become  much  disfigured  by  unsightly 
poles  carrying  a  medley  of  interlacing  wires.  Smaller 
towns  suffered  in  proportion  and  the  countryside  was  in- 
vaded. Marring  every  vista  into  which  they  were  thrust, 
the  wires  sagged  from  rickety  cross-arms ;  or  they  rotted 

163 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
apart*  and  were  left  dangling.  The  imperfectly  insu- 
lated arc-lighting  wires  did  more :  they  conveyed  danger- 
ous Mgh-tension  currents.  OK'd  by  the  insurance 
companies  and  hence  known  to  "the  trade"  as  "under- 
writers/* they  were  often  styled  "undertakers" — which,  if 
not  supreme  wit,  at  least  bears  a  grim  hint  of  their 
quality.  Chance  contacts  with  adjacent  metalwork  or 
with  low-tension  lines  that  crossed  them,  made  them 
a  menace.  Casualties  were  altogether  too  frequent. 
Hence  in  many  places  public  sentiment  compelled  the 
law  to  step  in  and  require  that  wires  go  underground. 

From  the  very  first,  Edison  had  no  other  intention  than 
to  put  his  mains  in  the  earth.  "Why,"  he  would  say5 
"you  don't  lift  water  pipes  and  gas  pipes  up  on  stilts."  30 
He  saw  that  the  underground  way  not  only  was  the  more 
suitable  for  conductors  so  large  and  weighty  as  he  would 
use,  but  also  was  destined  to  be  the  one  approved  way 
within  the  limits  of  big  cities.  ".  .  .  When  New  York 
State  legislation  created  the  underground  system  for 
Manhattan  Island,"  Martin  points  out,  "the  engineer 
chosen  for  the  Board  of  Electrical  Control  was  S.  S. 
Wheeler,  who  had  learned  how5  working  side  by  side  with 
Edison  on  the  mains  for  the  First  District  fed  from  old 
Pearl  Street."31  Yet  such  is  human  prejudice  that 
years  after  Edison  had  demonstrated  the  success  of  his 
conduits,  the  question  of  "underground"  vs.  "overhead" 
came  near  to  splitting  the  National  Electric  Light  Asso- 
ciation. 

Edison  not  only  learned  about  New  York's  fantastic 
prices  for  real-estate  but  also  had  a  glimpse  of  the  modus 
operand*  of  New  York's  municipal  government  as  it  theft 
was.  ".  .  .  The  office  received  notice,"  so  he  told,  "from 


so  Martin,  "Forty  Years,"  p.  38. 
si  16. 


164 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works  to  appear  at  his  office 
at  a  certain  hour.  I  went  up  there  with  a  gentleman 
to  see  the  commissioner,  H.  0.  Thompson.  On  arrival  he 
said  to  me:  Ton  are  putting  down  these  tubes.  The 
Department  of  Public  Works  requires  that  you  should 
have  five  inspectors  to  look  after  this  work,  and  that  their 
salary  shall  be  $5  per  days  payable  at  the  end  of  each 
week.  Good-morning.5  ,  .  .  We  watched  patiently  for 
those  inspectors  to  appear.  The  only  appearance  they 
made  was  to  draw  their  pay.5'  .  .  .32 

The  laying  of  the  mains  at  last  was  done;  and  while 
customers  were  being  "hooked  up55  to  the  system  and  their 
meters  were  being  installed,  there  followed  a  period  of 
rigorous  testing  at  the  station.  A  pair  of  "Jumbos'5 
proved  startlingly  fractious.  Let  Edison  tell  the  story.33 
"Finally  we  got  our  feeders  all  down  and  started  to  put 
on  an  engine  and  turn  over  one  of  the  machines  to  see 
how  things  were.  .  .  .  Then  we  started  another  engine 
and  threw  them  in  parallel.  Of  all  the  circuses  since 
Adam  was  born  we  had  the  worst  then.  One  engine  would 
stop  and  the  other  would  run  up  to  about  a  thousand 
revolutions,  and  then  they  would  see-saw.34 

"What  was  the  matter?  Why,  it  was  these  Porter  gov- 
ernors! When  the  circus  commenced  the  men  who  were 
standing  around  ran  out  precipitately,  and  some  of  them 
kept  running  for  a  block  or  two.  I  grabbed  the  throttle 
of  one  engine  and  E.  H.  Johnson,  who  was  the  only  one 


.  and  M.,  I,  393. 

*s  Statement  for   the   "Electrical  Review**  —  see  Jones,  pp.   116-117; 
"Forty  Years,"  56-57. 

difficulty  with  the  engines  in  multiple  was  termed  hunting" 
C.  L.  Clarke,  chief  engineer  of  the  Edison  Electric  Light  company, 
thought  it  due  in  this  case  to  vertical  vibration  rendered  possible  by 
the  fact  that  the  bedplates  were  not  on  a  solid  foundation,  but  on  the 
iron  girders  already  mentioned  (p.  162). 

165 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
present  to  keep  his  wits,  caught  hold  of  the  other  and  we 
shut  them  off.  Of  course  I  discovered  then  that  what 
had  happened  was  that  one  set  was  running  the  other  one 
as  a  motor.  I  then  put  up  a  long  shaft  connecting  all  the 
governors  together,  and  thought  this  would  certainly  cure 
the  trouble,  but  It  dldn5t.  The  torsion  of  the  shaft  was 
so  great  that  one  governor  still  managed  to  get  ahead  of 
the  others.  Then  I  went  to  Goerck  Street  \_L  e.9  to  the 
machine  works]  and  got  a  piece  of  shafting  and  a  tube  in 
which  It  fitted.  I  twisted  the  shaft  one  way  and  the  tube 
the  other  as  far  as  I  could  and  pinned  them  together.  In 
this  way?  by  straining  the  whole  outfit  up  to  Its  elastic 
limit  In  opposite  directions,  the  torsion  was  practically 
eliminated,  and  after  that  the  governors  ran  together  all 
right.5' 

Apparently  he  did  not,  however^  trust  this  makeshift. 
".  .  .  I  got  hold  of  Gardiner  C.  Sims,  and  he  undertook 
to  build  an  engine  to  run  at  350  revolutions  and  give 
175  horse-power.  He  went  back  to  Providence  and  set 
to  work  and  brought  the  engine  back  with  him.  It 
worked,  but  only  a  few  minutes,  when  it  busted.  That 
man  sat  around  that  shop  and  slept  in  it  for  three  weeks 
until  he  got  his  engine  right  and  made  it  work  the  way 
we  wanted  it  to.  When  he  reached  this  period  I  gave 
orders  for  the  works  to  run  night  and  day  until  we  got 
enough  engines,"  35 

On  September  4th,  I88£,  the  current  was  turned  on  for 
the  regular  distribution  of  light.  The  hour  was  three 
of  the  afternoon.  One  can  but  echo  the  comment  of 

35  For  long  thereafter  an  Annington-Sims  engine  was  invariably  an 
integral  part  of  an  Edison  dynamo  installation.  Sims  said:  "The  deep 
interest,  financial  and  moral,  and  friendly  backing  I  received  from 
Mr.  Edison,  together  with  valuable  suggestions,  enabled  me  to  bring 
out  the  engine.  .  .  .  Mr.  Edison  was  a  leader  far  ahead  of  the  time." 
.  .  .  (D.  and  M.,  I,  422.) 

166 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

"The  World5*  (New  York)  just  forty  years  later:  "The 
skyscraper  had  not  ascended  and  It  Is  a  bit  of  a  question 
just  why  the  lights  were  flashed  on  at  8  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  since  the  effect  then  could  not  have  been  so 
good  as  it  would  be  to-day  with  towering  structures  aid- 
ing the  lights  by  shutting  out  the  sunlight/5  Many  of 
those  identified  with  the  Edison  interests  were  on  hand* 
as  were  a  representative  of  the  Board  of  Fire  Under- 
writers; Joseph  Wetzler  of  the  "Electrical  World55  and 
"Scientific  American" ;  and  reporters  for  the  local  news- 
paper press.  Next  day  the  "World95  said:  "Most  of 
the  principal  stores  in  Fulton  Street  from  Nassau  Street 
to  the  East  River  were  last  evening  for  the  first  time 
lighted  by  electric  light.55  It  Is  claimed  for  Edison  that 
he  was  at  first  garbed  en  regie  for  the  occasion,  with 
"Prince  Albert,"  collar,  and  cravat;  but  apparently  at 
least  a  portion  of  this  apparel  had  been  cast  aside,  for 
the  "Sun's55  account  noted  his  "white,  high-crowned  derby 
and  collarless  shirt." 

Said  the  "New  York  Times95  of  September  5th: 
a.  .  .  It  was  not  until  about  7  o5elock,  when  it  began  to 
grow  dark,  that  the  electric  light  really  made  itself  known 
and  showed  how  bright  and  steady  it  Is.  Then  the  27 
electric  lamps  in  the  editorial  rooms  and  the  £5  lamps  in 
the  counting-rooms  made  those  departments  as  bright  as 
day,  but  without  any  unpleasant  glare.  It  was  a  light 
that  a  man  could  sit  down  under  and  write  for  hours 
without  the  consciousness  of  having  any  artificial  light 
about  him.  There  was  a  very  slight  amount  of  heat  from 
each  lamp,  but  not  nearly  as  much  as  from  a  gas-burner 
— one-fifteenth  as  much  as  from  gas,  the  inventor  says. 
The  light  was  soft,  mellow,  and  grateful  to  the  eye,  and  it 
seemed  almost  like  writing  by  daylight  to  have  a  light 
without  a  particle  of  flicker  and  with  scarcely  any  heat 

167 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
to  mate  the  head  ache.  The  electric  lamps  .  *  .  were  as 
thoroughly  tested  last  evening  as  any  light  could  be  tested 
in  a  single  evening,  and  tested  by  men  who  have  battered 
their  eyes  sufficiently  by  years  of  night  work  to  know  the 
good  and  bad  points  of  a  lamp,  and  the  decision  was  unan- 
imously in  favor  of  the  Edison  electric  lamp  as  against 


The  plant,  supplying  about  four  hundred  Iamps5  was  a 
demonstrated  success,  but  for  about  three  months  no 
charge  was  made  for  service.  The  lighting  of  the  Drexel 
building  "was  considered  a  real  achievement  because  of  its 
great  size.  It  was  equipped  with  106  lights.55  3€r  A  let- 
ter from  President  S,  B.  Eaton,  printed  in  the  "Sun"  of 
December  3rd,  stated:  "We  are  now  lighting  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety-three  buildings,  wired  for  forty-four 
hundred  lamps,  of  which  about  two-thirds  are  in  constant 
use."  .  *  .  By  the  spring  of  1884,  more  than  11,000 
lamps  were  in  circuit  and  the  number  of  "Jumbos'*  had 
been  increased  from  six  to  eleven.  Gradually  criticism 
from  the  die-hards  ceased  in  the  face  of  actual  perform- 
ance. The  station  continued  in  use  until  1895.  From 
beginning  to  end,  it  knew  no  pause  except  for  a  few  days 
in  January,  1890,  when  all  but  one  of  the  dynamos  were 
wrecked  by  fire  caused  by  a  heavy  short-circuit  on  one 
of  the  feeders.  The  four  Babcock  and  Wilcox  boilers 
were  uninjured  and  afterward  did  their  bit  in  the  Fifty- 
third  street  station  until  190Q. 

It  was  for  years  invariably  asserted  that  the  first  com- 
mercial Edison  station  in  the  United  States  was  that  at 
Appleton,  Wisconsin,  which*  so  it  was  said,  was  started 
on  August  15th,  1882;  and  some  writers,  eager  for  the 
glory  of  Pearl  street,  hastened  to  add  that  Appleton  had 
only  one  small  water-driven  dynamo  and  therefore  didn*t 

World,"  September  4»  1022. 
16S 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

count.  When  preparations  were  under  way  for  eele- 
feating  (1922)  forty  years  of  service  in  New  York, 
search  in  newspaper  files  revealed  the  fact  that  contem- 
porary accounts  fixed  September  30th  as  the  date  of 
Appleton's  beginning.37  It  remains  true,  however^  that 
the  Appleton  station  was  the  first  water-power  station  of 
the  Edison  system. 

On  October  18th?  1917,  exercises  were  held  at  the  elec- 
trical exposition  in  the  Grand  Central  Palace,  New  York* 
to  dedicate  a  bronze  tablet  that  later  was  placed  on  the 
building  at  257  Pearl  street.  The  tablet  was  set  up  nn- 
3er  the  joint  auspices  of  the  American  Scenic  and  His- 
toric Preservation  Society  and  of  the  New  York  Edison 
company,  successor  to  the  Edison  lUiiminating  company 
©f  New  York*  The  upper  third  of  the  tablet  is  occupied 
fey  a  bas-relief  (taken  directly  from  an  illustration  in  the 
^Scientific  American*5)  showing  the  dynamo-room  of  the 
station;  below,  is  this  inscription: 

1882  1917 

IN  A  BUILDING  ON  THIS  SITE  AN  ELECTRIC 

PLANT  SUPPLYING  THE  FIRST  EDISON 

UNDERGROUND  CENTRAL  STATION  SYSTEM 

IN  THIS  COUNTRY  AND  FORMING  THE  ORIGIN 

OF  NEW  YORK'S  PRESENT  ELECTRICAL  SYSTEM 

BEGAN  OPERATION  ON  SEPT.  4,  1882 
ACCORDING  TO  PLANS  CONCEIVED  AND 

EXECUTED  BY 

THOMAS  ALVA  EDISON 

TO  COMMEMORATE  AN  EPOCH-MAKING  EVERT 

THIS  TABLET  IS  ERECTED  BY 
THE  AMERICAN  SCENIC  AND  HISTORIC 

PRESERVATION  SOCIETY 
THE  NEW  YORK  EDISON  COMPANY 

Years,"  p.  30. 

169 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Other  very  early  stations  were  that  at  Sunbury,  Penn- 
sylvania, started  on  July  4th,  1883;  that  at  Brockton, 
Massachusetts,  started  on  October  1st,  1883;  and  those 
at  Lawrence,  Massachusetts,  and  at  Fall  River  in  the  same 
state,  started,  respectively.  In  November  and  December, 
1888.  The  Brockton  plant  had  underground  conduc- 
tors, for  the  reason  that  those  who  were  backing  it  had 
wise  thought  for  the  town's  beautiful  shade-trees  and  were 
determined  to  preserve  them  from  the  ruthless  trimming 
accompanying  overhead  wires.  It  would  have  been  weE 
if  more  towns  had  been  thus  guarded.  For  some  time 
this  plant  was  considered  a  "show"  installation  of  the 
Edison  system;  and  both  the  first  fire-engine  house  and 
the  first  theater  to  be  lit  from  an  incandescent-lighting 
central  station,  were  in  Brockton.  The  Sunbury  plant 
had  pole-line  construction,  and  here  was  first  used  the 
athree-wire  system,5'  invented  independently  and  at  al- 
most the  same  time  by  Edison  and  Dr.  John  Hopkinson 
of  England.38  For  direct-current  installations  of  any 
size,  this  system  is  to-day  in  practically  universal  use. 

This  is  the  general  idea  of  it :  There  are  two  generators, 
®ach  of  them  turning  out  current  at  110  volts ;  and  when 
these  generators  are  connected  in  series,  the  main  circuit 
has  a  potential  of  220  volts.  Now,  with  this  arrange- 
ment, two  standard  110-volt  lamps  may  be  used  on  each 
individual  lamp  circuit;  the  two  together  requiring  no 
more  current  than  would  be  taken  by  one  lamp  on  the 
original  multiple-arc  system.  In  order,  however,  that  in 
any  series  of  two  lamps  the  turning  out  of  one  may  not 
involve  the  other  (as  it  would  do  in  a  two-wire  system), 
a  compensating  conductor,  known  as  the  "neutral  wire,"  is 

ss  Fleming,  "Fifty  Years  of  Electricity/*  p.  226.  The  Sunbury  in- 
stallation has  quite  mistakenly  been  called  "the  world's  first  electric 
light  plant"  (See  the  "Herald  Tribune**  of  August  22, 

170 


"EBISOS  SYSTEM'1 

employed.  This  in  effect  produces  a  system  with  two  sides 
(positive  and  negative)  or  two  main  circuits  combined 
in  one,  the  "neutraP  serving  at  once  as  the  outgoing 
conductor  of  one  circuit  and  the  return  conductor  of  the 
other.  When  all  lamps  are  burning  on  all  lamp-circuits* 
perfect  balance  exists  between  the  two  sides  and  the  third 
(or  central)  conductor  is  truly  neutral*  But  if  a  lamp 
on  one  side  or  the  other  be  turned  out,  balance  is  forth- 
with destroyed;  that  is5  although  no  other  lamp  is  af- 
fected, there  is  an  excess  of  current,  and  that  excess  flows 
back  via  the  "neutral"  to  the  generator.  If  the  extin- 
guished lamp  is  on  the  positive  side  of  the  system,  the 
aneutraP  becomes  the  negative  of  that  side;  if  the  lamp 
is  on  the  negative  side  of  the  system,  the  "neutral"  be- 
comes the  positive  of  that  side.  Three-wire  distribution 
represents  a  marked  economy  over  any  preceding  method. 
The  saving  in  copper  is  very  large,  as  will  be  easily  ap- 
preciated when  it  is  pointed  out  that  the  doubling  of 
potential,  rendered  possible  by  three-wire  mains,  permits 
the  two  outside  wires  to  be  of  one-fourth  the  cross-section 
demanded  by  a  two-wire  system. 

Other  "firsts'9  of  Edison  incandescent-lighting  history 
may  have  sufficient  interest  to  be  noted  here : 

— The  first  church  to  be  illuminated  was  the  City  Tem- 
ple, London,  of  which  Dr.  Joseph  Parker  was  pastor. 
This  was  lit  from  the  Holborn  Viaduct  station.  William 
J.  Hammer,  chief  engineer,  has  commented  on  the  pleased 
surprise  expressed  by  Doctor  Parker  and  others  con- 
nected with  the  church  as  to  the  improvement  in  tem- 
perature when  incandescent  lamps  took  the  place  of  gas- 
jets  (1882). 

— The  first  commercial  house  to  use  the  new  light,  was 
that  of  Hinds  and  Ketcham,  New  York  lithographers,  for 
whom  an  isolated  plant  was  installed  in  January,  3,881. 

171 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
The  firm  was  thus  enabled  to  do  color-printing  at  night. 

— The  first  electric  sign  was  designed  and  built  by  W. 
J.  Hammer  for  the  Crystal  Palace  Electrical  Exposition* 
London,  in  1882.  This  ssign  spelled  EDISON  in  elec- 
tric lights  above  the  organ  in  the  concert-hall.  Hammer 
also  built  the  first  automatic  motor-driven  electric  sign5 
which  flashed  EDISON  letter  by  letter  and  as  a  whole  on 
the  Edison  pavilion  at  the  Health  Exhibition  in  Berlin  in 
1888. 

— The  first  electrolier  was  one  placed  in  F.  B.  Upton's 
house  at  Menlo  in  1880. 

— The  first  hotel  plant  was  that  started  in  the  Blue 
Mountain  House  on  Blue  Mountain  Lake  in  the  Adiroa- 
dacks  in  October,  1881.  At  that  time  the  hotel  was  about 
forty  miles  from  the  railway.  It  has  also  been  stated  that 
the  first  electric  lamp  used  in  an  elevator  was  placed  in 
a  car  at  the  Blue  Mountain  House  on  July  13th?  1882. 

— The  first  newspaper  office  to  employ  the  light  was 
that  of  the  "Herald/5  in  which  had  appeared  Marshall 
Fox's  article. 

— The  first  theater  to  abandon  gas  was  the  Bijou  in 
Boston.  An  isolated  plant  was  ready  for  the  opening  of 
this  house  on  December  12th,  1882,  when  the  attraction 
was  the  Gilbert  and  Sullivan  opera  "lolanthe." 

— The  first  steam  yacht  to  be  equipped  (early  in  1882) 
was  James  Gordon  Bennett's  "Namouna." 

• — The  first  United  States  Government  steamer  to  carry 
a  plant  was  the  Fish  Commission's  "Albatross"  (1883)* 

— The  first  permanent  station  on  the  continent  of  Eu- 
rope was  that  opened  at  Milan,  Italy,  on  March  3rd* 
1883. 

— The  first  South  American  station  was  that  put  in 
operation  at  Santiago,  Chile,  in  the  summer  of  1883. 

—The  first  bill  collected  by  the  Edison  Electric  &- 

172 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

laminating  company  of  New  York  was  for  $50.40  from 
the  Ansonia  Brass  and  Copper  company  of  17-19  Cliff 
street,  on  January  18th,  1883.  That  lighting  compa- 
nies5 bills  were  by  later  custom  somewhat  more  promptly 
rendered,  is  indicated  by  this  paragraph  from  the  "New 
York  TribuneV5  editorial  page  of  February  ilnd,  1924: 
aOn  January  81  Edison's  birthplace  was  lighted  for  the 
first  time  with  electricity,  and  undoubtedly  in  the  Feb- 
ruary 1  mail  was  the  first  electric  light  bill.55 

— The  first  quarterly  dividend  of  that  company  was  of 
1  per  cent,  and  was  paid  on  August  1st,  1885. 

It  would  be  an  error  to  suppose  that  the  introduction  of 
incandescent  lighting  was  a  whirlwind  affair.  Far  from 
it.  There  was  an  immense  public  curiosity  about  the 
light,  as  there  had  been  about  the  phonograph.  Its  su- 
periorities— for  interior  uses  at  any  rate — to  arc  lighting 
and  to  gas  were  reasonably  apparent  and  in  due  time  gen- 
erally admitted.  But  it  had  to  contend  against  several 
things.  First,  of  course,  was  mass  inertia.  In  a  news- 
paper interview  in  1923,39  Edison  smilingly  said  (refer- 
ring not  to  his  lighting  system  but  to  his  advocacy  of 
turning  coal  into  power  at  the  mines  instead  of  transport- 
ing it),  ".  .  .  You  know  it  takes  from  seven  to  forty 
years  to  put  an  idea  over  on  the  public.  Even  a  self- 
evident  proposition  requires  about  ten  years.55  Then 
there  was  the  natural  opposition  of  the  gas  and  arc  light- 
ing industries.  ".  .  .  Forty  years  ago,"  wrote  Martin 
in  1922,40  "electric  lighting  'systems/  spawning  in  reck- 
less profusion,  were  usually  based  on  some  minor  changes 
in  the  arc  lamp  or  the  dynamo.  .  .  .  The  new  arc  light- 
ing companies  cluttered  up  the  stock  exchanges  with  their 
securities,  and  the  work  shops  with  casual  jobs  making 

sa  "The  World,"  October  18. 
40  "Forty  Years,*'  p.  7. 

'173 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
and  repairing  their  machinery.  It  was  a  6halcyon  time* 
while  the  boom  lasted.  At  one  period^  the  Electrical 
World  carried  the  advertising  of  nearly  fifty  arc  lighting 
^systems,3  ^  More  than  that,  a  large  number  of  local 
companies  had  been  organized;  and  in  only  too  many 
cases  where  contracts  and  franchises  were  sought  and 
given,  had  arisen  those  anti-social  alliances  between  self- 
ish business-men  and  venal  politicians  that  long  were 
viewed  with  complacence  by  the  majority  of  American 
citizens  and  made  American  municipal  government  an  in- 
ternational byword. 

Now?  the  incandescent  system  was  to  find  its  true  and 
logical  beginnings  in  central-station  distribution  in  the 
more  thickly  populated  communities.  To  this  end?  local 
ordinances  had  to  be  passed,  franchises  had  to  be  obtained^ 
and  capital  had  to  be  interested  in  the  system's  possibili- 
ties, Thus  was  aroused  a  whole  brood  of  animosities,  the 
vigor  of  which  may  be  indicated  by  the  assertion  of  Dyer 
and  Martin  41  that  when  in  1885  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association  was  formed,  "its  organizers  were  the 
captains  of  arc  lighting,  and  not  a  single  Edison  com- 
pany or  licensee  could  be  found  in  its  ranks,  or  dared  to 
solicit  membership." 

The  gas  industry  was  equally  resentful  —  more  so,  per- 
haps, if  resentment  were  to  be  gauged  by  the  amount  of 
capital  invested.42  The  arc-lamp  had  cut  into  the  gas- 
man's open-air  service.  It  had  even  in  some  instances 
supplanted  gas  for  the  lighting  of  indoor  areas  of  un- 
common size.  This  was  bad  but  not  so  very  bad,  because 
it  left  to  the  gas-man  the  entire  domain  of  ordinary  in- 
terior lighting.  Into  this  domain  came  the  upstart  pear- 


and  M.,  I,  351. 

42  in  1879  the  world's  gas  investment  was  estimated  at  9  1,500,000,000. 
(See  "Forty  Years,"  p.  11.) 

174 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

shaped  bulb  with  Its  frail-looking  filament  and  its  irri- 
tating friends  witli  their  way  of  pointing  out  that  it  didn5i 
produce  flicker  or  flare  and  didn't  require  a  match.  That 
was  too  much  for  the  gas-man.  Fortunately,  it  seems 
never  to  have  occurred  to  the  gas-man  to  try  to  get  con- 
trol of  incandescent  electric  lighting;  fortunately,  be- 
cause, had  this  industry  been  his,  one  may  be  almost  cer- 
tain that  he  would  have  done  his  best  to  side-track  or 
stifle  it  and  thus  have  delayed  yet  longer  the  benefits  it 
offered. 

As  time  passed,  a  prediction  was  verified  that  Edison 
had  jotted  down  in  one  of  his  series  of  laboratory  note- 
books. In  places  where  gas  plants  existed,  the  use  of 
gas  was  greatly  extended.  Gas  found  domestic  employ- 
ment not  in  lighting  (gas  lighting  became  obsolescent 
and  new  installations  of  it  were  not  made)  but  for  cooking 
and  heating.  New  devices  were  developed  for  it.  To- 
tal gas  consumption  was  not  diminished  but  increased. 
In  city  after  city  (as  in  New  York,  in  the  case  of  the 
Consolidated  Gas  company)  gas  and  electric  interests  were 
united,  and  the  applications  of  both  electricity  and  gas 
were  set  before  the  public  by  well-managed  methods  of 
educational  publicity.  Furthermore,  such  gas  lighting 
as  continued  to  be  used  was  greatly  improved  as  to  bril- 
liance and  steadiness  by  the  Welsbach  burner,  the  inven- 
tion of  Dr.  Auer  von  Welsbach  of  Vienna.  This  burner, 
which  incidentally  effected  an  economy  in  gas,  allowed 
the  gas  flame  to  play  upon  a  mantle  of  rare  earths. 

As  for  arc-lighting  in  any  industrial  sense,  it  "folded 
its  tents  like  the  Arabs."  Save  for  occasional  small- 
town installations,  high-power  incandescent  lamps  more 
and  more  crowded  arc  lamps  from  even  the  outdoor  field* 
The  arc  came  to  have  its  uses  chiefly  in  apparatus  for 
projecting  motion-pictures,  and  for  searchlights  in  mill- 

175 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
%axy  field-units,  in  coast  defenses,  and  on  naval  vessels. 
The  ban  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  was 
long  since  lifted  and  forgotten.  Of  all  these  "nearly 
fifty*5  arc  "systems95  of  yesteryear  ?  not  one  remains.  The 
incandescent-lighting  companies  supply  current  for  arc- 
lamps.43  Rivalry  has  ceased  because  one  of  the  rivals 
has  ££as  utterly  vanished  from  the  scene  as  the  dinosaur 
and  the  dodo.**  Moreover,  the  arc-lamp  has  itself  been 
much  modified  and  thoroughly  improved. 

On  September  4th,  1882,  the  Edison  Electric  Illumi- 
nating company  of  New  York  was  lighting  about  four 
hundred  lamps  for  a  handful  of  customers.  On  June 
SOth,  19225  the  New  York  Edison  company  (successor) 
was  lighting  933875114<  incandescent  lamps  for  813,521 
customers — to  say  nothing  of  current  supplied  for  arc 
lamps,  motors^  heating  appliancess  storage-battery  charg- 
ing, and  so  forth.44  In  1922  no  less  than  14?000  com- 
munities in  the  United  States  were  being  served  by  cen- 
tral stations  and  municipal  plants  having  113500S000 
customers  with  an  average  of  32.65  incandescent  lamps  a 
customer — making  a  total  of  37554755000  lamps.  These 
plants  also  furnished  energy  for  prime  movers  having  a 
combined  horsepower  of  235000?000.45  (It  is  perhaps 
worth  adding  that  the  coal  consumed  to  produce  electric 
energy  for  domestic  lighting  amounted  to  but  approxi- 
mately one-third  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  country's  total 
annual  coal  production.)  The  investment  in  plant  and 
equipment  was  valued  at  $5,100,000,000. 

The  " Jumbos55  of  Pearl  street,  driven  by  high-speed 
engines,  would  each  take  care  of  1,200  Edison  standard 

43  On  June  30,  1922,  the  New  York  Edison  company  had  om  circuit 
12,882  arc-lamps. 

^Company's  figures,  "Forty  Years,"  p.  175, 
-45  Figures  of  the  Society  for  Electrical  Development. 

176 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

16-candlepower  lamps — in  an  emergency,  15750.  TMs 
would  give,  at  the  maximunij  168,000  candlepower  for  the 
six  original  machines.  On  May  12th,  1924,  the  Brook- 
lyn Edison  company  put  Into  service  the  first  of  four  50,- 
000-MIowatt 4>Q  turbo-generators  with  which  Its  Hudsom 
avenue  station  (on  the  East  river «»  between  Hudson  ave- 
nue and  the  Navy  Yard)  was  to  be  equipped.  It  was  es- 
timated that  each  of  the  units,  when  operated  at  full  ca- 
pacity5  would  light  2,000,000  25-watt  lamps  or  500,000 
100-watt  lamps.  This  would  give  a  total  of  50,000,000 
watts ;  and  since  a  tungsten  lamp  yields  from  0.80  to  1.00 
candles  per  watt,  would  mean  from  40,000,000  to  50,000S- 

000  eandlepower.4^     The  complete  installation  contem- 
plated an  eventual  total  of  eight  generators. 

All  these  later  figures  patently  testify  to  a  triumphant 
growth  and  will  readily  enough  impress  the  average 
American,  always  likely  to  be  impressed  by  the  mere  idea 
of  super-bigness.  What  the  average  American  perhaps 
needs  to  have  stressed  with  respect  to  these  figures  and 
this  growth.  Is  the  rock  out  of  which  they  were  hewn,  the 
pit  out  of  which  they  were  digged.  Referring  to  the 
pioneer  days  of  the  Edison  system.  Major  Eaton  remi- 
niscently  declared ;  "In  looking  back  on  those  days  and 
scrutinizing  them  through  the  years,  I  am  impressed  by 
the  greatness,  the  solitary  greatness  I  may  say,  of  Mr* 
Edison.  We  all  felt  then  that  we  were  of  importance, 
find  that  our  contributions  of  effort  and  zeal  were  vital* 

1  can  see  now,  however,  that  the  best  of  us  was  nothing 

46 A  kilowatt  equals  1,000  watts;  50,000  kilowatts  would  be  the 
equivalent  of  67,000  horsepower. 

47  "Year  Book,  1923"  of  the  Brooklyn  Edison  company,  pp.  21-22; 
The  New  York  Times,"  May  13,  1924,;  "The  World,"  same  date.  The 
units  of  this  generating  plant,  like  those  of  other  waterside  stations* 
are  driven  by  low-speed  steam  turbines* 

m 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WOBK 
But  the  fly  on  the  wheel."  48  It  was  Edison  who  enunci- 
ated the  general  principles  In  accordance  with  which  the 
whole  electric  central-station  industry  was  to  grow.  On 
the  art  made  possible  by  a  very  £[ood  of  Edison  inven- 
tions, that  industry  was  soundly  based.  That  the  art  has 
undergone  numerous  modifications,  the  industry  seen 
many  changes  of  practice,  are  matters  of  course  when  one 
considers  the  swift  march  of  electrical  science,  the  aggre- 
gate talent  continuously  devoted  to  improvement  and 
progress.  But  the  elements  remain  as  Edison  left  them, 
both  in  his  lamp  and  in  his  scheme  of  distribution  ;  and 
those  early  dynamos,  though  they  have  become  things  of 
curiosity,  exhibits  for  museums,  nevertheless  for  the  first 
time  established  certain  fundamentals  that  but  live  more 
fully  in  the  great  machines  of  to-day. 

On  May  6th,  1915,  the  Civic  Forum,  New  York,  pre- 
sented to  Edison  its  medal  for  public  service.  In  an  ad- 
dress delivered  on  that  occasion,49  Richard  C.  Maclaurin 
of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  said: 
".  „  .  You  recognize  that  he  laid  the  foundations  for  the 
design  of  central  power  stations  and  that  his  Pearl  Street 
Station  was  a  landmark  in  the  history  of  science.  .  .  . 
The  three-wire  distribution,  the  system  of  feeders  enter- 
ing the  network  of  mains  at  different  points,  the  under- 
ground conductor  system,  the  bus  system  in  stations,50  the 
innumerable  accessories  of  switches,  fuses,  meters,  etc., 
that  he  provided  are  each  achievements  that  would  make 
the  fame  of  any  individual." 

The  years  1879—  1883  inclusive  constituted  the  great 


and  M.,  II,  719-720. 

*s  The  address,  "Mr.  Edison's  Service  for  Science,"  may*  b©  found  in 
•"Science"  for  June  4,  1915,  pp.  813-815. 

so  Bus-bars  ("bus"  from  "omnibus")  are  devices  by  which  current  is 
led  from  the  generators  to  the  switchboards* 

178 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

productive  period  of  Edison*s  career  as  an  inventor9  with 
1832  the  peak  year.51  This  lustrum  included  that  whole 
prodigious  group  of  labors  on  the  incandescent  electric 
lamp  and  In  distributing,  regulating,  and  measuring  elec- 
tric current.  Within  its  limits  also  fell  Edison9s  experi- 
ments (treated  of  elsewhere  in  this  volume)  as  a  pioneer  of 
electric  traction,  and  his  inYention  of  the  magnetic  ore 
separator  upon  which  he  was  in  time  to  base  (as  we  shall 
see)  a  notable  adventure  in  engineering.  So  filled  were 
these  years  with  laboratory  work,  so  active  with  the  solv- 
ing of  manufacturing  problems,  so  busied  with  the  intro- 
duction of  the  new  system,  that  it  was  thought  necessary 
to  take  the  chance  of  letting  patent-rights  go  undefended. 
Defense,  when  finally  taken  up,  involved  a  series  of  long- 
contested  and  costly  suits. 

Roughly  speaking,  from  1885  to  1901  the  Edison  Elec- 
tric Lighting  company,  owner  of  the  Edison  patents, 
spent  upward  of  two  million  dollars  in  prosecuting  more 
than  two  hundred  lawsuits  brought  against  persons  who 
were  infringing  upon  many  of  the  patent-rights  of  Edi- 
son on  the  incandescent  electric  lamp  and  component 
parts  of  his  system.52  "I  fought  for  the  lamp  for  four- 
teen years,59  declared  Edison,  "and  when  I  finally  won  my 
rights  there  were  but  three  years  of  the  allotted  seventeen 
left  for  my  patent  to  live.  Now  it  has  become  the  prop- 
erty of  anybody  and  everybody/*  The  lamp  patent  was 
issued  to  Edison  on  January  37th,  1880.  Not  until 
October  4th,  189$,  or  slightly  more  than  twelve  years  and 
eight  months  after  the  issuance  of  the  patent,  did  a  United 

si  In  D.  and  M^  T»  140-141,  it  is  stated  that  141  patents  were  applied 
for  in  that  year.  The  list  on  pp.  952-956  records  the  execution  of  10f 
applications.  Several  other  inventions  were  kept  as  "trade  secrets,"  TO 
patents  being  sought  for  them. 

52 IX  and  M*  II,  720-721;  Joaes,  p.  122. 

179 


EDISON;  THE  MAN  AND  HIS 

Circuit  Court  of  Appeals,  in  a  suit  against  the 
United  Electric  Lighting  company*  file  a  decision 

in  which  the  patent  was  sustained.  Nor  did  this  deci- 
sion and  the  subsequent  injunctions  put  an  end  to  the 
pirates*  for  infringing  companies  thereupon  asserted  the 
priority,  with  respect  to  the  lamp,  of  Henry  Goebel,  a 
New  York  watchmaker  who,  it  was  absurdly  ckimed*  had 
a  practical  incandescent  lamp  previous  to  1854! ** 
In  New  York  a  Federal  judge  sustained  the  Edison  pat- 
oat,  stating  in  his  opinion  that  on  the  basis  ©f  the  evi- 
dence awhatever  Goebel  did  must  be  considered  as  an 
abandoned  experiment59  In  St.  Louis,  howeYer*  a  Fed- 
eral judge  faled  to  sustain  it  'That  adverse  decision  at 
St.  Louis,"  once  commented  Major  Eaton,  "would  never 
have  been  made  if  the  court  could  have  seen  the  men  who 
swore  for  GoebeL*  54  Edison  is  himself  authority  for  the 
statement 6S  that  he  "never  enjoyed  any  benefits* ?  from 
Ms  lamp  patents. 

The  year  1889,  in  which  Edison  and  Ms  associates  sold 
out  their  manufacturing  interests  to  the  Edison.  General 
Electric  company,  a  syndicate  headed  by  Henry  ViUardj 
marked  virtually  the  end  of  what  may  be  called  the  in- 
ventor's incandescmt-lighting  phase.  Villard*  in  Ms 
"Memoirs,"  m  thus  tells  the  story  of  how  the  Edk«  Gen- 
eral Electric  company  was  formed: 

"Mr.  ViHard  took  a  strong  interest  in  electric  lighting 

« In  much  the  same  way,  Daniel  Drawbaugh  of  Eberly's  Mffis  (near 
Hanislrarg),  Penmyiwnia,  claimed  that  he  liad  anticipate  the  tel- 
epigone. 

**D.  and  M,9  II,  m 

wlk,  716. 

M  Chapter  ytii  of  this  work  (2  vols.»  Boston,  1904)  wm  written  fcj 
V«sra  in  the  tMrd  person,  and  it  is  from  that  chapter  that  liese  wwis 
are  qzQitd  (pp.  325-32S), 

im 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

from  Its  earliest  stages.  He  was  one  of  the  first  stock- 
holders and  a  director  of  the  original  Edison  Light  Com- 
pany/7 which  had  acquired  the  patents  for  the  incandes- 
cent lamp.  His  faith  in  the  incalculable  value  of  the  in- 
vention wass  like  that  of  most  of  his  fellow-stockholders, 
so  great  that  he  did  not  dispose  of  his  holdings  even  when 
the  sharesj  on  the  par  value  of  one  hundred  dollars  of 
which  only  thirty  per  cent,  had  been  paid  in5  rose  to  four 
thousand.  In  Berlin  he  had  become  acquainted  with 
Werner  Siemens,  the  eminent  German  discoverer  and  in- 
ventor in  the  electrical  field5  and  head  of  the  great  firm 
of  Siemens  &  Halske,  and  also  with  the  parties  managing 
and  controlling  the  General  Electricity  Company  of  Ber- 
lin,  which  has  since  grown  into  the  principal  electrical 
manufacturing  and  contracting  company  in  Germany. 
He  proposed  to  them  and  to  his  syndicate,  before  his  re- 
turn to  New  York,  that  they  should  join  with  him  and 
enter  the  electrical  business  in  the  United  States  by  an 
alliance  with  existing  American  interests.  .  .  .  He  ma- 
tured a  scheme  for  the  absorption  of  all  the  Edison  Light 
and  Manufacturing  Companies  into  a  new  corporation, 
with  sufficient  fresh  capital  for  manufacturing  electrical 
apparatus  on  a  large  scale.  Out  of  this  grew  the  Edison 
General  Electric  Company,  organized  in  April9  1889, 
with  a  capital  of  $12,000,000,  of  which  he  and  the  Ger- 
man parties  named  held  over  one  half.  He  became  presi- 
dent of  it  and  remained  such  until  the  summer  of 


In  1884  Edison's  first  wife  had  died,  and  in  1886  he 

«7  1.  e.s  the  Edison  Electric  Light  company. 

s&The  company  was  consolidated  with  tbe  Brush  aaicl  Thomsoji- 
Hottston  interests,  and  Villard,  disapproving  of  this  step,  retrod  f  rom 
the  presidency. 

181 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS 
had  married  Miss  Mina  Miller,  daughter  of  the  Lewis 
Miller  already  mentioned  (Chapter  IX)  as  one  of  the 
originators  of  the  "Cliautauqua  movement.33  In  1887 
he  left  Menlo  Park  and  established  at  West  Orange,,  New 
Jersey^  a  model  laboratory  around  which,  as  a  centers 
grew  up  various  manufacturing  enterprises  of  his. 
Close  at  hand,  in  the  residential  section  known  as  Llewel- 
lyn Park,  he  purchased  the  three-story  mansion  "Glen- 
mont,"  set  in  beautiful  grounds  and  of  that  much  be- 
gabled  and  rather  ornate  style  that  Americans  with  no 
good  reason  term  "Queen  Anne.?> 

When,  in  the  spring  of  1924,  the  writer  visited  Menlo, 
lie  found  a  farmer  with  a  tractor  plowing  neighboring 
fields;  near  the  station,  a  factory  of  keramic  tiles;  traf- 
fic passing  on  the  Lincoln  Highway.  A  dwelling  or  two 
lingered  from  Edison's  day.  Part  of  the  west  wall  of  the 
old  brick  machine-shop  stood  windowless  and  forlorn.  A 
rotting  car-truck  with  rusted  wheels  was  settling  into 
the  earth;  and  amidst  the  bushes  one  might  detect  the 
low  embankment  where  Edison's  electric-traction  line 
had  run.  Fire,  the  wrecker,  and  the  tooth  of  Time 
had  left  little  else  to  remind  one  of  the  Park's  decade  of 
fame. 

On  May  16th,  19S5,  a  memorial  was  dedicated  at 
Menlo  under  the  auspices  of  the  Edison  Pioneers  and 
the  Association  of  Edison  Illuminating  companies.  The 
dedication  exercises  included  speeches  by  George  S.  Sil- 
zer,  governor  of  New  Jersey,  and  Dr.  John  G.  Hibben, 
president  of  Princeton  University.  Mrs.  Edison  unveiled 
the  memorial.,  which  faces  the  Lincoln  Highway  59  and  is 
in  the  form  of  a  bronze  tablet  inset  in  a  boulder  of  native 

B9  It  stands  near  the  site  of  the  house  Edison  occupied,  and  on  prop- 
erty held  by  the  Edison  Pioneers* 

182 


"EDISON  SYSTEM" 

granite.     The  tablet  carries  a  medallion  portrait  of  Edi- 
son and  an  inscription  that  reads  thus: 

ON  THIS  SITE 
1876-1882 

THOMAS  ALVA  EDISON 

BEGAN  HIS  WORK 
OF  SERVICE  FOR  THE  WORLD 

TO  ILLUMINE  THE  PATH  OF  PROGRESS 

AND 

LIGHTEN  LABOR  FOR  MANKIND 

THIS  TABLET  IS  PLACED  BY  THE 

EDISON  PIONEERS  TO  ATTEST  THE 

GRATITUDE  OF  THE  INDUSTRIES 

HE  DID  SO  MUCH  TO  CREATE 

DEDICATED  MENLO  PARK,  N.  J. 

MAY  16,  1925 


XII 

THE  MOTION-PICTURE  CAMERA; 

MAGNETIC  OEE-MILLING 

Edison  first  purchased  land  in  West  Orange — in 
a  region  then  half  rural,  with  open  stretches  of  meadow — 
he  was  but  forty,  though  already  for  ten  years  and  more 
he  had  been  known  to  familiars  .as  "The  Old  Man.55  His 
cellar  laboratory  in  the  Port  Huron  house  had  two  hun- 
dred bottles  labeled  POISON.  The  Menlo  Park  labora- 
tory had  been  well  enough  equipped  for  its  purposes  and 
needs.  A  new  mark  was  set  not  alone  for  Edison  but  for 
the  world  by  the  West  Orange  laboratory,  with  its  com- 
prehensive special  research  library  and  its  marvellous 
stock-room,  wherein  might  be  found  quantities  of  almost 
every  sort  of  material  that  could  possibly  be  needed  in 
experimenting.  To  J.  Hood  Wright  of  the  Drexel- 
Morgan  firm,  Edison,  when  the  laboratory  was  almost 
completed,  wrote  of  an  ^ambition  to  build  up  a  great  in- 
dustrial works  in  the  Orange  Valley,  starting  in  a  small 
way  and  ^gradually  working  up." 

The  first  important  work  in  this  new  environment  was 
the  revival  and  development  of  the  phonograph  (previ- 
ously referred  to,  in  Chapter  IX).  Up  to  1890,  the 
^Improved"  or  wax-cylinder  type  was  being  evolved 
and,  with  its  blank  cylinders,  commercially  introduced. 
.Thenceforward  for  many  years,  other  affairs  were  not  so 
engrossing  but  that  Edison  would  return  to  the  phono- 
graph and  its  associated  problems  and  occasionally  de- 

184 


MOTION-PICTURE   CAMERA 

vote  to  them  periods  of  intensive  effort  akin  In  spirit  to 
the  incandescent-lighting  era  at  Menlo. 

In  the  year  In  which  he  went  to  West  Orange — 1887 
— Edison,  according  to  his  own  statement^1  first  began 
to  consider  the  possibility  of  an  instrument  that,  as  he 
put  it,  "should  do  for  the  eye  what  the  phonograph  does 
for  the  ear."  By  the  summer  of  1889  he  had  made  such 
an  instrument*  His  application  for  a  United  States  pat- 
ent on  it  was  filed  on  August  24th,  1891.  The  patent 
was  not  issued  until  a  trifle  over  six  years  later — on  Au- 
gust 31st,  1897.2  He  called  this  instrument  the  "kineto- 
graphic  camera95  or  "kinetograph" — that  iss  a  mechani- 
cal device  that  made  a  graphic  record  of  movement. 

The  Mnetograph  depended  on  a  phenomenon  with 
which  students  had  long  been  acquainted:  visual  persis- 
tence or  persistence  of  vision.  In  other  words,  scientists 
had  made  intelligent  note  of  the  fact  that  an  object  con- 
tinues to  be  seen  by  the  human  eye  for  an  appreciable 
time  after  the  object  has  been  withdrawn,  when  the  rays 
of  light  from  it  no  longer  strike  the  retina.  Common 
examples  of  this  fact  were  constantly  being  presented  to 
unphilosophic  minds  in  the  so-called  flash  of  lightning.,  the 
bright  trail  of  a  meteorite,  or  the  fiery  line  described 
by  the  glowing  end  of  a  friction  match  swung  rapidly 
in  a  dark  room.  Another  example  was  furnished  bj 
the  varied  forms — three,  at  least — of  an  apparatus  in 
which  the  unphilosophic  mind,  after  the  fashion  of  Peter 
Bell  and  the  primrose,  saw  an  amusing  toy  and  nothing 
more. 

These  three  forms,  often  confused,  were  the  thauma- 
trope,  the  phenakistoscope,  and  the  zoetrope.  In  the 

1  D.  and  M.»  II,  587. 

2  It  was  later  reissued  in  two  parts,  dated  respectively  September  3% 
1902,  and  January  12,  1&04. 

185 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WOEK 
tiaaumatrope  of  X  A.  F.  Plateau,  Belgian  physicist,  two 
plcturesj  either  of  different  objects  or  of  different  por- 
tions of  the  same  object,  were  placed  at  opposite  points 
on  the  circumference  of  a  disc ;  and  when  the  disc  was  re- 
volved* by  the  unwinding  of  a  string  or  otherwise,  the 
optical  images  of  the  two  pictures  would  be  blended,  so 
that  the  effect  was  as  if  both  pictures  were  being  seen  at 
once.  In  the  phenakistoscope,  two  discs  were  attached 
at  their  centers  to  a  common  axis — one  disc  having  at 
fixed  intervals  on  its  inner  surface  a  series  of  pictures  il- 
lustrating successive  phases  of  motion,  the  other  (and 
larger)  disc  being  pierced  with  a  corresponding  series  of 
narrow  radial  openings*  When  the  apparatus  was  held 
before  a  suitable  mirror  and  the  two  discs  were  swiftly  re- 
volved on  their  axis,  each  picture  would  be  seen  reflected 
for  but  an  instant  and  the  pictures  would  all  blend  into  a 
semblance  of  continuous  movement.  In  the  zoetrope,,  a 
cylinder  about  seven  inches  in  height,  from  eight  to  ten 
inches  in  diameter,  had  around  the  lower  part  of  its  in- 
ner surface  a  series  of  pictures  like  that  on  the  smaller 
disc  of  the  phenakistoscope,  and  the  upper  part  of  its  cir- 
cumference pierced  with  slits.  When  the  cylinder  was 
swiftly  twirled,  each  visual  impression  in  turn  persisted, 
with  the  result  that  the  impressions  so  overlapped  as  to 
give  the  observer  an  illusion  of  motion.  This  form  was 
sometimes  called  "the  wheel  of  life." 

These  things  were  indeed  toys,  like  the  kite  and  the 
spinning  top;  but  like  top  and  kite,  they  offered  a 
starting-point  for  many  interesting  speculations.  The 
pictures  were  rather  crude  line-cuts,  poorly  printed. 
4The  method  of  observing  them  was  faulty.  Nevertheless, 
possibilities  were  there  suggested.  They  set  Edison 
thinking. 

He  has  also  specifically  mentioned  his  indebtedness  to 

,136 


MOTION-PICTURE   CAMERA 

two  experimenters  who,  in  the  face  of  difficult  conditions^ 
accomplished  much  of  fundamental  value.3  The  first  was 
E.  J.  Marey  of  Prance,  who  devised  the  photochrono- 
graph  and  with  it  made  graphic  analyses  of  running, 
swimming,  and  walking;  showed  just  how  a  falling  cat 
manages  to  land  on  its  feet;  conducted,  in  fact,  a  whole 
train  of  scientific  inquiries**  some  of  the  results  of  which 
he  published  in  a  volume  that  appeared  in  English  under 
the  title  "Movement'5  (International  Scientific  series). 
The  second  was  Eadweard  Muybridge,  pioneer  in  the 
United  States  in  the  rapid  photography  of  animal  mo- 
tion. Muybridge  originally  took  up  this  study  because 
of  a  wager  with  Leland  Stanford  of  California.  Stan- 
ford said  that  a  trotting  horse  at  one  brief  stage  in  its 
progress  completely  left  the  ground.  In  order  to  arrest 
and  examine  the  phases  of  movement  of  a  trotter  in  ac- 
tion, Muybridge  hit  on  the  idea  of  placing  alongside  a 
track  a  row  of  cameras  so  arranged  that  the  horse,  as  it 
passed,  would  release  the  shutters  by  breaking  strings 
attached  to  them  and  stretched  across  its  pathway.  Muy- 
bridge later  photographed  the  gallop  of  dogs,  the  flight 
of  birds,  the  performances  of  athletes.4  It  is  stated  that 
some  of  the  exposures  were  for  but  1/5,000  of  a  second. 
From  his  negatives  Muybridge  made  positives  that  could 
be  exhibited  by  means  of  what  was  styled  a  "zoogyro- 
scope."  He  mounted  them  on  a  cylinder  so  as  to  form 
a  kind  of  zoetrope,  which  he  spun  rapidly  inside  a  magic 
lantern.  The  pictures,  as  projected  on  a  screen,  gave  the 
appearance  of  motion. 

For  the  line-cuts  of  the  zoetrope,  both  Marey  and  Muy- 
bridge had  substituted  photographs  of  actual  motion; 
but  both  photographed  only  a  single  cycle  of  movement 

3D.  and  M.,  II,  537. 

4  lies,  "Flame*  Electricity  and  the  Camera,"  p.  812* 

187 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
because  for  both  the  number  of  exposures  was  necessarily 
limited.  Furthermore,  the  object  photographed  was  al- 
ways in  the  center  of  the  plate  and  hence  appeared  in  the 
center  of  the  image  thrown  on  a  screen.  The  effect  of 
this  would  be  that  a  moving  horse,  for  example^  would 
be  shown  in  various  attitudes  but  mating  no  headway  ? 
while  the  background  sped  past — much  as  in  melodramas 
horses  have  been  run  on  treadmills  while  the  scenery  was 
briskly  unrolled.  It  is  possible  that  either  Marey  or 
Muybridge  might  have  developed  a  camera  that  would 
make  a  very  large  number  of  exposures  at  a  very  high 
rate  of  operating  speed — if  only  they  had  not  been 
obliged  to  use  plates!  However  that  may  be?  the  fact 
remains  that  after  the  instantaneous  camera  and  the  cel- 
luloid film  had  both  arrived5  Edison  was  the  first  to  see 
how  they  could  be  applied  to  the  problem  of  recording 
movement.  Here  we  have  an  example  of  what  many  have 
regarded  as  Edison's  preeminent  gift — the  ability  so  to 
adapt  or  combine  ideas  or  materials  already  existing  as 
to  effect  results  at  once  distinctively  new  and  thoroughly 
practical. 

Marey  had  been  working  in  the  right  direction.  He 
used  one  camera  and  one  lens,  thus  making  exposures  from 
a  single  viewpoint.  But  the  sensitized  surface  lie  em- 
ployed, though  rapidj  was  presented  in  the  form  of  bulky  s 
heavy  plates;  and  as  each  of  these  plates  had?  in  its  en- 
tirety ?  to  be  started  and  stopped.,  the  operating  speed  was 
relatively  slow  and  the  number  of  exposures  per  second 
was  relatively  limited.  Experimenters  who  in  one  way 
or  another  multiplied  the  number  of  lenses,  were  fol- 
lowing the  line  of  greater  resistance.  This  is  sufficiently 
evident  now.  It  was  not  so 'evident  in  1889. 

Edison  stuck  to  one  lens  and  employed  a  movable  sensi- 
tized surface.     He  tried  at  first  a  sensitized  cylinder  in- 

188 


MOTION-PICTURE  CAMERA 

termlttently  revolved*  and  held  at  rest  for  the  period  of 
each  exposure.  The  negatives^  reduced  to  microscopic 
size^  were  distributed  spirally  on  the  cylinder.  The  posi- 
tives made  from  them  were  examined  with  the  aid  of  a 
magnifying  glass*  Exposures  were  made  at  a  rate  as 
high  as  forty-eight  a  second.5  The  emulsions  then  avail- 
able proved  too  coarse  to  permit  of  sharp  definition  in 
negatives  so  diminutivevXFor  this  and  other  reasons^ 
Edison  turned  from  the  cylinder  to  another  medium. 
This  was  the  transparent  celluloid  roll  film,  placed  on  the 
market  in  1889  by  the  Eastman  company^  The  use  of 
roll  film  was  not  a  new  idea.  As  early  as  1854  a  patent 
was  granted  in  England  "f  or  the  use  of  sensitized  paper 
in  a  roll  holder" ;  and  success  would  in  all  likelihood  have 
been  attained  if  a  proper  material  had  been  available  for 
the  sensitized  surface.  "Once  the  reliability  of  the  gela- 
tine emulsion  plate  was  proven,  however,  sensitized  film 
coated  upon  thin  paper  as  a  support  came  into  use* 
About  the  same  time,  John  Carbutt,  the  pioneer  dry- 
plate  maker  in  America,  introduced  cut  celluloid  films  as 
a  substitute  for  glass  plates.  The  Eastman  Company 
in  1885  brought  out  a  roll  holder  that  could  be  loaded 
with  a  band  of  paper  sufficient  for  one  hundred  expo- 


sures.3* 


Edison  now  had  in  transparent  celluloid  film  a  medium 
at  once  strong,  light,  flexible — permitting  of  rapid-fire 
exposures  and  of  sharp  negatives  that  were  not  micro- 
scopic but  relatively  large.  The  next  thing  was  to  pro- 
vide a  mechanism  by  means  of  which  a  tape  of  film  coulcf 
be  so  moved  across  the  focal  plane  of  a  camera,  and  ex-- 
posures  could  be  so  rapidly  made,  that  an  impression  of 

5D.  and  M.,  II,  589. 

«W.  S.  Davis,  "Practical  Amateur  Photography5'   (Boston,  1923;  in 
the  Useful  Knowledge  Books  series,  edited  by  G.  S.  Bryan),  p*  17. 

189 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
continuous  movement  would  be  produced  by  exhibition 
films  (positives)  impeled  at  the  same  speed  ratio.  Ama- 
teurs that  have  used  the  portable  film-camera,  with  its 
daylight-loading  film-cartridge  (the  invention  of  the  Rev. 
Hannibal  Goodwin,  an  American  experimenter  )5  will 
readily  apprehend  the  difficulties  in  the  case.  They 
know  with  what  slow  care?  after  an  exposure,  they  have 
to  turn  the  film-roll  ahead,  winding  it  from  one  spool  to 
the  other,  before  another  negative  can  be  obtained, 

In  the  camera  mechanism  that  Edison  provided,  a  long 
roll  ("reeP)  of  film  was  unwound,  drawn  through  sets  of 
rollers  downward  across  the  focal  plane  and  automati- 
cally rewound.  The  strip  of  film  had  perforations  on  its 
edges.  A  main-shaft  was  revolved ;  this  drove  a  sprocket ; 
the  sprocket  engaged  the  perforations ;  and  thus  the  strip 
was  fed  along.  The  movement  of  the  film  was  intermit- 
tent— that  is,  periods  of  movement  would  alternate  with 
periods  of  rest.  When  the  film  was  at  rest,  a  revolving 
shutter,  geared  to  the  main-shaft,  was  rotated ;  an  aper- 
ture in  the  shutter  was  brought  into  the  proper  rela- 
tive position ;  and  an  exposure  was  made.  Then  the  film 
went  on  its  way,  while  the  shutter  remained  closed.  These 
alternating  periods  could  be  repeated  indefinitely.  The 
result  was  a  series  of  "still"  photographs — all  from  one 
•viewpoint,  all  of  uniform  size,  and  all  spaced  at  regular 
intervals.  The  only  limit  to  the  series  was  the  arbitrary 
limit  set  by  the  length  of  the  film.  From  twenty  to  forty 
exposures  could  be  made. 

In  experimenting  with  the  kinetograph,  Edison  was 
particularly  aided  by  William  K.  L.  Dickson  of  the  lab- 
oratory staff.7  During  the  summer  of  1889  were  taken 
the  first  examples  of  motion-pictures  as  they  are  known 

T  In  1894  Dickson,  assisted  by  Mrs.  Dickson,  published  'The  Life  and 
Inventions  of  Tfcomas  Alya  Edison." 


MOTION-PICTURE  CAMERA 

to-3ay.     (It  was  not  until  1890  that  Marey  adapted  film 
to  Ms  uses  of  scientific  study.) 

In  the  laboratory  grounds  a  "studio5*  was  built — a  box- 
like  wooden  affair  so  pivoted  that  it  could  be  turned  to 
catch  the  sunlight,  to  admit  which  a  movable  portion  of 
the  roof  was  opened.  Inside?  it  was  painted  black;  out- 
side, it  was  covered  with  black  roofing-paper.  Quite  nat- 
urally it  was  known  as  the  "Black  Maria.**  Against  the 
somber  background  of  its  interior,  "La  Loie??  Fuller 
danced*  "Gentleman  Jim55  Corbett  boxed,  fenctrs  con- 
tended, bears  performed.  Mere  sequences  of  movement* 
these ;  the  day  of  the  "screen  drama55  was  not  yet. 

Edison  also  devised  an  apparatus  in  which  the  positive 
prints  made  from  kinetograph  negatives  could  be  ex- 
hibited. This  he  called  a  "kinetoscope.95  It  was  a  ma- 
chine in  which  the  pictures  were  viewed  directly,  through 
an  eye-piece.  There  were  a  mechanism  to  move  the  film- 
strip,  a  light  to  illuminate  the  strip,  and  a  rotating  screen* 
The  screen  had  a  series  of  apertures  in  it;  these  apertures 
came  in  line  with  the  eye-piece  in  such  a  way  that  the  ob- 
server saw  only  one  picture  at  a  time;  and  persistence  of 
vision  did  the  rest. 

When  commercial  expansion  began  in  the  motion- 
picture  field  in  this  country,  the  work  of  filming  had  to 
be  done  largely  by  processes  and  apparatus  on  which 
Kdison  had  obtained  patents.  His  kinetoscope  was  re- 
placed from  1895  onward  by  the  projection-lantern, 
i,  modified  and  specialized  form  of  the  once  widely  fa- 
ftiiliar  magic  lantern.  The  general  arrangement  of  a 
projection-lantern  was  that  a  powerful  illuminating  con- 
trivance sent  a  beam  of  light  through  a  condensing  lensf 
while  the  exhibition  film  (positive)  was  moved  across  the 
path  of  this  beam  and  at  the  back  of  a  projection  lens* 
The  film  was  moved  intermittently,  just  as  the  negative 

191 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
film  tad  been ;  and  each  photograph  while  at  rest  was  ex™ 
posed  in  turn  by  a  rapid  shutter.  The  photographs, 
when  thrown  in  a  much  enlarged  form  upon  a  screen^  so 
blended  as  to  give  an  impression  of  continuous  action. 
That  is  to  say5  they  were  supposed  to  do  so ;  but,  through 
one  defect  or  another 3  they  would  often  jump  and  glint 
most  distressingly.  There  was  pretty  steady  improve- 
ment in  this  respect,  as  in  other  purely  mechanical  fea- 
tures of  motion-picture  taking  and  projecting — but  to 
enter  into  a  history  of  the  "movie"  industry  is  hardly 
within  the  province  of  this  volume. 

Rear-Adm.  Bradley  A.  Fiske,  U.  S.  Navy,  has  writ- 
ten 8  that  in  the  Mnetograph  and  kinetoscope  "we  see  an 
invention  of  the  highest  order  in  each  of  the  three  essen- 
tials— conception,  development  and  production.  "No  in- 
vention exists  of  a  higher  order.5'  As  to  the  modern 
motion-picture,  he  says:  "Whether  it  is  for  the  public 
good  to  produce  so  many  shows  for  idly  disposed  men 
and  women  to  spend  their  time  in  looking  at,  is  perhaps 
a  possible  subject  for  enlightening  discussion.  But  the 
moving  picture  is  used  for  many  purposes,  especially  for 
purposes  of  education  and  research,  besides  that  of  mere 
amusement,  and  will  unquestionably  be  so  used,  more  and 
more  as  time  goes  on.55 

From  the  very  beginning,  Edison  evidently  thought 
highly  of  the  educational  possibilities  of  motion-pictures, 
both  for  popular  audiences  and  in  the  class-room.  Most 
educators  would  probably  agree  that  motion-pictures 
might  be  made  a  valuable  accessory  to  the  test-book  and 
the  living  teacher.  Few,  however,  cared  to  follow  Edison 
in  his  reported  statements  (1923)  that  "in  twenty  years 
children  will  be  taught  with  pictures  and  not  with  books59 
and  that  "Motion  pictures  are  100  per  cent  perfect  for 
Ms  "Invention"  (New  York,  1921). 
192 


MOTION-PICTUfiE   CAMERA 

disseminating  knowledge.95  9  Oral  Instruction^ 
maps?  pictures  other  than  motion-pictures — tiiese?  It  was 
generally  believed^  would  hold  their  place  if  education  was 
to  have  a  properly  broad  meaning;  and  nothing  could 
diminish  the  importance  of  constructive  thinking  and 
real  study.10 

More  generally  approved,  doubtless^  were  these  other 
words  of  Edison5  written  to  be  read  at  a  dinner  given  to 
Mm  in  New  York  by  members  of  the  motion-picture  in- 
dustry on  February  15th,  1924^  to  honor  his  seventy- 
seventh  birthday: 

".  .  .  Whatever  part  I  have  played  in  Its  [i.  0.5  the 
motion  picture's]  development  was  mainly  along  mechan- 
ical lines. 

"The  far  more  important  development  of  the  motion 
picture  as  a  medium  for  artistic  effort  and  as  an  educa- 
tional factor  Is  in  your  hands.  Because  I  was  working 
before  most  of  you  were  born9 1  am  going  to  bore  you  with 
a  little  advice. 

«  "New  York  Tribune,"  May  16,  1923.  Possibly  Edison's  views  were 
somewhat  exaggerated.  See  William  Inglis*  "Edison  and  the  New 
Education/*  in  ''Harper's  Weekly"  for  November  4,  1911  (p.  8). 

*®  A  factor  to  be  considered  has  thus  been  pointed  out: 

".  .  .  You  seem  to  imply  that  the  manufacturers  have  produced  sub- 
jects and  the  educators  are  backward  in  using  them.  Quite  the  reverse 
is  the  case.  The  educator  during  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  to 
my  knowledge,  has  been  appealing  to  the  manufacturers  to  produce  sub- 
jects suitable  for  class-room  work9  and  the  manufacturers  have  failed 
to  respond  to  the  call,  chiefly  owing  to  the  mistaken  idea  that  they 
cannot  make  millions  in  educational  subjects. 

"According  to  a  recent  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education, 
there  are  thousands  of  schools  equipped  with  projecting  machines9  but 
they  can  get  nothing  suitable  to  project,  consequently  many  of  them 
are  lying  idle  and  a  majority  of  these  machines  are  consigned  to  the 
basement  of  the  schools  to  rust  owing  to  the  paucity  of  suitable  sub- 
jects for  the  classes." — From  a  letter  of  Alfred  H.  Saunders,  lecturer 
and  writer  on  educational  cinematography,  in  the  "New  York  Tribune,** 
May  22,  1923. 

193 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
aRemember  that  you  are  the  servants  of  the  public  and 
never  let  a  desire  for  money  or  power  prevent  you  from 
giving  the  public  the  best  work  of  which  you  are  capa- 
ble." ll 

Back  in  1880 — the  year  in  which  he  was  making  ready 
to  introduce  his  system  of  distributing  electric  current — 
Edison  had  obtained  a  patent  on  a  magnetic  ore  separa- 
tor. Several  other  inventors,  especially  during  the  lat- 
ter half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  had  attempted  to  con- 
centrate the  iron  in  low-grade  iron  ores  by  magnetically 
separating  the  iron  portion  from  the  gangue — "gangue95 
being  the  mining  term  for  the  veinstone  or  rock  occurring 
with  the  ore.  Edison  took  up  the  idea  because  he  was 
aware  that  the  iron-mills  and  steel-mills  of  the  East  were 
being  affected  by  the  scarcity  of  high-grade  iron  ore  and 
the  increasing  prices. 

In  1881  he  established  a  small  concentrating  plant  at 
Quogue5  on  the  south  shore  of  Long  Island,  where,  upon 
the  beach,  he  had  found  a  huge  deposit — "hundreds  of 
thousands  of  tons/*  he  judged — of  so-called  black  sand, 
particles  of  extremely  pure  magnetic  Iron.  Hardly  had 
the  plant  been  started  when,  said  Edison,  "a  tremendous 
storm  came  up,  and  every  bit  of  that  black  sand  went  out 
to  sea.55  W.  H.  Meadowcroft  in  that  year,  under  Edi- 
son's direction,  set  up  on  the  Rhode  Island  coast  a  plant 
of  similar  kind.  In  this  case  over  1,000  tons  of  excel- 
lent iron  concentrate  were  separated  and  sold;  but  the 
concentrate^  as  was  later  discovered,  was  too  finely  di- 
vided and  hence  it  could  not  be  used  with  success.12  Edi- 
son subsequently  invented  a  method  for  dealing  with  such 
finely  divided  ore. 

11  "The  World,"  February  16, 

12  Meadowcroft,  p.  242. 


MAGNETIC  OBE-MILLING 

From  1881  until  1891,  ore-concentrating  was  in  abey- 
ance; from  1891  to  1900  It  claimed  most  of  Edison*s  time 
and  effort.13  With  the  aid  of  a  specially  constructed 
magnetic  needle,  he  located  a  vast  ore  deposit  in  the  moun- 
tain region  of  northern  New  Jersey,  in  Sussex  county, 
^ere  he  built  a  concentrating  works  representing  a  no- 
table achievement  in  industrial  engineering.  In  its  out- 
lines and  general  scope  this  was  one  of  Edison's  largest 
enterprises^  yet  it  was  one  with  which  the  public  is  little 
acquainted-  In  it  over  $23000,000  were  invested,  of 
which  Edison  himself  furnished  the  greater  part — the 
bulk  of  his  private  fortune.  Around  the  works,  in  the 
midst  of  a  wild  and  wooded  country,  grew  up  a  village 
called  Edison,  to  which  the  Central  Railroad  of  New  Jer- 
sey built  a  branch  line  from  Lake  Hopatcong.  The 
workers'  houses,  of  a  type  designed  by  Edison  himself, 
had  running  water  and  were  lit  by  incandescent  lamps. 
In  this  unusual  mining  town  Edison  for  about  five  years 
spent  the  working  days  of  each  week,  going  to  "Glen- 
mont"  for  Sundays  only.  The  dwelling  in  which  he 
lived  was  locally  known  as  the  "White  House.5'  In  8,000 
acres  lying  immediately  around  the  works  were — so  he 
reckoned — some  200,000,000  tons  of  low-grade  ore ;  and 
to  this  tract  he  added  16,000  acres  containing  ore,  he 
thought,  in  the  same  proportion, 

The  core  or  center  of  the  whole  undertaking  was  the 
magnetic  separator,  employed  on  a  bold  scale.  Around 
this  he  developed  a  series  of  inventions  designed  to  make 
it  possible  to  concentrate  about  6,000  tons  of  ore  a  day. 
Blasting  dislodged  30,000  tons  or  so  of  rock  at  a  time. 
Great  steam-shovels  loaded  the  rock  upon  skips,  and  the 
skips  were  hauled  over  a  narrow-gauge  railway  to  the 

is  This  is  witnessed  by  tbe  list  of  patents  applied  for  during  tSiese 
years.    See  also  J>.  and  M*  II,  SOI. 

195 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
£figiant  rolls.**  Each  of  these  two  solid  cast-iron  rolls 
was  five  feet  long  and  sis  feet  In  diameter,  and  their  com- 
bined weight  was  167,000  pounds.  They  were  set  about 
fourteen  inches  apart  and  belt-driven  in  opposite  direc- 
tions, the  power  being  applied  through  friction-clutches 
by  means  of  which  it  could  quickly  be  connected  or  dis- 
connected. Engineers  didn't  think  the  scheme  would 
work*  but  it  did. 

A  rock  the  size  of  an  upright  piano  and  weighing, 
maybe,  five  to  eight  tons,  was  raised  from  a  skip  and 
swung  over  a  hopper  above  the  rolls.  The  rolls  were 
speeded  up  to  something  like  a  mile  a  minute — then  the 
power  was  disconnected.  Down  dropped  the  rock  into 
the  maw  of  the  rolls.  There  was  no  strain  on  the  engine ; 
the  rolls  were  running  under  their  own  momentum.  With 
the  shock  of  a  gigantic  pile-driver  and  a  deafening  crash, 
the  rock  passed  between  the  rolls,  coming  out  at  the  bot- 
tom in  pieces  small  enough  to  get  through  the  fourteen- 
inch  gap. 

These  pieces  were  broken  by  a  progressive  series  of 
^^intermediate  rolls'3  into  bits  about  the  size  of  an  ordi- 
nary marble.  Then  the  bits  were  pulverized  in  a  grind- 
ing machine  known,  from  its  peculiar  construction,  as  the 
"three-high  rolls.'*  This  machine,  which  exerted  a  pres- 
sure of  125,000  pounds  with  an  amazingly  small  amount 
of  friction,  had  three  cylinders,  each  about  three  feet  in 
diameter,  set  vertically  in  a  frame.  The  shaft  of  the  bot- 
tom cylinder  ran  in  fixed  bearings,  but  the  shafts  of  the 
middle  and  top  cylinders  ran  in  loose  bearings  and  could 
move  up  or  down.  The  bits  of  rock  passed  first  between 
the  top  and  middle  rolls,  then  between  the  middle  and  bot- 
tom rolls.  At  either  end,  outside  the  frame,  the  shafts 
of  the  top  and  bottom  rolls  carried  a  seven-grooved 
sheave*  An  endless  wire  rope  went  around  these  sheaves 


MAGNETIC  GRE-MILLIXG 

and  was  carried  up  over  a  single-grooved  sheave  that  was 
controlled  by  the  piston  of  an  air-cylinder.  As  the  piston 
was  either  raised  or  lowered,  a  varying  pressure  could  be 
exerted  on  the  top  and  bottom  rolls,  the  bearings  of  which 
revolved  Inside  the  turns  of  wire  rope.  In  this  way  an- 
other set  of  bearings  was  In  effect  supplied  by  the  rope ; 
and  thus  friction  was  reduced  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
"three-high  rolls"  showed  a  working  efficiency  of  84  per 
cent,  (with  a  loss  of  only  16  per  cent.) .  Up  to  that  time 
the  best  available  grinding  machines  had  shown  a  work- 
ing efficiency  of  but  18  per  cent,  (with  a  loss  of  82  per 
cent.) — practically  the  reverse  of  what  Edison  proved 
might  be  accomplished.14 

Drying  and  screening  also  entered  Into  the  process; 
and  the  pulverized  material  journeyed  past  four  hundred 
and  eighty  magnets  so  grouped  In  series  that  the  suc- 
cessive magnetic  fields  were  Increasingly  powerful.  Non- 
magnetic particles  fell  in  a  straight  line.  Magnetic  par- 
ticles were  drawn  toward — not  to — the  magnet.  Their 
path  was  altered  because  they  were  acted  on  by  both  grav- 
ity and  magnetic  force.  The  non-magnetic  particles 
were  acted  on  by  gravity  only.  Thus  the  two  kinds  of 
particles  were  separated;  and  they  proceeded  by  their 
respective  routes  to  the  opposite  sides  of  a  divided  bin* 
The  non-magnetic  particles,  constituting  the  tailings 
(i.  e*9  the  debris  of  the  process),  were  sold  for  various  in- 
dustrial purposes — especially  for  use  In  mortar,  to  which 
they  were  well  adapted.  The  magnetic  particles  were 
mixed  with  a  binder  and  compressed  into  briquettes  one 
and  one-half  inches  thick  and  three  inches  in  diameter  at 
the  rate  of  sixty  a  minute.  These  briquettes  were  hard 
enough  to  stand  shipment;  waterproof  enough  to  shed 
the  weather  when,  for  the  sake  of  lower  freight  rates,  they 

i*  IX  and  M*  II,  9IS-918. 

197 


EDISON:  THE  MAX  AND  HIS  WORK 
were  shipped  in  open  cars.  At  the  same  time  they  were 
porous  enough,  when  used  at  the  smelting-works,  to  allow 
of  proper  action  by  furnace  gases.  They  ran  2300  to 
a  ton ;  and  in  1897  the  plant  was  daily  averaging  seventy- 
five  car-loads  of  twenty  tons  each.15 

In  Edison's  ore-milling  process*  approximately  100,- 
000  cubic  feet  of  material  a  day  were  put  through,  travel- 
ling about  a  mile.  This  was  made  possible  by  means  of 
skilfully  designed  conveyors.  Edison's  plans  were  based 
on  low  costs  through  automatic  transfer.  The  propor- 
tion of  tailings  to  high  concentrate  ran  about  three  to 
one — that  is,  three  tons  of  the  first  to  one  ton  of  the  sec- 
ond. In  the  concentrate,  the  final  percentage  of  iron 
oxide  averaged  from  90  to  93  per  cent. 

All  the  links  of  the  chain  were  strong.  Vast  deposits 
of  low-grade  ore  were  close  at  hand.  The  milling  process 
was  remarkably  efficient  and  economical  The  product 
showed  high  quality  on  test.  John  Fritz  of  the  Bethle- 
hem Steel  company  had  ordered  10,000  tons  of  it.  Then 
something  unforeseen  and  unpreventable  happened.  In 
the  Mesaba  hills  of  north-eastern  Minnesota,  enormous 
and  easily  accessible  deposits  of  uncommonly  rich  Bes- 
semer ore  were  discovered.  What  with  the  richness  of 
this  ore  and  the  low  cost  at  which  it  could  be  mined,  the 
price  of  crude  ore  of  that  quality  dropped  to  around 
$3.50  a  ton.  At  from  $6.00  to  $6.50  a  ton,  Edison  would 
have  been  able  to  sell  his  briquettes  profitably.  At  $3.50 
a  ton,  it  was  out  of  the  question  for  him  to  seek  to  com- 
pete. Engineering  problems  had  been  solved.  Prece- 
dents had  been  successfully  flouted.  The  miE  was  non- 
chalantly turning  out  cakes  of  magnetite.  With  the  goal 
of  some  nine  years*  work  practically  in  view,  it  seemed 

is  See  Theodore  Waters,  "Edison's  Revolution  in  Iron  Mining,"  in 
*McCIure*s  Magazine"  for  November,  1897;  pp.  75-03. 

108 


MAGNETIC  QBE-MILLING 

best  for  prudential  reasons  to  abandon  the  enterprise. 

The  company  was  in  debt  to  the  extent  of  several  hun- 
dred thousands  of  dollars.,  but  In  about  three  years  all 
debts  were  paid.  The  mill  was  closed;  its  workmen, 
drifted  away;  their  cottages  tumbled  in  ruin  or  were 
torn  down  for  the  lumber  they  contained;  the  plant  was 
gradually  dismantled.  Before  many  years  had  gone  by, 
a  wanderer  in  those  parts,  chancing  upon  that  remote 
cluster  of  weatherbeaten  and  decayed  buildings,  might 
have  wondered  of  what  ambitious  labors  it  had  been  the 
scene. 

Hardly  had  the  works  been  closed  when  Edison  was 
planning  to  take  up  the  manufacture  of  Portland  cement, 
as  he  was  convinced  that  in  the  cement  industry  much  of 
what  had  been  learned  In  the  venture  of  ore-milling  could 
be  successfully  applied.  Practically  all  the  mechanical 
equipment  of  the  ore-milling  works,  with  the  exception  of 
the  separators  and  the  devices  for  mixing  and  briquet- 
ting,  was  later  adapted  to  cement-making*  For  example, 
the  "three-high  rolls/*  which  originally  had  smooth  faces, 
were  altered  for  the  cement  process  (in  which  the  feed 
was  more  rapid)  by  being  meshed  together  in  the  style 
of  gears.  Edison  also  set  out  to  develop  a  wholly  new 
type  of  storage  battery.  To  B,.  H.  Beach  of  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  company,  he  said,  "Beach,  I  don't  think 
Nature  would  be  so  unkind  as  to  withhold  the  secret  of  a 
good  storage  battery,  if  a  real  earnest  hunt  for  It  is 
made."  .  .  ™ 

W.  S.  Mallory,  a  business  associate  of  Edison  In  the 
ore-milling  project  and  afterward  in  the  cement  com- 
pany, related  that  in  1902,  in  which  year  the  stock  of  the 
Edison  General  Electric  company 17  touched  its  high 

is  ix  and  M.,  II,  554;  Meadowcroft,  275. 
^7  See  Chapter  XI,  p.  181. 

199 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
figure^  Edison  aslced  him,  "If  I  hadn't  sold  any  of  mlne? 
what  -would  It  be  worth  to-day  ?w  Mallory  did  some 
reckoning  on  the  basis  of  the  day?s  quotation  and  an- 
swered, "Over  $4,0005000.'9  After  a  few  seconds9  pauses 
Edison  cheerily  remarked,  4£We!I?  it's  all  gone,  but  we  had 
a  hell  of  a  good  time  spending  it.5' 1S  One  summer  day  in 
1910  lie  visited  the  ruinous  separating-plant.  Seated  on 
the  "White  House55  porch,  he  said  only:  "I  never  felt 
better  in  my  life  than  during  the  five  years  I  worked  here. 
Hard  work,  nothing  to  divert  my  thought,  clear  air  and 
simple  food  made  my  life  very  pleasant.  We  learned  a 
great  deal  It  will  be  of  benefit  to  some  one  some  time.55 19 
In  1889  Edison  and  Mrs*  Edison  visited  the  Paris  Ex- 
positlon3  at  which  the  Edison  exhibit,  comprising  seven- 
teen departments,  covered  over  9?000  square  feet  of  floor 
space.  This  exhibit,  made  at  the  inventor's  personal  ex- 
pense and  costing  upwards  of  $100,000,  was  installed  un- 
der the  supervision  of  W.  J.  Hammer,  Edison's  repre- 
sentative, with  the  aid  of  forty-five  assistants,20  Edison 
had  a  chat  with  Pasteur  and  inspected  the  newly  com- 
pleted Eiffel  Tower  in  the  Champ  de  Mars  as  the  guest 
of  Alexandre  Eiffel,  the  French  engineer  who  designed 
and  constructed  it.  In  Eiffel's  private  office  at  the  top 
of  the  tower,  Gounod,  then  seventy-one,  played  and  sang 
for  the  Edison  party.  Many  honors  were  shown  to  Edi- 
son, including  dinners  given  by  the  French  engineers  and 
by  the  municipality  of  Paris.  He  also  attended  a  gala 
performance  at  the  Opera,  where,  as  he  entered  his  box, 
the  orchestra  played  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner"  and 
the  house  rose — "whereupon,**  said  he,  "I  was  very  much 

18  D.  and  M^  II,  504-505. 

19 16.,  II,  77S. 

20  On  February  10,  1925,  Major  Hammer  was  decorated  chevalier  of 
tibe  Legion  of  Honor,  in  belated  recognition  of  Ms  services  to  France 
In  1880. 

200 


MAGNETIC  ORE-MILLING 
embarrassed."     At  the  close  of  the  exposition^  Edison 
made  a  commander  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.     ".  .  .  They 
tried  to  put  a  sash  on  me/?  he  is  quoted  as  relating^  " 
I  could  not  stand  for  that.??  21 

21 D.  and  M.s  II,  m 


201 


XIII 

MAKING  PORTLAND   CEMENT; 
BUILDING  A  NEW  STORAGE  BATTERY 

IN  establishing  his  Portland  cement  mill  at  New  Village* 
New  Jersey,  Edison  was  entering  no  new  industry  but 
one  that  had  been  in  existence  for  three-quarters  of  a  cen- 
tury. It  was  in  1825  that  Joseph  Aspdin,  brickmaker 
of  Leeds,  England,  invented  Portland  cement — the  name 
coming  from  its  supposed  resemblance  to  Portland  stone, 
a  limestone  much  used  in  England  and  obtained  from  the 
Isle  of  Portland  (Dorset).  Natural  cements — that  is, 
cements  made  through  the  burning  and  pulverizing  of 
limestones  naturally  containing  clay — were  found  to  be 
inferior  to  Aspdin's,  which  in  masonry  permitted  a  freer 
use  of  sand,  set  more  gradually,  and  developed  greater 
strength.  The  Portland  cement  was  made  by  burning  a 
specially  prepared  mixture  of  limestone  and  clay,  in  which 
the  proportions  of  each  could  be  absolutely  controlled. 
Judged  by  later  standards,  the  earliest  cement  of  this 
kind  was  of  a  crude  sort. 

In  1872,  nearly  a  half-century  after  Aspdin  had  in- 
vented it,  Portland  cement  was  for  the  first  time  produced 
in  the  United  States — the  pioneers  being  David  O.  Say- 
lor  of  Coplay,  Pennsylvania,  and  his  associates,  Adam 
Woolever,  Esaias  Rehrig,  and  Willoughby  Focht.  It 
was  not  long  before  the  natural  cements,  which  had  been 
in  favor  ever  since  the  engineer  Canvass  White  had  used 
such  material  in  the  building  of  the  Erie  canal,  encount- 
ered a  rival  in  the  new  product  By  the  beginning  of  the 

202 


MAKING  PORTLAND  CEMENT 
twentieth  century,  Portland  cement  was  much,  preferred 
— how  muchj  may  be  indicated  by  the  fact  that  in  1902 
the  Portland  cement  production  in  the  United  States 
was  17,230,644  barrels,  valued  at  $30,864,078,  whereas 
natural-rock  cement  production  for  that  year  was  8,0445- 
805  barrels,  valued  at  $4>076?630.1  The  machinery  used 
in  the  making  of  Portland  cement  had  become  increas- 
ingly efficient,  and  the  quality  of  the  output  had  steadily 
risen. 

In  this  field,  then?  Edison  appeared  as  a  newcomer. 
He  had  seen  the  marked  growth  of  the  industry  and  had 
noted  how  widely  the  use  of  concrete  was  being  extended 
for  structural  purposes.  His  ore-milling  venture,  now 
come  to  an  unavoidable  end,  had  given  him  valuable  ex- 
perience in  matters  connected  with  the  crushing  and 
grinding  of  raw  rock.  For  it  he  had  developed  special 
machinery  that  might  be  adapted  to  the  process  of  cement 
manufacture.  Nature  had  compelled  a  retreat  on  his 
part,  but  even  in  retreat  he  displayed  the  strategy  of  a 
good  general. 

It  is  said  that  after  Edison  had  "with  the  greatest  pos- 
sible reluctance5*  2  concluded  to  shut  down  the  separating 
plant,  he  took  the  next  train  home ;  and  during  this  rail- 
way journey  decided  that  while  he  was  experimenting 
with  a  new  storage  battery,  cement-making  as  a  aside- 
line'5  would  help  to  pay  old  debts  even  though  it  might 
not  recoup  him  for  old  losses.  Talking  to  Mallory,  Edi- 
son "most  positively"  stated  that  "no  company  with 
which  he  had  personally  been  actively  connected  had  ever 
failed  to  pay  its  debts,  and  that  he  did  not  propose  to  have 

iH.  H.  Saylor,  "Tinkering  with  Tools"  (Boston,  1924;  in  the  Useful 
Knowledge  Books  series,  edited  by  G.  S.  Bryan),  pp.  190-191;  A.  A. 
Hopkins  and  A.  R.  Bond,  ed.f  "The  Scientific  American  Eeference 
Book9'  (New  York,  2nd  ed.,  1906). 

2  Mallory  as  quoted  In  D.  and  M.s  II,  502. 

203 


EDISON:  THE   MAX  AND  HIS  WORK 

the  Concentrating  Company  any  exception."3  He  did 
not  think  that  at  that  the  phonograph  works  would 

yield  profits  sufficient  to  carry  the  burden. 

His  method  of  approach  to  cement-manufacture  was 
characteristic.  He  read  extensively  on  the  subject  and 
collected  from  many  sources.  Then  he  plunged  Into 

the  of  construction.  It  seems  that,  working  aU  day 
and  far  into  the  night  in  a  draughting-room  of  the  West 
Orange  laboratory,  he  drew  at  one  sitting  a  plan  for  the 
New  Village  plant — drew  it  so  well  from  end  to  end  that 
after  ten  years  of  use  "no  vital  change^59  so  we  are  as- 
suredj  needed.4  This  was  no  mean  feat,  but  it  was 
perhaps  equalled  by  one  connected  with  the  time  when  the 
plant — built  entirely  of  steel  and  concrete — was  about 
ready.  Edison  spent  the  greater  part  of  a  Saturday  in 
a  thoroughgoing  inspection.  That  evening  at  "Glen- 
mont,w  without  notes  to  refer  to,  he  began  to  write  out 
a  list  of  each  and  every  detail  that  he  had  examined  at 
the  plant,  with  specifications  of  changes  to  be  made  in 
certain  machinery.  He  worked  straight  through  to  Sun- 
day afternoon,  when  he  finished  the  list — in  all,  close  to 
six  hundred  entries.  A  copy  of  this  was  sent  to  the  gen- 
eral superintendent  and  used  by  him  in  making  the 
changes  Edison  required.5 

In  the  manufacture  of  Portland  cement,  the  ground 
mixture  of  raw  material  is  fed  into  revolving  kilns  in 
which  an  intense  heat  is  maintained  through  powdered 
coal  kept  burning  inside  them.  When  acted  upon  by 
the  heat9  the  mixture  softens  and  forms  "clinker" — not 
the  clinker  of  the  householder's  furnace  or  stove-grate 
but  spheroids  that  roll  out  at  the  other  end  of  the  kiln, 

»I>.  and  M.,  II,  £03. 
*/6.,  II,  509, 

k,  II, 


MAKING  PORTLAND  CEMENT 

Cooled,  finely  ground,  and  screened,  these  spheroids  yield 
cement  powdery  which  is  then  packed  in  barrels  or  bags. 
Such,  briefly?  is  the  general  process. 

Edison  devised  a  weighing  arrangement  by  which^  when 
the  beam  was  tipped^  an  electric  connection  was  broken 
and  the  hopper  was  automatically  closed.  This  was  used 
in  keeping  the  relative  quantities  of  raw  materials  pre- 
cisely uniform.  He  also  provided  for  finer  grinding  and 
planned  an  oil-circulating  system  that  took  care  of  no  less 
than  103000  bearings.  His  chief  novelty  was  the  "long 
kiln.**  For  the  regular  kiln,  with  a  length  of  some  sixty 
feet  and  an  inside  diameter  of  five  or  so3  he  substituted 
one  having  a  length  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  and  an 
increased  diameter.  He  claimed  that  with  this  larger 
kiln  he  could  economically  treat  a  greater  amount  of  raw 
materials  and  turn  out  a  better  grade  of  cement.  The 
average  sixty-foot  kiln  would  yield  approximately  two 
hundred  barrels  of  clinker  for  every  twenty-four  hour 
day.  The  "long  kiln55  raised  production  to  a  maximum 
of  more  than  1,100  barrels  in  every  twenty-four  hours,  al- 
though a  rate  somewhat  below  full  capacity  was  fixed 
upon  for  the  sake  of  economy. 

Lesley,  in  his  "History  of  the  Portland  Cement  In- 
dustry/' 6  says :  "In  1909  Thomas  A.  Edison  was 
granted  a  patent  for  the  use  of  kilns  150  feet  and  longer, 
every  one  predicting  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  turn 
kilns  of  this  length  without  warping.  The  proof  of  the 
pudding,  however,  was  in  the  eatings  and  it  was  not  long 
after  Edison5s  invention  that  kilns  of  125  feet  became  al- 
most standard  as  substitutes  for  the  old  60-foot  Mln. 
Mr.  Edison  not  only  designed  the  long  kiln  described,  but 
was  the  first  to  use  steam  shovels  for  loading  rock  in  the 
quarries.  He  also  introduced  the  well-drill  in  quarry  op- 

epp,  123-124. 

205 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
eration.     Later  on  the  length  of  the  Edison  kiln  was  far 
exceeded*     Some  kilns  now  in  use  are  280  feet  Iong5  with 
capacities  of  a  thousand  or  more  barrels  of  cement  per 
day." 

Edison^s  excursion  into  cement-making  is  of  interest 
less  for  what  he  contributed  to  standard  practice  than 
for  glimpses  it  affords  of  the  man  —  of  his  energy,  his 
mental  grasp5  the  individuality  that  would  question  ac- 
cepted ways  and  study  ways  of  its  own.  If  he  did  not 
revolutionize  the  cement  industry  ?  he  placed  his  impress 
upon  it.  His  associate  Mallory  is  authority  for  the  state- 
ment that  within  about  ten  years  over  half  of  the  total 
amount  of  Portland  cement  made  in  the  United  States 
was  burned  in  long  kilns.7  Though  it  may  be  true  that 
by  1910  the  directors  of  the  older  companies  were  no 
longer  so  concerned  as  they  once  had  been  over  Edison 
competition,  it  is  also  stated  that  by  that  time  the  Edison 
Portland  Cement  company  had  gained  fifth  rank  among 
American  producing  companies.  In  1905  the  capacity  8 
of  the  works  was  S3000  barrels  daily;  in  1924  it  was 
7,500  barrels  daily. 

During  these  earlier  years  of  the  cement  plant's  de- 
velopment, Edison  was  working  upon  cylindrical  phono- 
graphic records  ;  upon  an  improved  form  of  the  business 
phonograph^  the  new  feature  of  which  was  that  dictated 
matter  could  be  repeated  and  corrections  might  thus  be 
made;  upon  an  electric  motor  for  operating  the  busi- 
ness phonograph  (or  dictating  machine)  on  commercial 
electric-lighting  circuits-  His  chief  interest  at  this  pe- 
riod was?  however,  centered  in  his  long  and  arduous  cam- 
paign to  realize  his  idea  of  an  alkaline  storage  battery. 


and  3C,  II,  514. 

SIX  and  M^  II,  698;  R.  W.  ^Lesley:  "History  of  the  Portland  Cement 
Industry**  (Chicago,  1924). 

206 


MAKING  PORTLAND   CEMENT 
This  storage  battery  was  probably  the  hardest  nut  he 
ever  tried  to  crack. 

Like  all  other  electric  batteries  whatsoever,  the  so- 
called  storage  battery  derives,  of  course,  from  the  primary 
battery — better  known  as  the  voltaic  battery,  since  the 
principle  of  its  action  was  discovered  by  Alessandro 
Volta.  A  primary  battery  Is  composed  of  a  group  of 
primary  cells.  Broadly  speaMng,  a  primary  cell  has  for 
its  component  parts  two  different  metals  (known  as  the 
elements)  associated  with  a  chemical  compound  (termed 
the  electrolyte).  In  the  simple  form  of  its  modern  de- 
velopment, the  primary  cell  has  a  piece  of  zinc  and  a 
piece  of  copper  dipped  into  a  solution  of  dilute  sulphuric 
acid.  A  chemical  action  Is  set  up ;  the  zinc  piece  Is  grad- 
ually dissolved  away ;  electric  energy  is  produced.  More 
complex  in  structure  is  the  "dry"  cell,  generally  familiar 
through  its  use  for  electric  bells,  for  flashlights,  in  motor- 
boats  and  motor-cars,  and  in  radio  receiving-sets.  "Dry" 
it  is  not,  except  in  a  relative  sense.  Its  cylindrical  zinc 
container  is  the  negative  element;  through  the  center  of 
this  runs  the  positive  element,  a  carbon  (non-metallic)  rod 
that  takes  the  place  of  the  second  metal.  Inside  the  con- 
tainer and  around  the  rod  is  tightly  packed  a  mixture  of 
graphite,  granulated  carbon,  and  other  materials;  and 
this  mixture — the  electrolyte,  corresponding  to  the  acid 
solution  of  the  zinc-copper  cell — is  moist,  and  must  be. 
In  both  of  these  forms,  a  metal  dissolves  away  and  this 
chemical  action  yields  an  electric  current. 

The  chemical  action  of  the  primary  cell  is  irreversible. 
What  is  meant  by  an  "irreversible"  chemical  process? 
".  *  .  Let  us  fry  an  egg  over  a  gas-jet;  no  cold,  how- 
ever intense,  can  unfry  it,  and  no  electric  current,  how- 
ever strong,  can  restore  it  to  its  first  estate." 9  A 

» lies,  "Flame,  Electricity  and  the  Camera,"  p.  144. 

207 


EBISOH:  THE  MAX  AND  HIS  WORK 
reversible  chemical  change  is  one  like  the  decomposition 
of  water  into  two  elements,  hydrogen  and  oxygen.  After 
this  kas  been  accomplished-,  the  two  elements  will  again 
unite  to  form  water.  The  action  of  the  so-called  storage 
battery  (or  group  of  storage  cells)  is  reversible;  and 
"reversible  battery55  is  a  better  though  less  popular  term. 
"Storage  battery**  suggests  that  electric  energy  is  stored 
in  the  apparatus ;  and  such  is  not  at  all  the  case.  ^Sec- 
ondary  battery"  is  satisfactory;  it  indicates  the  impor- 
tant fact  that  in  its  original  form  this  type  of  battery 
will  not,  like  the  primary  battery,  yield  electric  current. 
Only  after  current  from  some  outside  source  has  charged 
it,  is  the  so-called  storage  battery  prepared  to  function. 

When  Edison  in  1900  began  his  hunt  for  the  secret 
of  a  "good"  storage  battery,  it  was  the  battery  of  lead- 
sulphuric  acid  type  that  held  the  field.  This  battery* 
greatly  improved  since  that  time,  is  familiar  in  its  three- 
cell  form  to  drivers  of  motor-cars  with  internal-combustion 
motors.  The  general  principle  of  the  storage-battery 
was  known  at  least  as  far  back  as  the  early  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  but  the  first  important  forward  step 
was  not  taken  until  1861,  when  Gaston  Plante  arranged 
plates  of  sheet  lead  in  a  solution  of  dilute  sulphuric  acid. 
Another  advance  was  recorded  in  1879,  when  Emile  Faure 
brought  out  his  "pasted-plate"  type.  In  1881  Charles 
F.  Brush  (to  whose  arc-lighting  system  reference  has 
already  been  made)10  introduced  certain  improvements, 
and  with  this  stimulus  the  lead-sulphuric  acid  battery 
really  entered  its  commercial  stage  in  the  United  States. 

The  Plante  type  as  first  assembled  has  plates  of  sheet 
lead — pure  metallic  lead — and  the  solution  (electrolyte) 
of  dilute  sulphuric  acid.  The  plates  have  to  be  "formed9* 
- — that  is,  an  electric  current  has  to  be  passed  through 

10  See  Chapter  X,  p.  106. 

208 


MAKING  PORTLAND   CEMENT 

them  repeatedly  In  alternate  directions.  This  results  in 
producing  lead  monoxide  at  the  surface  of  the  plates. 
At  the  same  time,  through  the  action  of  the  acid?  the 
surface  of  the  plates  Is  covered  with  lead  sulphate;  and 
this,  since  It  Is  practically  Insoluble^  furnishes  to  the  metal 
a  protective  covering  that  very  largely  prevents  losses 
from  local  action.  Now  let  the  cells  be  charged — say5 
from  a  dynamo.  It  will  then  be  found  that  whereas  two 
plates  were  previously  of  the  same  material,  they  now 
have  suffered  a  "sea-change95 ;  at  the  surface  of  the  posi- 
tive (cathode)  plate  Is  lead  peroxide,  hard  and  of  a  red- 
dish color ;  at  the  surface  of  the  negative  (anode)  plate  is 
metallic  lead,  spongy  and  gray.  The  Faure  type  elim- 
inates the  long  and  costly  process  of  "forming.5*  In  this 
type,  oxide  of  lead — either  lead  monoxide  or  red  lead — • 
in  the  fashion  of  paste  Is  at  the  outset  applied  to  the 
plates.  Then  when  the  battery  Is  charged,  the  current 
transforms  the  surface  of  the  positive  plate  into  lead 
peroxide,  the  surface  of  the  negative  plate  into  metallic 
lead. 

Briefly  put,  then,  a  charging  current  produces  different 
effects  in  the  positive  and  negative  plates.  If  now  the 
charging  current  is  withdrawn  and  the  battery  is  con- 
nected in  circuit,  the  two  plates  act  as  two  different  metals 
do  in  the  primary  (or  voltaic)  cell:  they  set  up  a  cur- 
rent. This  current  Is  reverse  in  direction  to  the  charg- 
ing current.  Hence  the  term  "reversible  battery."  It 
is  chemical  energy  that  Is  accumulated  In  such  a  battery 
(hence  the  term  "accumulator/5  used  In  Great  Britain)  ; 
but  this  chemical  energy  can  be  delivered  in  altered  guise 
as  electric  energy. 

This  preliminary  survey  will  perhaps  help  to  make 
clear  what  Edison  was  trying  to  do  and  how  radical  were 
his  departures  in  battery  construction.  It  is  said  that 

209 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
back  in  the  early  'eighties  at  Menlo  lie  made  many  experi- 
ments looking  toward  the  Improvement  of  the  lead- 
sulphuric  acid  type,  which  even  then  he  was  inclined  to 
regard  as  "intrinsically  wrong.95 11  This  attitude  kept 
Mm  from  seriously  considering  that  type  as  an  adjunct 
to  his  Incandescent-lighting  system.  For  incandescent 
lighting,  a  ton  of  coal,  he  said,  was  the  best  storage 
battery  he  knew,12  When  he  started  to  hunt  for  a  "good" 
battery,  he  was  sure  of  two  tilings :  it  was  not  to  use  lead, 
and  It  was  to  have  an  alkaline  solution  instead  of  an  acid 
one.  Otherwise,  he  could  be  certain  of  nothing. 

Among  the  defects  of  which  he  was  aware  In  the  lead- 
sulphuric  acid  type  were  the  narrow  restriction  as  to 
materials  for  containers;  the  tendency  of  the  plates  to 
buckle  If  In  use  when  the  electrolyte  happened  to  be  low; 
the  dropping  of  fine  particles  to  the  bottom  of  a  cell ;  the 
great  weight,  relative  to  electric  capacity;  likelihood  of 
injury  through  overcharge,  through  extreme  or  complete 
discharge,  or  through  remaining  uncharged.  The  sul- 
phuric acid,  too,  gave  out  corrosive  fumes,  and  it  had 
the  defect  of  its  quality  of  attacking  and  decomposing 
practically  everything  with  which  it  came  in  contact. 

The  battery  he  purposed  to  develop  was  to  be  used  to 
supply  motive  power — chiefly  for  road  vehicles,  to  some 
extent  for  street-railway  cars.  The  job  took  about  ten 
years  of  work  by  himself  and  a  selected  staff.  Over 
10,000  experiments  were  made  before  any  definitely 
encouraging  results  were  won.  Then  Iron  and  nickel 
promised  the  electric  action  that  he  sought.  But  this 
was  only  the  beginning.  He  had  a  clue,  indeed,  but  the 

11 D.  and  M.,  II,  927. 

12 D.  and  M,  II,  553. — Storage  batteries  came  to  be  used  widely  in 
connection  with  the  larger  lighting-systems  and  traction-lines.  Cur- 
rent turned  into  batteries  at  slack  times  could  be  released  during  busy 
periods,  to  lighten  the  load  on  the  generating  plant. 

210 


A  NEW  STORAGE  BATTERY 

way  was  long  through  the  labyrinth.  Once  It  seemed 
that  he  had  arrived,  but  this  was  a  mistake;  the  journey 
had  to  be  resumed.  All  told,  about  505000  experiments 
(the  record  of  them  filling  over  a  hundred  and  fifty  of 
the  laboratory  note-books)  were  demanded  before  the 
goal  was  achieved. 

The  complexities  of  this  battery  problem  were  tremen- 
dous. To  J.  W.  Aylesworth,  his  chief  chemist,  Edison 
remarked,  "In  phonographic  work  we  can  use  our  ears 
and  our  eyes,  aided  with  powerful  microscopes;  but  in 
the  battery  our  difficulties  cannot  be  seen  or  heard,  but 
must  be  observed  by  our  mind's  eye  P  13  There  was  need. 
of  all  the  old  patience,  all  the  old  tireless  persistence.  At 
midnight  Edison's  carriage  would  be  waiting  to  take  him 
to  "Glenmont" ;  but  often  it  continued  waiting  until  two 
or  three  in  the  morning,  and  at  times  it  went  back  with- 
out him.  From  those  earlier  years  of  battery  work — 
marked,  like  the  incandescent-lamp  period  at  Menlo,  by 
long  wakefulness,  short  sleep,  and  suppers  at  midnight — 
emerges  the  figure  of  Edison  ensconced  for  a  nap  in  a 
roll-top  desk.  His  head  reposes  on  two  or  three  volumes 
of  Watts5  "Dictionary  of  Chemistry*"  (Around  the 
laboratory,  a  standing  joke  is  that  he  is  thus  directly 
assimilating  their  contents.)  He  turns  over,  but  without 
danger — he  never  tumbles.  When  he  wakes,  he  wakes  at 
once,  evidently  holding,  with  Secretary  Chase,  that  the 
way  to  resumption  is  to  resume* 

One  day,  when  work  on  the  storage  battery  had  been 
under  way  for  over  five  months  and  more  than  9,000 
experiments  had  been  made,  Mallory  found  Edison  sit- 
ting at  a  laboratory  bench  covered  with  test^cells.  Noth- 
ing of  promise  had  yet  been  reached.  Mallory  expressed 
condolence:  "Isn't  it  a  shame  that  with  the  tremendous 

is  D.  and  M,,  II,  563. 

211 


EDISON:  THE  MAX  AND  HIS  WORK 
amount  of  work  you  have  done,  you  haven't  been  able  to 
get  any  results?*'  "Results!"  Edison  smilingly  flashed 
back — "Why ,  man,  1  have  gotten  a  lot  of  results.  I 
know  several  thousand  things  that  won't  work."  14  It 
was  not  long  before  he  hit  upon  something  that  did  work* 

The  nickel  and  iron  that  he  used  were  In  chemical 
forms — nickel  hydrate  and  Iron  oxide.  At  Silver  Lake, 
about  three  miles  from  the  West  Orange  establishment, 
he  built  works  for  the  manufacture  of  these  materials. 
At  last  he  felt  that  commercial  production  of  battery 
cells  might  be  started.  The  original  battery  was  known 
as  "Type  E.??  Though  higher  in  first  cost  than  a  lead- 
sulphuric  acid  battery  of  corresponding  output.  It  was 
well  received  and  extensively  purchased — not  only  because 
of  Edison  prestige  and  the  newspaper  announcements 
but  also  because  results  showed  that  it  was  cleaner, 
lighter,  cheaper  to  maintain,  and  marked  by  the  property 
— quite  lacking  in  the  lead-sulphuric  acid  battery  and 
of  decided  value  from  the  user's  viewpoint — of  remaining 
uninjured  when  either  overcharged  or  left  uncharged. 
The  cells  were  made  according  to  Edison's  rigorous 
standards  of  quality,  with  high-grade  materials  and 
uniform  care. 

After  a  while,  however,  evidence  showed  that  for  some 
reason  or  other  the  cells  would  now  and  again  be  of 
defective  capacity.  Assured  of  this,  Edison  saw  that  the 
logic  of  the  situation  was  simply  that  as  more  cells  were 
manufactured,  more  batteries  would  prove  Inferior. 
Though  he  knew  that  if  production  were  suspended  a 
large  financial  loss  would  be  Involved  and  the  common 
impression  would  be  that  the  battery  was  commercially  a 
failure,  he  at  once  ordered  that  the  factory  shut  down. 
and  announced  that  he  would  attempt  to  improve  the  old 

w  D.  and  M.,  II,  615-616. 

212 


A  NEW  STORAGE  BATTERY 

cell  so  as  to  give  it  increased  capacity  and  a  longer  life. 
Re-orders  from  satisfied  purchasers  were  not  accepted. 
It  made  no  difference  that  "considerable  pressure  was  at 
times  brought  to  bear5* 15 — presumably  by  leading  stock- 
holders. As  a  contrast  to  the  all-too-frequent  spectacle 
of  imperfect  products  forced  upon  the  market  by  the 
dodges  of  advertising,  this  attitude  on  Edison's  part  is, 
to  say  the  Ieast3  refreshing. 

A  second  course  of  experimenting  was  straightway  in 
full  blast.  This  resulted  in  the  "Type  A55  battery,  de- 
scribed by  one  of  Edison's  laboratory  assistants  as  "a 
finer  battery  than  we  ever  expected.'5  ".  „  ,  Secrets/5 
declared  this  man,  "have  to  be  long-winded  and  roost 
high  if  they  want  to  get  away  when  the  fi01d  Man*  goes 
hunting  for  them.55  Manufacture  of  the  new  type5  begun 
in  the  summer  of  1909,  was  being  extended  within  a  year. 

For  this  vehicle  battery  three  sizes  of  cell  were  made. 
These  were  known  as  A-4,  A-6,  and  A-8 — the  numerals 
indicating  the  number  of  positive  plates  that  each  con- 
tained. Both  of  the  outside  plates  were  negative,  so  that 
the  cells  had  respectively  five,  seven,  or  nine  negative 
plates.  The  dimensions  of  the  plates  were  identical  for 
all  cells ;  hence  the  one  variation  was  in  the  thickness  of  the 
container  or  can,  which  was  less  or  greater  according  to 
the  number  of  plates.  The  cells  were  assembled  in  a 
wooden  tray  of  light  weight  and  strongly  built.  In  the 
standard  assembled  battery,  the  pounds  per  cell  were: 
A-4,  14.21;  A-6,  20.09;  A-8,  20.15.  It  was  claimed 
that  a  vehicle  battery  when  assembled  weighed  but  little 
more  than  half  as  much  as  a  lead-sulphuric  acid  battery 
of  corresponding  output. 

A  cell  might  be  divided  into  four  component  parts: 
(a)  The  electrolyte,  a  Sl-per  cent,  solution  of  caustic 

is  D.  and  M*  II,  537* 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
potash  (pure  potassium  hydrate)  In  distilled  water ; 18 
(6)  a  group  of  positive  plates  connected  in  multiple  with 
the  positive  terminal;  (c)  a  group  of  negative  plates^ 
similarly  connected  with  the  negative  terminal  and  inter- 
meshed  with  the  group  of  positive  plates;  (d)  a  con- 
tainer (or  can)  of  nickel-plated  sheet  steel. 

During  the  cycle  of  charge  and  discharge,  the  elec- 
trolyte remained  unchanged  with  respect  to  specific  grav- 
ity, conductivity 3  and  the  proportion  of  potash  to  water. 
Also,  because  the  plates  were  Immersed  in  a  solution  that 
was  stable  and  non-Injurious  to  metals,  the  cell  might  be 
left  unused^  either  partially  or  wholly  discharged,  for  a 
considerable  time. 

A  positive  plate  was  composed  of  a  nickel-plated  steel 
grid  holding  thirty  tubes5  each  four  and  one-eighth  Inches 
long  and  with  a  diameter  of  a  quarter-inch  (or  about  that 
of  the  ordinary  lead-pencil),  arranged  in  two  tiers  of 
fifteen  and  packed  with  the  positive  active  material,  nickel 
hydrate.  It  was  lack  of  adequate  electrical  contact  In 
these  positive  pockets  that  had  caused  Edison  to  be  dis- 
satisfied with  "Type  E,5?  and  that  led  to  experiments  last- 
ing about  five  years  and  costing  more  than  a  million 
dollars.  The  tubes  of  "Type  A"  were  of  very  thin  sheet 
steel  and  perforated  with  minute  holes,  through  which  the 
electrolyte  could  seep.  Into  these  tubes  were  packed, 
under  a  pressure  of  about  four  tons  to  the  square  inch, 
layers  of  nickel  hydrate  and  of  the  material  that  finally 
solved  the  contact  problem — nickel-flake.  The  thinness 
of  these  layers  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  it 
required  about  seven  hundred  of  them — about  three 
hundred  and  fifty  of  each  material — to  fill  a  tube. 

is  A  small  amount  of  lithium  hydrate  was  also  used.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1923,  the  newspapers  stated  that  Edison  had  purchased  a  spodu- 
mene  mining  lode  in  the  Black  Hills,  Nebraska.  Spodumene  (or 
triphame)  Is  a  lithium-bearing  mineral, 

214 


A  NEW  STOEAGE  BATTERY 

Nickel  flake  was  made  of  pure  nickel  by  an  electroplating 
process  1T  in  which  a  hundred  layers  of  copper  and  a 
hundred  layers  of  nickel  were  deposited  alternately  upon 
a  metal  cylinder,  then  removed  in  sheet  form  and  placed 
in  a  bath  that  dissolved  away  the  copper.  A  handful  of 
discs  of  tliis  nickel  flake  would  be  as  light  as  feathers. 
A  bushel  of  them  weighs  only  four  and  one-half  pounds. 
When  inserted  in  a  tube,  the  discs  made  excellent  contact 
with  it  and  were  conductors  of  current  to  and  from  the 
nickel  hydrate.  In  order  to  prevent  any  expansion  that 
might  interfere  with  this  contact,  the  tubes  were  made 
with  a  double-lapped  spiral  seam  and  over  them  were 
slipped  metal  rings. 

A  negative  plate  was  composed  of  a  grid  holding 
twenty-four  flat,  rectangular  pockets,  perforated  like  the 
positive  tubes  and  arranged  eight  in  a  row.  The  nega- 
tive active  material  was  an  iron  oxide  quite  like  ordinary 
iron  rust.  Sheets  of  perforated  hard  rubber  insulated 
the  two  end  (negative)  plates  from  the  walls  of  the 
container.  Rods  of  it  separated  adjacent  plates,  and 
cross-pieces  of  it  held  the  plates  above  the  bottom  of  the 
can — only  slightly,  however,  as  the  loss  of  active  material 
was  never  more  than  trifling.  The  container  had  its 
walls  corrugated  to  some  extent  in-  order  to  provide  the 
utmost  rigidity  with  the  least  possible  weight. 

In  a  certain  few  respects  this  nickel-iron  battery 
required  somewhat  particular  care.  The  amount  of 
electrolyte  was  relatively  small.  Hence  the  cells  showed 
a  greater  tendency  than  did  lead  cells  to  heat  suddenly 

17  Under  date  of  1924  the  monograph  "The  Edison  Alkaline  Storage 
Battery"  (National  Education  Association  Joint  Committee  series, 
Monograph  III)  stated  that  according  to  the  practice  at  that  time, 
tubes  were  four  and  one-half  inches  long  and  about  six  hundred  and 
thirty  layers  were  packed  under  a  pressure  of  2,000  pounds  to  the 
square  inch.  In  the  electro-plating,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  films 
of  each  metal  were  deposited. 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
through  excessive  current;  and  the  electrolyte  tended  to 
evaporate.  Also,  the  small  amount  of  electrolyte  and  the 
metal  cans  combined  to  make  the  cell  more  susceptible  to 
cold  than  was  the  lead  cell.  These  matters  were,  how- 
ever, regarded  as  of  slight  Importance  In  comparison  with 
the  many  advantages  offered  by  the  battery  for  electric- 
vehicle  work — such  as  longer  life,  markedly  lighter 
weight,  lower  maintenance  cost,  and  more  than  double 
mileage  per  charge  in  road  performance.  In  other 
words,  the  agood5*  storage  battery  that  Edison  sought 
seemed  to  have  been  found*18 

The  story  of  the  Edison  battery  Is  one  of  insistent 
plodding — quite  devoid  of  spectacular  features  such  as 
were  not  lacking,  for  example,  in  the  work  on  the  incan- 
descent lamp.  As  illustrative  of  Edison's  traits  and 
methods,  it  has,  however,  much  Interest.  A  co-worker 
during  those  ten  years  asserted,  "If  Edison's  experiments, 
Investigations,  and  work  on  the  storage  battery  were  all 
that  he  had  ever  done,  I  should  say  that  he  was  not  only  a 
notable  Inventor,  but  also  a  great  man."  19 

The  nickel-iron  battery  turned  out  to  be  peculiarly 
well  adapted  to  a  field  not  taken  into  account  in  Its  in- 
ventor's original  plans — the  field  of  submarine  service. 
Whatever  might  be  thought  of  the  possibilities  of  the 
submarine  as  an  element  in  warfare  (for  great  argument 
prevailed  regarding  this),  it  was  generally  agreed — and 
especially  by  those  with  experience — that  for  human  so- 
journ a  submarine's  interior  left  much  to  be  desired, 
and  particularly  when  the  vessel  was  submerged.  When 
at  the  surface  of  the  water,  the  submarine  was  driven  by 
internal-combustion  engines.  The  air  inside  it  could  then 

is  j.  B.  Baker,  "Thomas  A.  Edison's  Latest  Invention,"  in  the  "Scien- 
tific American5*  for  January  14,  191L 
and  M.,  II,  555. 

216 


A  XEW  STORAGE  BATTERY 

be  kept  pure.  When  submerged,  the  vessel  was  driven  uy 
electric  motors.  Access  of  outside  air  was  then,  of  course, 
impossible.  A  supply  of  chemically  pure  compressed  air 
was  carried  in  steel  tanks,  and  a  system — complicated  at 
best — was  tried  for  withdrawing  the  air  from  the  vessel's 
interior  j  to  which  it  was  later  returned  filtered,  cooled*  and 
with  the  oxygen  restored  to  it.  These  means  did  not, 
however,  eliminate  the  poisonous  fumes  of  the  lead- 
sulphuric  acid  storage  batteries. 

The  batteries  supplied  current  for  the  motors  that 
drove  the  propellers  when  the  boat  was  submerged,  and 
also  for  auxiliary  motors  used  in  managing  torpedoes,  in 
steering,  in  pumping.  When  minute  bubbles  of  gas — 
oxygen  from  the  positive  plates  and  hydrogen  from  the 
negative — rose  to  the  surface  of  the  electrolyte*  passed 
through  the  open  gas-vent  of  a  cell,  and  floated  away, 
each  carried  its  tiny  load  of  sulphuric  acid,  to  be  released 
in  fumes  when  the  bubble  broke  or  was  evaporated. 
After  a  while — often  without  odor  sufficient  to  attract 
attention — the  air  within  the  boat  would  become  so  tainted 
as  to  cause  coughing  and  sore-throat  among  the  crew. 
This  was  bound  in  time  to  affect  the  lungs  and  general 
health.  More  serious  yet,  if  salt  water  in  any  way  came 
into  contact  with  a  battery,  chlorine  gas  would  be  formed, 
offensive  to  smell  and  extremely  harmful  to  those  who 
breathed  it.  Lead-sulphuric  acid  batteries  had  also  to 
be  installed  with  elaborate  provision  and  consequent 
expense,  lead-lined  rooms  and  lead-lined  ventilating  pipes 
being  part  of  the  specified  equipment. 

The  Edison  nickel-iron  cell  had  a  check-valve  instead 
of  an  open  vent ;  and  in  order  for  the  bubbles  to  escape, 
pressure  enough  to  lift  the  valve  had  to  be  developed 
within  the  cell.  Even  if  the  bubbles  did  escape,  no  harm 
could  be  done,  because  caustic  potash  was  what  the 

217 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
electrolyte  of  this  battery  held  in  solutions  and  potash 
is  (as  is  well  known)  an  excellent  disinfectant.  Never- 
theless, for  submarine  use  Edison  provided  the  battery 
with  a  special  device  that  completely  removed  potash  from 
the  gases.  The  Edison  battery  required  no  lead-lined 
rooms  or  other  protective  equipment.  Uncommonly 
severe  tests  proclaimed  its  sturdiness.  Edison  vouched 
for  its  long  life.  "Keep  it  clean/'  he  said  to  officials  of 
the  United  States  Navy,  "and  give  it  water  and  at  the 
end  of  four  years  it  will  give  its  full  capacity."  And 
when  they  queried  with  surprise,  "Four  years?5*  he  an- 
swered, "Yes.  Four  years,  eight  years ;  it  will  outwear 
the  submarine  itself."  20 

'Hie  Edison  storage  cell  was  also  adapted  to  battery  use 
with  radio  broadcast  receiving-sets.  For  this  purpose, 
the  assemblies  were  of  a  special  type.  It  was  claimed  that 
these  batteries  would  outlast  three  to  six  radio  storage 
batteries  of  any  other  make. 

20  C.   W.  Williams,  "Edison  Solves   Submarine's  Problem,"  in  tlie 
World  Magazine"  for  February,  1915. 


SIS 


xxxxcxxxxxx 


XIV 

LATER  INVENTIONS; 
SERVICES  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT 

FROM  the  appearance  of  Ms  "Type  A55  nickel-iron  stor- 
age battery  until  the  outbreak  of  the  World  War,  Edison 
was  concerned  chiefly  with  the  development  either  of  Ms 
existing  inventions  or  of  new  inventions  derived  from 
these.  For  example,,  he  was  perfecting  his  disc  pho- 
nograph— seeking,  with  excellent  results,  to  get  rid  of 
certain  mechanical  flaws  and  to  approach  more  closely 
to  an  artistic  re-creation  of  instrumental  and  vocal  tones* 

In  1912  he  introduced  the  kinetophone,  which  had  its 
origins  in  two  prior  inventions  of  his,  the  phonograph  and 
the  motion-picture  camera.  He  had  now,  wrote  I.  F. 
Marcosson,  "finally  realized  a  dream  of  many  years  by 
Hnking  two  marvels  of  Ms  genius."  .  .  .  The  kinetophone 
became  popularly  known  as  the  talking  motion-picture. 

"The  kinetophone,"  said  Edison,  "or  rather  the  syn- 
chronization of  sight  and  sound,  is  an  old  idea  of  mine 
that  has  finally  been  realized.  In  one  way  or  another  it 
had  been  in  mind  for  more  than  thirty  years.  Back  in 
the  late  seventies,  when  I  invented  the  phonograph,  it 
was  stirring,  and  in  1887,  when  I  was  able  to  perfect  the 
motion-picture  camera,  that  idea  of  a  combination  of  sight 
and  sound  persisted.  Some  of  my  earliest  experiments  in 
sound  included  an  attempt  to  work  it  out. 

"The  problem  of  actual  synchronization  was  the  least 
difficult  of  my  tasks.  The  hardest  job  was  to  make  a 

219 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
phonographic  recorder  which  would  be  sensitive  to  sound 
a  considerable  distance  away,  and  which  would  not  show 
within  range  of  the  lens.  You  get  some  Idea  of  the  dif- 
ficulty when  I  make  tills  comparison — If  you  estimate  the 
volume  of  sound  at  a  distance  of  one  foot  from  the  recorder 
at  one  hundred  you  find  that  at  a  distance  of  two  feet 
It  diminishes  to  twenty-five*  The  difficulty  has  now  been 
overcome,  although  I  expect  to  make  my  recorder  much 
more  effective  than  it  is  at  present.55 1 

In  order  more  fully  to  appreciate  the  difficulty  to  which 
Edison  thus  referred,  one  may  consider  separately  the 
two  respective  procedures  of  filming  a  motion-picture 
scene  and  of  making  a  phonographic  record.  In  the  first 
case,  the  chief  requirement  with  respect  to  the  camera  Is 
that  the  scene  should  be  within  focus.  Then  the  crank 
is  turned  and  the  "footage95  is  taken.  Characters  may 
speak  their  lines  but  the  action9  when  projected,  is  pan- 
tomime; sound  has  no  part  in  it.  What  the  characters 
may  say  must  be  followed,  if  at  all,  by  lip-reading  only. 
In  the  second  cases  the  chief  requirement  with  respect  to 
the  recording  apparatus  is  to  get  a  satisfactory  record 
of  sound.  It  was  long  found  impossible  to  obtain  such  a 
record  if  the  sound  were  produced  at  more  than  a  com- 
paratively slight  distance  from  the  horn. 

In  the  kinetophone,  the  motion-picture  camera  and  the 
phonographic  recording  apparatus  had  to  be  combined. 
Action  and  sound  were  both  essential.  Characters  must 
move  about,  speaking  or  singing ;  yet  a  satisfactory  record 
must  be  made  of  what  they  said  or  sang.  Hence,  a 
special  recorder  had  to  be  devised — a  recorder  sensitive 
enough  to  catch  and  register  any  sound-wave  at  a  distance 
of  forty  feet,  yet  not  visible  In  the  picture.  Edison 

1 1.  F.  Marcosson,  "The  Coming  of  the  Talking  Picture,"  in  "Munsey's 
Magazine"  for  March,  1913;  pp.  959-960. 

220 


LATER  INVENTIONS 
evolved  a  recorder  that  made  practicable  the  kinetophone. 

Something  further  was,  of  course,  needed — a  syn- 
chronizing device;  that  is,  a  device  by  means  of  which 
action  and  sound  could  be  simultaneously  recorded  and 
simultaneously  reproduced.  Neither  could  be  allowed  to 
run  away  from  the  other.  Edison  contrived  an  ingenious 
arrangement  by  which  this  synchronizing  could  be 
effected. 

For  the  making  of  a  talking  motion-picture,  the  pho- 
nographic record  set  the  pace;  action  was  subordinate  to 
sound.  Beside  the  camera,  and  connected  with  it,  was 
placed  the  sensitive  recorder,  to  which  was  attached  a 
receiving  horn.  When  the  camera-man  started  to  turn 
the  crank,  the  record  and  the  film  began  together.  It 
might  happen  that  there  would  be  no  sound-wave  to  be 
registered  until  several  feet  of  film  had  been  ground  out. 
This  would  be  cared  for  by  means  of  an  automatic  adjust- 
ment. The  record  was  made  on  wax  cylinders  of  the  same 
general  style  as  the  record-blanks  used  with  the  regular 
cylinder  type  of  phonograph.  The  picture  negative  was 
taken  on  standard  celluloid  film.  From  the  wax  originals 
were  made  the  "indestructible59  commercial  records ;  from 
the  film  negatives  were  printed  the  positives  employed 
in  the  projection-lantern. 

When  the  talking  motion-picture  was  produced,  the 
projection-lantern  at  the  rear  of  the  auditorium  was  con- 
nected by  wires  with  a  phonograph  placed  out  of  sight 
behind  the  screen  at  the  front  of  the  auditorium.  The 
operator  of  the  projection-lantern  could  start  or  halt  the 
phonograph  without  leaving  his  place;  but  the  record 
while  it  was  running  really  controlled  him.  That  is,  as 
has  been  said,  it  set  the  pace  for  the  film.  The  state- 
ment was  made  that  the  operator  could  even  turn  his 
back  while  the  picture  was  appearing  on  the  screen. 

221 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
In  November,,  1913,  Edison  remarked  of  the  kineto- 
phone:  "It  isn't  exactly  what  I  want  it  to  be  yet,  but 
it  will  soon  come  as  close  to  perfection  as  these  inventions 
generally  come5  from  my  point  of  view,  for  I  am  never 
satisfied.39  2  The  introductory  exhibitions  of  it  were 
regarded  by  qualified  observers  as  markedly  successful. 
The  material  used  included  instrumental  and  vocal 
selections;  "sketches"  and  tabloid  comedies;  dramatic 
fragments  such  as  the  scene  between  Brutus  and  Cassius 
in  Act  IV  of  "Julius  Csesar55;  operatic  bits  such  as  ex- 
tracts from  "II  Trovatore" ;  part  of  the  Planquette 
operetta  "The  Chimes  of  Normandy95  ("Les  Cloches  de 
Corneville5*).  Kinetograph  features  were  added  for  a 
time  to  the  programmes  of  many  better-class  vaudeville 
houses.  That  a  good  talking  picture  would  be  superior 
to  much  of  the  usual  vaudeville,  there  was  no  doubt. 
Edison  mentioned  the  possibility  of  a  synchronizing 
attachment  that  might  be  placed  on  the  ordinary  pro- 
jection apparatus  of  motion-picture  theaters.  He  said, 
however :  "The  talking  motion  picture  will  not  supplant 
the  regular  silent  motion  picture.  Each  has  its  distinct 
use."  He  also  appreciated  the  difficulties  involved  in 
preparing  for  the  kinetophone  more  sustained  material  in 
full  length. 

The  novelty  soon  passed  of  the  use  of  the  talking  pic- 
ture for  popular  amusement.  Edison  turned  to  other 
things.  When  peaceful  development  was  resumed  after 
the  World  War  effort,  radio-telephony  quickly  advanced 
as  an  engrossing  new  interest.  In  1926,  in  a  newspaper 
interview,  Edison  was  reported  to  have  given  it  as  his 
opinion  that  the  talking  motion-picture  would  not  be  a 
commercial  success  in  the  United  States  because  the 

2  Bailey  Millard,  "Pictures  That  Talk,"  in  the  "Technical  World 
Magazine'*  for  March,  1913, 

222 


LATER  INVENTIONS 

American  public  preferred  the  "silent55  film.  The  larger 
possibilities  inherent  in  the  talking  picture  when  used  for 
purposes  of  historical  and  scientific  record,  may,  however, 
be  said  to  be  as  yet  untried. 

In,  1914  Edison  announced  the  telescribe,  on  which  he 
had  been  working  since  1909,  and  the  transophone,  on 
which  he  had  been  working  since  1912.  The  first 
was  an  extension  of  the  use  of  the  phonograph;  the 
second  a  development  of  the  office  phonograph  (dictating 
machine  or  "Ediphone"). 

As  has  earlier  been  pointed  out,3  a  statement  made  by 
Edison  in  1878  showed  that  he  had  even  then  considered 
the  general  notion  of  the  telescribe.  The  general  notion 
was  to  provide  for  making  automatic  records  of  telephone 
conversations.  A  phonograph  had  somehow  to  be  con- 
nected with  receiver  and  transmitter  of  an  ordinary  tel- 
ephone outfit.  Edison,  setting  out  to  accomplish  this,  en- 
countered many  technical  hindrances. 

The  idea  was  finally  realized  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
phonograph  by  which  telephone  talk  was  recorded  could 
at  other  times  be  used  as  a  regular  dictating  machine, 
and  that  no  change  was  needed  in  the  telephone  equip- 
ment already  installed.  Separate  from  both  the  pho- 
nograph and  the  telephone  was  a  metal  box  containing  a 
highly  sensitive  transmitter;  a  dry  battery  to  provide 
current  for  the  extra  circuit;  and  a  pneumatic  switch 
for  controlling  the  phonograph.  A  person  wishing  to 
have  a  record  made  of  a  telephone  conversation,  removed 
from  its  hook  the  regular  telephone  receiver  and  inserted 
it,  outer  end  down,  in  a  spring-socket  where  it  was  held 
firmly  in  place  upon  a  leather  pad.  The  sensitive 
auxiliary  transmitter  in  the  metal  box  was  thus  au- 
tomatically connected*  The  place  of  the  regular  tel- 

s  See  Chapter  IX,  p.  98. 

223 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
ephone  receiver  was  taken  by  a  handy  substitute  attached 
to  the  extra  circuit.     The  phonograph  had  a   special 
receiver  that  could  be  swung  into  position  above  the 
phonographic  recorder  but  was  not  connected  with  it. 

When  once  connection  had  been  obtained  on  the  tel- 
ephone line  and  the  record-cylinder  had  been  released  by 
means  of  the  switch,  a  record  could  be  made — not  only 
of  what  was  heard  at  the  substitute  receiver  but  also  of 
what  was  spoken  into  the  regular  transmitter.  The 
auxiliary  transmitter  in  the  metal  box  vibrated  in  unison 
with  the  diaphragm  of  the  telephone  receiver  in  the  spring- 
socket,  and  the  vibration  was  passed  along  to  the  special 
receiver  adjusted  over  the  phonographic  recorder.  The 
diaphragm  of  the  recorder  vibrated  in  its  turn;  and  as 
the  phonograph  cylinder  revolved,  the  cutting-tool  incised 
a  record-groove  in  the  wax.  A  cylinder  bearing  such  a 
record  was  called  a  "telescript,5*  and  could  be  filed  away 
for  reference,  repetition,  or  transcript.  By  means  of  the 
switch,  the  record-cylinder  could  be  halted  and  started 
again  as  desired.  Thus  certain  portions  of  a  conversa- 
tion might  be  selected  for  record,  and  others  omitted. 
The  office  phonograph  used  was  of  the  current  Edison 
type,  but  previous  types  could  be  adapted.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  such  a  device  might  serve  numerous  useful  pur- 
poses in  many  fields.  Edison's  study  of  electro-magnetic 
recorders  in  connection  with  his  telescribe  experiments  was 
later  to  prove  of  service  in  the  sound-ranging  apparatus 
developed  by  him  at  the  time  of  the  World  War. 

The  transophone  was  a  mechanical  improvement  that 
Edison  made  in  the  control  of  the  office  phonograph, 
When  the  original  office  phonograph  (dictating  machine 
or  "Ediphone")  was  subjected  to  everyday  use,  a  lack 
was  discovered.  Typists  might  wish  a  small  part  of 
their  material  repeated — as,  for  example,  when  they  had 

224, 


LATER  INVENTIONS 

failed  to  catcli  certain  words.  They  found  that  such  a 
partial  repetition  was  impossible — the  record  would  have 
to  be  started  all  over  again.  To  remedy  this  defect3  a 
lever  arrangement  was  added.  By  means  of  the  lever, 
the  reproducing  stylus  could  be  set  back  to  a  desired 
point  on  the  record.  But  to  throw  the  lever,  the  typist 
had  to  turn  from  the  typewriting-machine.  Hence 
occurred  a  certain  break  in  the  typist's  attention  and  a 
certain  suspension  of  the  immediate  work.  The  con- 
sequent loss  of  time  was  objected  to  in  a  business  world 
wherein  "motion  study"  was  a  topic  of  the  hour  and 
the  "efficiency"  of  clerical  assistants  was  coming  to  be 
minutely  examined.  Furthermore,,  many  typists,  cling- 
ing to  the  shorthand  note-book,  were  quite  ready  on 
general  principles  to  find  fault  with  dictating  machines. 
Edison  therefore  developed  the  transophone.  As  in  the 
case  of  the  telescribe,  many  obstacles  had  to  be  overcome. 

Close  to  the  keyboard  of  the  typewriting-machine  was 
placed  an  electric  switch  having  a  button  similar  to  a 
key  of  the  machine.  The  typist  depressed  this  sup- 
plementary key  by  a  touch  like  that  used  for  depressing 
one  of  the  regular  keys.  On  the  phonograph  was  a  mag- 
net. When  depressed,  the  button  (or  supplementary 
key)  affected  a  quick-acting  make-and-break  (or  in- 
terrupter) on  the  magnet  circuit.  The  circuit  was  closed, 
the  magnet  was  energized,  and  the  armature  of  the  magnet 
was  attracted.  Thus  a  cam  attachment  was  moved  and 
the  travelling  carriage  was  raised  from  the  feed-screw 
and  "back-spaced55 — that  is,  moved  back  to  a  given  point. 

It  was  claimed  that  through  the  transophone  the 
"efficiency"  of  a  typist  was  increased  by  as  much  as 
twenty-five  per  cent.  At  the  same  time,  the  typist's  own 
comfort  and  convenience  were  decidedly  enhanced.  The 
regular  progress  of  the  record  was  started  or  halted  by 

225 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
a  foot-pedal.     The  transophone  device  was  so  made  that 
with  but  little  trouble  it  might  be  connected  to  any  stand- 
ard dictating  machine. 

In  making  records  for  his  disc  phonograph,  Edison 
used  a  certain  chemical.  It  was  said  that  he  used  more 
of  it  than  did  any  other  manufacturer  in  the  United 
States.  The  chemical  was  phenol.  Phenol  is  carbolic 
acid  (C6H5OH)?  and  Edison  used  it  in  crystallized  form* 
"It  works  beautifully/'  he  said  to  a  friend/  "and  really 
it  is  indispensable.55 

The  main  commercial  source  of  phenol  was  coal-tar — 
that  portion  of  coal-tar  that  distils  at  between  150  and 
200  degrees  Centigrade.  It  had  never  been  commercially 
profitable  to  extract  phenol  from  American  coal,  so  small 
was  the  fraction  of  phenol  that  American  coal  yielded. 
English  and  German  coal  was  found  satisfactory  for  the 
purpose ;  and  for  this  reason  the  phenol  used  in  the  United 
States  came  from  England  and  Germany.  When  the 
World  War  began,  the  supply  of  phenol  from  England 
and  Germany  was  interrupted.  It  was  interrupted 
because  phenol  was  required  for  making  picric  acid 
(trinitrophenol) ;  and  picric  acid  was  in  demand  in  both 
England  and  Germany  because  it  entered  into  the  for- 
mulae of  high-power  explosives. 

Edison  sounded  American  manufacturers  of  chemicals 
as  to  whether  they  would  undertake  the  manufacture  of 
synthetic  phenol — that  is?  phenol  prepared  by  uniting 
various  elements  into  a  compound.  They  reported  that 
months  would  be  needed — somewhere  from  six  to  nine — 
before  they  could  furnish  any.  Edison  didn't  intend,  if 
lie  could  help  it,  to  shut  down  his  disc-record  works.  He 

4W.  P.  Phillips,  "Edison,  Bogardus  and,  Carbolic  Acid,"  in  the  Elec- 
trical Review  and  Western  Electrician"  for  November  14,  1914. 

226 


LATEE  INVENTIONS 

decided  to  make  synthetic  phenoL  He  studied  the  various 
known  processes,  selected  the  process  he  believed  most 
suitable,  and  established  a  formula. 

Three  shifts  of  men  were  set  at  work  to  build  a  factory. 
On  the  eighteenth  day  after  ground  was  broken,  the  fac- 
tory was  running  and  was  turning  out  a  thousand  pounds 
of  synthetic  phenol  a  day.  This  output  was  sufficient  to 
keep  the  disc  works  going,  and  a  shut-down  was  averted. 
The  phenol  was  purer  than  that  derived  from  coal-tar; 
better,  in  fact,  than  was  called  for  by  the  "United  States 
Pharmacopoeia."  Within  a  month  after  it  was  started, 
the  plant  was  capable  of  turning  out  a  ton  daily;  and 
Edison  disposed  of  surplus  product  to  be  converted  into 
aspirin,  salicylate  of  soda,  salicylic  acid,  and  salol. 
"Phenol  is  hard  to  make,59  he  admitted,  "but  that's  why  I 
like  to  do  it."  .  .  .5 

When  Edison  closed  his  ore-milling  plant,6  with  its 
frame  buildings,  the  insurance  on  it  was  cancelled  by  the 
insurance  companies.  According  to  Edison,  they  said, 
when  he  asked  the  reason:  "Oh,  this  thing  is  a  failure. 
<The  moral  risk  is  too  great.3*  To  which  he  replied  that 
he  was  glad  to  hear  it,  and  that  he  would  thereafter  build 
plants  that  had  no  such  thing  as  a  moral  risk.  Accord- 
ingly his  cement  mill  at  New  Village  was  built  of  steel 
and  concrete,  with  "not  a  wagon-load  of  timber"  (as  he 
said).7  The  later  buildings  at  West  Orange  were  con- 
structed in  the  same  way.  At  that  time  it  was  generally 
believed  that  structures  of  these  combined  materials  were 
practically  indestructible  by  fire.  This  belief  had  not, 
however,  really  been  conclusively  tested. 

s  "Edison's  Gift  to  Humanity,"  in  "'The  Literary  Digest"  for  October 
2,  1915. 

6  See  Chapter  XII,  pp.  194r-200. 

7  D.  and  M.,  II,  520. 

227 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
On  the  night  of  December  9th,  1914,  the  West  Orange 
establishment  was  partly  destroyed  by  a  fire  that  started 
in  a  film-inspection  booth  in  a  one-story  frame  building. 
Six  buildings  of  wood  or  brick  were  burned,  as  were  the 
contents  of  seven  structures  of  reinforced  concrete. 
Equipment  was  wrecked  and  quantities  of  supplies  were 
consumed.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  10th  a  force  of 
men  was  at  work  clearing  away  the  ruins,  and  during  the 
day  this  force  was  greatly  increased.  The  work  was  car- 
ried forward  by  night  and  day.  Inside  of  thirty-six 
hours  after  the  fire,  Edison  had  Issued  orders  for  a  full 
reconstruction  of  the  plant.  From  a  study  of  the  fire's 
results,  he  felt  that  he  had  learned  much  about  methods  by 
which  reinforced  concrete  might  be  made  more  truly  fire- 
resisting.  These  effects  were  also  studied  by  a  committee 
of  the  American  Concrete  Institutes  and  the  committee's 
detailed  and  illustrated  report  was  undoubtedly  of  great 
value  to  architects,  plant  engineers,  and  others.8 

From  the  midst  of  this  fire  a  framed  photograph  of 
Edison  was  recovered.  The  heat  had  cracked  the  glass, 
the  blaze  had  charred  the  frames  but  the  portrait  had 
escaped.  On  the  mount  of  the  photograph,  Edisom 
lettered :  NEVER  TOUCHED  ME  ! 

On  July  7th,  1915,  Josephus  Daniels,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  addressed  to  Edison  a  letter  in  which  it  was  pro- 
posed that  the  inventor  undertake  "a  very  great  service" 
to  "the  Navy  and  the  country  at  large."  The  Secretary 
said  that  in  his  judgment  an  imperative  need  of  the  Navy 
was  "machinery  and  facilities  for  utilizing  the  natural 
inventive  genius  of  Americans,"  in  order  to  "meet  the  new 
conditions  of  warfare  as  shown  abroad-"  (It  was  evident 

s  This  was  printed  originally  in  the  "Journal"  of  the  Institute,  and 
was  reprinted  in  pamphlet  form  (104  pp.;  JPhHadelpMa,  1915), 

228 


LATER  INVENTIONS 

that  he  had  especially  In  mind  the  submarine  and  the  part 
it  was  playing  in  the  World  War,  then  in  progress.)  He 
therefore  intended  to  establish  aa  department  of  invention 
and  development/3  to  which  might  be  referred  "all  ideas 
and  suggestions,  either  from  the  service  or  from  civilian 
inventors.55  9 

At  the  time  of  writing,  he  explained,  inventions  received 
from  the  public  had  to  be  turned  over  to  various  Navy 
bureaus  "already  overcrowded  with  routine  work." 
Hence  attention  could  not  always  be  given  to  ideas  and 
suggestions  that  might  be  worthy  but  were  undeveloped. 
Naval  officers  on  sea  duty  were  in  a  position  to  note  where 
certain  improvements  might  be  made,  but  had  neither  the 
time  nor  the  special  training  "nor,  in  many  cases,  the 
natural  inventive  turn  of  mind'*  to  put  into  definite  shape 
such  ideas  as  they  might  have.  Then,  too,  the  Navy 
Department  lacked  facilities  for  experimenting.  Thus 
it  was  that  the  Secretary  came  to  consider  the  idea  of  a 
board  of  specially  selected  men,  to  whom  might  be  referred 
ideas  and  suggestions  submitted  to  the  Navy  Department. 
Though  means  were  at  hand  to  make  a  start,  yet  even- 
tually such  a  board  would  require  Congressional  appro- 
priations, and  therefore  "Congress  must  be  made  to  feel 
that  the  idea  is  supported  by  the  people." 

"...  I  feel,"  continued  the  Secretary,  "that  our 
chances  of  getting  the  public  interested  and  back  of  this 
project  will  be  enormously  increased  if  we  can  have,  at 
the  start,  some  man  whose  inventive  genius  is  recognized 
by  the  whole  world  to  assist  us  in  consultation  from  time 
to  time  on  matters  of  sufficient  importance  to  bring  to 
his  attention.  You  are  recognized  by  all  of  us  as  the  man 
above  all  others  who  can  turn  dreams  into  realities  and 

»L.    N,   Scott,    "Naval    Consulting   Board    of   the    United    States'* 
(Washington,  1920)*    This  is  the  official  history  of  the  Board. 

229 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
who  has  at  his  command,  in  addition  to  his  own  wonderful 
mind,  the  finest  facilities  in  the  world  for  such  work. 

"What  I  want  to  ask  is  if  you  would  be  willing,  as  a 
service  to  your  country,  to  act  as  an  adviser  to  this  board9 
to  take  such  things  as  seem  to  you  to  be  of  value,  but 
which  we  are  not  at  present  equipped  to  investigate9  and 
to  use  your  own  magnificent  facilities  in  such  investiga- 
tion if  you  feel  it  worth  while.  For  our  part  we  will  en- 
deavor not  to  bother  you  with  trivial  matters,  as  we  will 
probably  have  sufficient  facilities  to  handle  such  small 
matters  as  they  come  up.  This  is  a  great  deal  to  ask?  and 
I  unfortunately  have  nothing  but  the  thanks  of  the  Navy, 
and  I  think  of  the  country  at  large,  together  with  the 
feeling  of  service  to  your  country  that  you  will  have,  to 
offer  you  by  way  of  recompense." 

The  Secretary  added  that  he  relied  chiefly  upon  Edi- 
son's aid,  and  hesitated,  if  that  aid  were  not  forthcoming, 
to  undertake  the  matter  at  all.  On  July  18th,  1915,  Dr. 
M.  R.  Hutchison,  Edison's  chief  engineer  and  personal 
representative,  called  upon  Secretary  Daniels  in  Wash- 
ington and  informed  him  that  Edison  had  consented  to 
head  a  board  such  as  the  Secretary  had  proposed.  The 
Secretary  and  Edison  later  had  a  conference  at  "Glen- 
monL'5  Then  the  Secretary  wrote  to  the  presidents  of 
eleven  technical  societies,10  asking  that  each  society  choose 
two  of  its  members  to  serve  on  the  projected  board.  Dr. 
M,  R.  Hutchison  was  added  by  Secretary  Daniels  to  the 
personnel.  The  organization  meeting  of  the  board  was 

10  They  v,cre:  American  Aeronautical  Society;  American  Chemical 
Society;  Ane.ican  Electrochemical  Society;  American  Institute  of 
Electr.cal  Engineers;  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers;  Amer- 
ican Malhem  :'Jeal  Society;  American  Society  of  Aeronautic  Engineers; 
American  Socirty  of  Civil  Engineers;  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers ;  American  Society  of  Mining  Engineers ;  Inventors'  Guild, 

230 


LATER  INVENTIONS 

held  on  October  7th,  1915,  at  the  Navy  Department  i& 
Washington,  and  the  official  title  "Naval  Consulting 
Board  of  the  United  States"  was  adopted.  Edison  was 
elected  the  Board's  first  chairman,  but  subsequently 
William  L.  Saunders  became  chairman  and  Edison's 
official  title  was  changed  to  "president.55  It  was  at  the 
outset  understood  between  Edison  and  Secretary  Daniels 
that  Edison  was  to  act  as  adviser  to  the  Board,  not  to  give 
his  time  to  executive  and  administrative  duties.  The 
Naval  Consulting  Board  had  at  first  no  fixed  status  but 
was  simply  attached  in  an  advisory  capacity  to  the  office 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  On  August  26th,  1916, 
it  was  legalized  by  Congress. 

One  of  the  first  constructive  tasks  undertaken  by  the 
Board  was  an  industrial  inventory  of  the  United  States 
for  the  purpose  of  collecting  data  on  the  basis  of  which  the 
manufacturing  resources  of  the  country  might,  in  case 
of  emergency,  be  organized  to  produce  materials  needed 
for  use  in  war.  In  connection  with  this  inventory,  an 
"industrial  preparedness  campaign"  was  inaugurated  to 
arouse  the  interest  of  the  public  in  the  subject  of  "pre- 
paredness." The  inventory  was  accomplished  in  about 
five  months. 

On  May  13th,  1916,  a  "citizens*  preparedness  parade95 
took  place  in  New  York  City.  Announcement  had  been 
made  that  Edison  intended  to  march,  and  he  had  received 
letters  threatening  his  life.  Nevertheless,  he  appeared  in 
line,  and,  with  two  secret-service  men  on  each  side  of  him, 
covered  the  entire  route.  With  him  walked  the  Naval 
Consulting  Board,  leading  the  engineers5  section  of  the 
parade.  All  along  the  way,  he  was  recognized  and 
greeted  with  applause.  (It  was  officially  recorded  that 
he  "seemed  to  receive  more  applause  than  any  other 

231 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
marcher. ??)     The   newspapers   carried  pictures   of  him 
marching  and  referred  to  the  influence  exerted  by  Ms 
presence. 

The  Naval  Consulting  Board  tendered  its  services  to 
the  Council  of  National  Defense.  This  offer  was  accepted 
and  the  Board  became  one  of  the  subordinate  agencies  of 
the  Council,  with  the  title  of  Board  of  Inventions.11  The 
National  Research  Council  acted  as  the  science  and 
research  agency  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense.12 
The  Naval  Consulting  Board  thus  came  to  serve  as 
a  board  of  inventions  for  both  the  Navy  Department 
and  the  United  States  Government.  From  inventors 
throughout  the  United  States,  it  received  hundreds  of 
suggestions  and  ideas  a  week — chiefly  having  to  do  with 
naval  matters.  Several  members  of  the  Board  developed 
inventions  of  their  own. 

In  January,  1917,  Edison,  at  the  request  of  Secretary 
Daniels,  undertook  the  study  of  such  plans  and  the  devel- 
opment of  such  inventions  as  he  deemed  might  be  of  use 
if  the  United  States  became  involved  in  the  war.  He 
turned  over  his  business  affairs,  to  others  and  abandoned 
the  research  and  experiment  in  which  he  was  then  engaged. 
For  two  years  he  gave  his  attention  entirely  to  this 
special  work.  In  his  laboratory  workshops  some  fifty 
skilled  mechanics  were  available  for  constructing  experi- 
mental apparatus.  On  his  staff  were  several  young 
engineers  who  acted  as  technical  assistants ;  and  to  these 
were  added  other  technical  men  detailed  from  industrial 
establishments  and  volunteers  from  the  universities  and 

11  This  arrangement  dated  from  February  15,  1917.     The  Council  of 
National  Defense  consisted  of  the  secretaries  of  Agriculture,  Commerce, 
the  Interior,  Labor,  the  Navy,  and  War. 

12  This  connection  dated  from  February  28,  1917.    The  National  Ee- 
search  Council  had  been  organized  in  April,  1916,  at  the  request  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  by  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences* 

232 


LATEE  INVENTIONS 

colleges.  Secretary  Daniels  afterward  wrote  13  that  Edi- 
son "practically  became  a  naval  officer,  spending  long 
months  in  the  Navy  Department  and  extended  periods  of 
deep-sea  cruising  that  he  might  be  in  the  closest  touch  with 
the  problems  to  be  solved.95  Edison's  inventions  were 
experimentally  developed  to  a  point  where  a  definite  report 
could  be  submitted  to  Army  or  Navy  officials,  to  whom 
they  were  designed  to  furnish  new  ideas,  provocative  of 
further  experiment. 

It  has  sometimes  been  supposed  that  Edison  had  never 
previously  been  interested  in  inventions  connected  with 
warfare.  This  is  a  mistake.  At  the  time  of  the  Spanish- 
American  War  (1898) ,  he  suggested  to  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment the  use  of  a  shell  containing  a  compound  of  calcium 
carbide  and  calcium  phosphite,  for  making  enemy  ships 
visible  at  night.  Such  a  shell  wrould  explode  on  striking 
the  water,  and  the  compound  would  take  fire.  The  result- 
Ing  flare  could  not  be  extinguished  and  would  burn  for 
several  minutes,  with  an  effective  range  of  from  four  to 
five  miles.  Edison  also  aided  W.  Scott  Sims  in  produc- 
ing the  Sims-Edison  torpedo.  This  torpedo  was  hung 
from  a  float  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  held  a  few  feet  below 
the  surface  of  the  water.  It  contained,  in  addition  to  the 
explosive  charge,  a  small  electric  motor  that  furnished 
driving  and  steering  power.  When  fired,  it  trailed  behind 
it  an  electric  cable  through  which  it  could  be  controlled. 
The  torpedo  was  found  to  be  lacking  in  speed  to  such  an 
extent  that  its  practical  value  was  seriously  impaired, 
and  before  long  it  became  obsolete. 

Official  acknowledgment  has  been  made  of  thirty-nine 
inventions  and  plans  communicated  by  Edison  to  the 
Washington  authorities  as  a  result  of  the  work  taken  tip 
at  Secretary  Daniels'  request.  These  are: 

13  la  Ms  Preface  to  Scott's  book. 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 

Listening  device  for  detecting  submarines 

Method  for  quick  turning  of  ships 

Strategic  plans  (with  maps)  for  saving  cargo  boats 
from  submarines 

Collision  mats 

Plan  for  taking  merchant  ships  out  of  mined  harbors 

Scheme   for  camouflaging  cargo  boats  and  burning 
anthracite  coal 

Plan  for  coast  patrol  by  submarine  buoys 

Cartridge  (or  small  depth  bomb)   for  taking  sound- 
ings 

Sailing  light  for  convoys 

Plan  for  smudging  sky-line 

Plan  for  obstructing  torpedoes  by  nets 

Underwater  searchlight 

Oleum  "clouds-shell 

High-speed  signalling  shutter  for  use  with  searchlight 

Water-penetrating  projectile 

Method  of  observing  periscopes  in  silhouette 

Steamship  decoy 

Study  of  zigzagging  by  merchant  ships  in  the  danger 
zone 

Device  for  reducing  rolling  of  warships 

Method  of  obtaining  nitrogen  from  the  air 

Method  of  stabilizing  submerged  submarines 

Hydrogen  detector  for  submarines 

Induction  balance  for  submarine  detection 

Device  for  protecting  observers  from  smokestack  gas 

Turbine  head  for  projectiles 

Scheme  for  mining  Zeebrugge  harbor 

Mirror-reflection  signal  system 

Device  for  lookout  men 

Oleum  shell  for  blinding  submarines 

Method  of  extinguishing  fires  in  coal-bunkers 

284 


LATER  INVENTIONS 

Device  for  "finding9*  enemy  airplanes 

Apparatus  for  sound-ranging 

Telephone  system  for  ships 

Extension  ladder  for  "spotting-top" 

Reacting  shell 

Night  glass 

Oil  for  smudging  periscopes 

Attachment  for  keeping  range-finders  free  of  spray 

Means  for  preserving  submarine  and  other  guns  from 
rust 

It  will  be  noted  that  these  items  have  very  largely  to 
do  with  naval  equipment  and  affairs.  Only  a  few  of  them 
can  here  be  described,  and  they  in  but  the  briefest  fashion. 
The  twelve  selected  have  been  chosen  on  BO  particular 
basis,  but  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as  representative  in 
that  they  serve  to  indicate  how  extensively  Edison  was 
occupied  with  the  question  of  defence  against  sub- 


marines.14 


Listening  Device  for  Detecting  Submarines. — This  took 
the  form  of  an  outrigger  to  be  suspended  from  the  bow 
of  a  merchant  ship.  The  listening  device^  proper  was 
about  twenty  feet  long  and  sixteen  inches  wide,  with  a 
brass  body  containing  tubes  of  brass  and  a  phonograph 
diaphragm  at  the  end  that  hung  in  the  water.  By  means 
of  a  worm  worked  by  an  electric  motor,  bowsprit  and  arm 
could  be  swung  toward  the  ship  and  the  listening  device 
could  thus  be  landed  on  deck,  so  that  necessary  repairs 
could  conveniently  be  made.  A  compensating  arrange- 
ment "cancelled  out"  the  noise  of  the  ship's  engines ;  and 
by  aid  of  an  adjustment,  confusing  noises  made  by  other 
boats  could  likewise  be  excluded. 

Even  in  the  roughest  seas,  with  a  ship  going  full  speed 
(in  that  case,  fourteen  knots),  this  device  resisted  injury. 

i*  Scott's  volume  has  here  been  used  as  chief  authority* 

285 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
While  the  ship  was  proceeding  at  full  speed  ahead5  other 
boats  could  be  heard  at  a  distance  of  1,700  yards  and  a 
submarine  bell  could  be  heard  at  a  distance  of  five 
and  one-half  miles  In  the  midst  of  a  heavy  storm.  It 
was  stated  that  with  this  contrivance,,  a  torpedo — "the 
noisiest  craft  that  sails  the  sea55 — could  readily  be  heard 
at  a  distance  of  over  4,000  yards. 

Method  for  Quick  Turning  of  Ships. — This  was  to  be 
used  In  connection  with  the  listening  device.  By  this 
means.  If  the  noise  of  a  torpedo  had  been  heard,  a  merchant 
ship  could  quickly  change  to  a  course  at  a  right  angle  to 
its  previous  course  and  thus  avoid  the  torpedo.  Four  sea- 
anchors  were  used.  A  sea-anchor  is  a  stout  canvas  bag 
of  conical  shape,  with  a  small  rope  attached  to  the  little 
end  and  a  heavy  rope  fastened  to  the  mouth  end. 
This  heavy  rope  is  made  fast  to  the  ship.  Such  an 
anchor  is  ordinarily  used  for  arresting  the  speed  of 
a  vessel.  It  is  thrown  into  the  sea  and,  filling  with  waters 
acts  as  a  drag.  Tension  on  the  small  rope  opens  the 
little  end  of  the  bag  by  means  of  a  slip-noose. 

The  four  sea-anchors  used  by  Edison  were  each  nine 
feet  in  diameter  at  the  mouth  end  and  hitched  to  a  four- 
inch  rope.  The  ropes  were  firmly  attached  to  the  bow 
and  the  anchors  were  placed  amidships.  If  the  listening 
device  detected  a  torpedo^  the  anchors  were  to  be  cast 
overboard  and  the  helm  at  the  same  time  thrown  hard 
over.  This  method  was  tried  successfully  with  small 
boats  and  also  with  the  5,000-ton  U.  S.  S.  "Clio/3  loaded 
with  4,200  tons  of  coal.  The  "Clio59  in  two  minutes  and 
ten  seconds  was  turned  ninety  degrees  from  her  original 
course,  with  an  advance  of  only  200  feet. 

Collision  Mats. — These  were  Intended  to  reduce  losses 
of  shipping  from  damage  by  torpedoes.  One  of  the  mats 
was  to  be  launched  In  such  a  way  as  to  cover  the  opening 

236 


LATER  INVENTIONS 

made  by  a  torpedo  explosion.  Each  mat  was  forty  feet 
long  and  thirty-five  feet  wide,  and  was  rolled  on  a  six- 
inch  pipe.  The  time  required  for  launching  was  only 
ifteen  seconds. 

Cartridge  (or  Small  Depth  Bomb)  for  Taking  Sound- 
ings. — This  was  a  bomb  about  the  size  of  the  ordinary 
shotgun  cartridge  (shell)  and  could  be  produced  at  com- 
paratively low  cost.  It  was  designed  for  use  by  vessels 
equipped  with  the  listening  device  already  mentioned* 
and  was  for  "safety  signalling95  in  fogs  and  for  finding 
out  whether  or  not  a  safe  depth  of  water  was  under  a  boat. 
Two  types  were  devised — one  to  explode  on  touching 
bottom,  the  other  to  explode  at  a  given  depth  for  which 
it  had  been  set.  In  the  first  instance,  the  elapsed  time  be- 
tween the  firing  of  the  bomb  and  its  explosion  would  in- 
dicate (with  the  aid  of  a  carefully  prepared  time-table) 
the  depth  of  water. 

Sailing  Light  for  Convoys. — This  was  evolved  to  meet 
the  demand  for  a  light  that  should  not  be  visible  from 
the  deck  of  an  enemy  submarine  at  the  surface  of  the 
water.  It  consisted  of  several  discs  painted  dead  black 
and  each  approximately  eighteen  inches  in  diameter* 
The  discs  were  about  a  thirty-second  of  an  inch  apart,  and 
a  six-candlepower  incandescent  electric  lamp  was  so  placed 
as  to  shine  between  them.  A  gyroscope  run  by  a  small 
electric  motor  kept  the  whole  device  constantly  horizontal 
and  thus  independent  of  the  motion  of  the  vessel  at  a 
given  time.  In  this  manner  the  light-rays  remained  par- 
allel ;  and  hence,  though  invisible  from  the  periscope  or 
deck  of  an  enemy  submarine,  they  were  visible  to  an  ob- 
server in  the  crow's-nest  of  another  vessel  of  the  convoy. 

Underwater  Searchlight. — A  long  series  of  experiments 

,  was  conducted  in  the  attempt  to  provide  a  searchlight 

for  underwater  use  by  submarines.     Arc  lamps  were  em- 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
ployed  in  connection  with  tubes  filled  with  water.  Car- 
bons bearing  various  elementary  substances  were  tried 
for  the  arcs,  and  the  green  lines  in  the  spectrum  of  barium 
were  found  more  effective  in  penetrating  salt  water  than 
was  any  other  sort  of  ray  noted  in  the  tests.  With  these 
lines,  sufficient  light  was  transmitted  through  a  sixty- 
foot  tube  filled  with  sea  water  to  permit  print  to  be  read* 

Oleum  "Clouds-shells. — Experiments  were  made  with  a 
shell  that,  on  bursting,  would  yield  a  dense  cloud  of  suf- 
focating white  vapor  that  could  be  particularly  used  to 
interfere  with  the  view  from  enemy  ships.  This  shell  was 
in  a  general  way  constructed  similarly  to  shrapnel  shells 
except  that  the  shrapnel  was  replaced  by  a  can  of  smoke- 
producing  compound. 

High-speed  Signalling  Shutter  for  Use  with  Search- 
light.— This  consisted  of  a  Venetian-blind  arrangement 
set  in  a  frame ;  and,  connected  to  this  shutter,  an  electro- 
magnet in  circuit  with  a  telegraph  key.  The  key  con- 
trolled the  electro-magnet,  and  the  electro-magnet  caused 
the  shutter  either  to  open  or  to  close.  In  this  way* 
signals  could  be  flashed  with  the  Morse  alphabet.  A 
speed  of  forty  words  a  minute  was  attained. 

Steamship  Decoy. — This  was  another  device  intended 
to  aid  in  protecting  merchant  vessels  against  submarines. 
It  was  a  water-tight  drum  of  thin  sheet-iron,  divided  into 
compartments  for  holding  a  smoke-producing  material 
and  provided  with  a  funnel.  When  the  material  had 
been  ignited  and  the  drum  set  adrift,  the  smoke  would 
appear  like  that  from  a  distant  steamer  and  thus  mis- 
lead the  commander  of  a  submarine. 

Hydrogen  Detector  for  Submarines. — A  reliable  instru- 
ment was  needed  for  detecting  the  presence  of  an  excess  of 
hydrogen  gas  and  thus  preventing  explosions.  Edison, 
made  one  that  was  accurate,  simple,  and  so  sensitive  as 


LATER  INVENTIONS 

to  be  capable  of  Indicating  the  presence  of  three  one- 
hundredths  of  one  per  cent,  of  hydrogen  gas  In  a  sub- 
marine's atmosphere. 

Telephone  System  for  Ships. — This  was  a  distinct  im- 
provement over  systems  in  use  at  the  time.  Edison  dis- 
carded microphone  transmitters  and  used  the  receiving 
apparatus  as  a  transmitter.  By  means  of  an  audion,  he 
greatly  increased  the  strength  of  signals.  An  improved 
earpiece  was  also  developed. 

Method  of  Extinguishing  Fires  in  Coal-Bunkers. — In 
seeking  means  for  extinguishing  fires  in  the  coal-bunkers 
of  naval  vessels,  Edison  found  sodium  silicate  (commonly 
known  as  "soluble  glass59  or  "water  glass59)  to  be  markedly 
effective.  If  a  stream  of  the  sodium  silicate  were  played 
upon  a  fire,  the  relatively  small  quantity  of  water  in  the 
silicate  was  evaporated  and  the  incandescent  material  was 
blanketed  with  a  glassy  coating.  This  coating  excluded 
oxygen  and  the  fire  was  thus  extinguished.  The  sodium 
silicate  could  be  cheaply  manufactured. 

In  certain  of  this  war  work,  Edison  was  able  to  turn 
earlier  researches  to  account.  For  example,  long  study 
of  the  phonograph  was  of  aid  in  his  experiments  with  a 
listening  device;  experience  in  telegraphy  and  in  tel- 
ephony was  utilized  in  connection,  respectively,  with  the 
high-speed  signaling  shutter  and  with  the  telephone  sys- 
tem for  ships;  and  knowledge  gained  in  developing  the 
telescribe  assisted  in  the  perfecting  of  the  apparatus  for 
sound-ranging,  which  employed  phonographic  records 
made  with  electro-magnetic  recorders.  Edison,  having 
heard  it  was  said  that  the  Germans  were  manufacturing 
nitric  acid  from  ammonia,  set  up  apparatus  that  he  had 
used  when  he  was  engaged  with  the  problem  of  the  nickel- 
iron  storage  battery.  At  that  time,  while  experimenting 
with  the  reducing  of  iron  by  hydrogen,  he  had  passed 

239 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
hydrogen  and  nitrogen  over  the  reduced  (*.  e.9  finely 
divided)  iron  in  order  to  render  it  non-pyrophorous,14 
and  ammonia  had  been  produced  to  a  considerable  extent. 
He  now  discovered  that  the  reduced  iron,  if  lampblack 
were  mixed  with  it,  would  yield  large  quantities  of  am- 
monia, The  ammonia  could  then  be  absorbed  in  acid. 

Here  and  there  in  Scott5s  history  one  encounters  hints 
of  difficulties  in  the  course  of  these  experiments  for  the 
Government — experiments  whose  full  results  could  be 
attained  only  through  the  medium  of  existing  depart- 
mental bureaus,  with  their  more  or  less  strictly  defined 
duties  and  inflexible  routine.  For  instance,  when  Edi- 
son was  working  on  a  sailing  light  for  convoys,  an  elec- 
trician from  a  United  States  submarine  was  detailed  to 
assist  him ;  but  before  a  perfected  model  had  been  com- 
pleted, this  electrician  was  permanently  withdrawn.15 
When  details  of  Edison's  hydrogen  detector  had  been 
submitted,  service  experts  declared  the  instrument  "too 
fragile.5*  Yet  Edison  later  had  one  of  the  detectors 
placed  on  a  submarine  constantly  used  in  maneuver  prac- 
tice, and  at  the  end  of  nine  months  (at  which  time  it  was 
removed)  it  was  found  to  be  "all  right.??  When  Edison 
was  making  trials  of  his  schemes  for  a  listening  device, 
various  small  steamers  were  placed  at  his  disposal.  "Un- 
fortunately/5  comments  Scott,  "the  respective  vessels  were 
not  in  the  best  of  condition  and  were  laid  up  for  repairs 
at  frequent  intervals."  .  .  .16  Finally,  before  the  experi- 
ments had  been  finished,  the  latest  ship  detailed  was  with- 
drawn— "which,  of  course,  put  an  end  to  the  work." 

14  Some  metals,  of  which  iron  is  one,  will,  when  finely  divided  and 
exposed  to  the  air,  combine  so  rapidly  with  oxygen  that  light  and  heat 
result.  Such  metals  are  said  to  he  "pyrophorous"  or  "pyrophoric." 

is  Preliminary  tests  in  Chesapeake  Bay  had  already  shown  the  prin- 
ciple to  be  a  correct  one. 

is  p.  163. 

240 


LATER  INVENTIONS 

Edison  submitted  ideas  about  a  turbine  head  for  pro- 
jectiles (so  that  eroded  and  smooth-bore  guns  might  be 
used)  5  and  ordnance  experts  said  the  turbine-head  pro- 
jectile would  tumble  (i.  e.y  turn  end  over  end)  when  fired 
from  a  smooth-bore  gun.  Tests  later  made  by  Edison 
with  an  old  smooth-bore  one-pounder  showed  that  the 
turbine-head  projectile  did  not  tumble  but  regular 
projectiles  tumbled  badly.  While  preparing  strategic 
maps  to  suggest  graphically  how,  in  case  enemy  sub- 
marines appeared  near  the  eastern  coast  of  the  United 
States,  trans-Atlantic  and  coastwise  shipping  might  best 
be  managed,  Edison  discovered  that  no  bureau  had  any 
statistics  of  the  sailings  of  coastwise  ships  to  and  from 
the  various  harbors. 

In  10289  on  the  occasion  of  his  usual  birthday  con- 
ference with  newspaper  men,  Edison  was  quoted  as  say- 
Ing;  "I  made  about  forty-five  inventions  during  the  war, 
all  perfectly  good  ones,  and  they  pigeon-holed  every  one 
of  them.  The  naval  officer  resents  any  interference  by 
civilians.  Those  fellows  are  a  close  corporation.5*  .  .  .1T 
No  official  statement,  either  of  a  general  sort  or  directly 
bearing  on  these  remarks,  was  forthcoming  from  the 
Navy  Department,  but  news  dispatches  from  Washing- 
ton reported  that  individual  naval  officers  mildly  dis- 
allowed any  unfriendly  attitude  on  their  part  toward 
civilian  inventors.18 

IT  See  "The  World"  (New  York)  for  February  13;  the  "New  York 
Tribune"  of  the  same  date.    The  interview  was  on  February  12,  tfce 

llth  having  fallen  on  a  Sunday. 


XV 

MISCELLANEOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS 

OSTE  "day  when  he  was  not  far  past  sixty,  Edison,  in  talking 
with  a  friend,  fell  to  reviewing  earlier  inventions.  After 
a  time,  with  an  air  of  having  but  just  made  an  amusing 
discovery,  he  smiled  expansively  and  observed,  "Say,  I 
have  been  mixed  up  in  a  whole  lot  of  things,  haven't  I?"  x 

This  may  be  regarded  as  a  fair  and  modest  inference 
if  one  considers  that  from  June  1st,  1869,  when  a  patent 
was  granted  on  his  automatic  vote-recorder,  to  about  the 
middle  of  1910,  he  applied  for  1,328  distinct  patents — 
roughly  one  for  every  eleven  days  of  the  entire  period. 
It  had  with  reason  been  said  of  him  that  he  kept  the  path 
to  the  Patent  Office  hot  with  his  footsteps.  Moreover-, 
his  inventive  work  is  not  fully  represented  by  the  number 
of  patents  applied  for,  since  certain  inventions  were  kept 
as  "trade  secrets,"  no  attempt  being  made  to  patent  them, 
and  others  were  left  unpatented  and  given  to  the  public. 
Then,  too,  from  one  cause  or  another,  many  ideas  had 
been  left  undeveloped,  many  researches  had  been  aban- 
doned. 

One  of  the  things  Edison  had  been  "mixed  up  in3*  was 
the  electric  railway.  Americans  had  already  made  in- 
genious pioneer  experiments  in  electric  traction.  Thomas 
Davenport,  a  Yankee  blacksmith  and  mechanic  of  Bran- 
don, Vermont,  was  the  earliest.  Moses  Gk  Farmer  (Wil- 
liam Wallace's  technical  assistant  in  arc-lighting)  ex- 

iD.  and  M.,  II,  705. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS 
hibited  through  New  England  a  model  of  an  electric  loco- 
motive. Prof.  C.  G.  Page  built  an  electric  motor  that 
on  April  29th,  1851,  made  a  trip  over  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  from  Washington  to  Bladensburg,  Maryland,  and 
reached  a  maximum  speed  of  nineteen  miles  an  hour. 
Only  about  twenty  years  before  that — In  1830 — had 
Peter  Cooper's  steam  locomotive  run  from  Baltimore  to 
Ellicott's  Mills  and  back  over  a  railway  that  later  became 
part  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  system.  ^Page's  motor 
carried  a  hundred  Grove  cells  to  supply  current.  All 
these  primitive  ventures  depended  on  chemical  batteries. 
That  is  why  their  possibilities  were  limited.  Only  with 
the  appearance  of  the  dynamo  was  a  basis  found  for  true 
progress. 

In  the  spring  of  1880,  busied  though  he  was  in.  perfect- 
ing the  details  of  his  central-station  electric  system,  Edi- 
son managed  to  discover  some  spare  time,  and  he  utilized 
it  by  taking  a  fling  at  the  electric  railway.  At  the  rear 
of  the  laboratory  inclosure  at  Menlo  Park,  he  had  a 
track  laid — an  ungraded  track,  put  together  with  old 
street-car  rails  and  makeshift  insulating  material.  It 
made  a  loop  of  about  a  third  of  a  mile,  swinging  around 
a  little  hill  and  affording  some  risky  curves.  The  gauge 
was  approximately  three  feet  and  six  inches. 

Current  was  furnished  by  two  Edison  lighting  dynamos 
of  what  was  known  as  the  Z  type — colloquially  styled 
along-walsted  Mary  Anns."  These  were  rated  at  not  far 
from  twelve  horsepower  each.  Like  other  Edison  dyna- 
mos, they  had  low  internal  resistance  and  a  high-resistance 
field.  The  current  was  conveyed  underground,  Edison 
being  no  friend  of  overhead  wires.  The  locomotive  was  a 
compeer  of  the  track.  On  an  ordinary  little  four-wheeled 
dump-car  was  mounted  a  third  "Mary  Ann,"  kU  on  its 
side  and  with  its  armature  end  at  the  forward  end  of  the 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
car.  The  current  received  from  one  rail  by  the  wheels 
ca  that  side,  was  carried  to  the  dynamo,  which  was  used 
as  a  motor.  In  like  manner  the  circuit  was  completed 
through  the  opposite  wheels  to  the  other  rail.  The  mo- 
tor was  therefore  said  to  be  ain  parallel55  or  "in  multiple 
arc.5*  Power  was  at  first  transmitted  to  the  driving- 
axle  through  a  troublesome  arrangement  of  friction  pul- 
leys. Should  the  motorman  wish  to  reverse  the  locomo- 
tive, he  worked  a  switch  and  shifted  the  flow  of  current 
through  the  armature-coils.2 

This  machine  had  its  initial  trial  on  May  13th,  1880* 
Everybody  around  the  laboratory  tried  to  crowd  on  board 
for  a  ride.  The  friction-pulley  system  promptly  broke 
down  and  was  immediately  discarded.  Then  belts  were 
tried — one  from  the  armature  to  a  countershaf t,  another 
from  the  countershaft  to  the  axle.  After  the  motor  had 
feeen  started,  the  belt  from  countershaft  to  axle  was  drawn 
taut  by  means  of  an  idler  pulley,  and  thus  the  locomotive 
got  under  way.  This  method  wasn't  much  better  than 
the  friction  pulleys  had  been.  If  the  axle-belt  were  too 
abruptly  tightened,,  the  armature  was  burned.  aThe 
@dor  of  burnt  armature/*  wrote  T.  C.  Martlmy  "was 
grimly  familiar  during  the  tests.**  The  belts  would 
char  if  they  slipped  much — and  they  slipped  continu- 
ally. 

Then  Edison  put  resistance-boxes  in  the  armature 
circuit.  All  over  that  crude  locomotive  he  fastened 
resistance-boxes.  The  resistances  were  successively  "cut 
out5'  as  the  locomotive  was  gradually  brought  up  to  maxi- 
mum speed.  Believing  that  he  could  very  well  do  without 
the  extra  load  of  those  numerous  boxes,  Edisoa  wound 
copper  resistance-wire  around  a  leg  of  the  field-magnet  of 

2T.  C.  Martin,  "Edison's  Pioneer  Electric  BnHway  Wurk/'  In  tl>e 
"Scientific  American**  for  November  18,  1911. 

244 


MISCELLANEOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS 
the  motor.  In  series  with  the  armature3  this  coil  could 
be  put  into  circuit  by  a  plug-key  and  cut  out  of  circuit 
by  the  same  means.  Thus  gradually  was  solved  the  par- 
ticular problem  of  how  to  apply  the  motive  power.  This 
instance  of  development  indicates  how  much  in  this  field 
had  then  to  be  learned  by  experience. 

New  rolling-stock  was  added — an  open  flat  car ;  a  sim- 
ilar car  with  an  awning  over  it  and  two  benches  for  seats ; 
and  an  inclosed  affair  referred  to  as  "the  Pullman."  The 
track  was  extended  to  about  a  mile.  The  Menlo  Park 
line  was  "written  up";  celebrities,,  near-celebrities^  and 
non-celebrities  came  to  behold  and  ride.  Surely  no 
"Puffing  Billy"  or  "Tom  Thumb"  of  early  steam-railway 
days,  drawing  its  little  coach-wagons,  could  have  made  a 
more  fantastic  picture  than  did  Edison's  first  electric 
train  jolting  through  the  back-lots  at  Menlo!  The  loco- 
motive would  do  as  high  as  forty  miles  an  hour,  and  some- 
times the  train  would  jump  the  track,  but  no  casualties 
were  recorded. 

Railway  officials  and  engineers  were  indifferent  or  in- 
credulous. They  were  not  quite  so  rude  as  "Commodore" 
Vanderbilt  was  when  he  dismissed  George  Westinghouse 
and  Westinghouse's  air-brake  with  the  remark  that  he  had 
no  time  to  waste  oa  fools.  They  were  not  quite  so 
amused  as  Gardiner  Hubbard  was  when  he  met  Bell's  ut- 
terances about  the  telephone  with  "Now  you  are  talking 
nonsense."  But  in  their  general  attitude  they  resem- 
bled one  or  the  other  or  both.  President  Frank  Thom- 
son of  the  Pennsylvania  was  one  day  a  passenger.  Edi- 
son wished  to  have  him  install  an  experimental  line  cover- 
ing the  seven  miles  between  Rahway  and  Perth  Amboy; 
tried  to  interest  him  in  plans  for  an  electric  locomotive 
having  six-foot  drivers  and  capable  of  developing  three 
hundred  horsepower.  Thomson  was  more  than  sceptical* 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
He  argued  that  the  thing  was  not  feasible.     Also,  he 
knew  that  nothing  ever  could  or  would  replace  steam. 
Edison  has  since  admitted,  "„  .  .  I  thought  he  might 
perhaps  be  mistaken."  .  .  .3 

One  "practical"  man  who  was  big  enough  to  appreciate 
the  possibilities  in  Edison's  ideas,  was  the  journalist  and 
financier  Henry  Villard,  who,  as  a  director  of  the  Edison 
Electric  Light  company,  had  such  strong  confidence  in 
the  value  of  Edison's  incandescent  system.  Villard,  in  his 
"Memoirs,"  wrote : 4  ".  .  .  Mr.  Villard  was  a  firm  be- 
liever from  the  outset  in  the  availability  of  electricity  as 
a  motive  power  for  transportation.  .  .  ,  He  was  also  con- 
vinced that  the  certain  progress  in  the  art  of  using  the 
electric  current  for  power  and  traction  purposes  would, 
sooner  or  later,  lead  to  its  substitution  for  steam  even  in 
factories  and  on  standard  railroads.9'  ...  In  September* 
1881,  Edison  and  Villard  entered  into  an  agreement  by 
which  Villard  undertook  to  finance  experiments  and  Edi- 
son was  to  build  two  electric  locomotives — one  for  freight, 
capacity  to  be  ten  tons;  the  other  for  passenger  service, 
speed  developed  to  be  sixty  miles  an  hour.  It  was  un- 
derstood that  if  the  trials  proved  successful,  Villard  would 
seek  to  enlist  the  aid  of  the  Edison  Electric  Light  com- 
pany for  the  building  of  not  less  than  fifty  miles  of  elec- 
tric railway  in  the  wheat  country  of  the  West.  Villard 
was  at  that  time  president  of  the  Northern  Pacific,  and 
Ms  plan  was  to  inaugurate  in  this  way  a  series  of  "feed- 
ers," over  which  wheat  could  be  hauled  to  points  on  his 
road* 

The  original  Menlo  track  was  extended  to  about  three 
miles;  construction  was  improved,  and  the  line  rejoiced 
in  a  car-barn,  two  turn-tables,  and  three  sidings.  Duly 

»B.  and  M.,  I,  459, 

4  See  Voi  II,  chapter  viii,  pp.  325-32T. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS 
built,  the  two  new  locomotives  were  conventionally 
equipped  with  pilot,  headlight,  and  cab.  The  passenger 
locomotive  hauled  as  many  as  ninety  passengers  at  one 
time.  The  trials  were  successful  but  had  no  direct  re- 
sults, for  the  Northern  Pacific  fell  into  difficulties  and 
passed  for  the  time  being  from  Villard9s  control.  Moth- 
ing  could  persuade  the  Edison  Electric  Light  company 
to  manifest  concern  as  to  the  "feeder95  project.  Villard 
had  furnished  something  over  $35,000  for  expenses,  and 
this  sum  Edison  personally  repaid. 

Later,  when  Villard  was  again  connected  with  the 
Northern  Pacific  and  Edison  was  at  West  Orange,  Villard 
thought  the  "mountain  division"  might  be  electrified. 
He  consulted  Edison  on  the  matter  and  Edison  devised  the 
"third-rail"  system.  Villard's  engineers  assured  him  that 
anything  of  the  sort  was  quite  impossible.  Evidently  he 
was  no  more  thoroughly  convinced  than  was  Edison.  He 
said  in  his  "Memoirs55:  ".  .  *  As  early  as  January* 
:1892*  he  [i.  e.9  Villard]  convened  a  conference  of  electrical 
and  railroad  experts  in  New  York  to  consider  the  prob- 
lem of  operating  the  Northern  Pacific  terminal  lines  in 
Chicago,  as  well  as  some  of  the  branches  of  the  main  line, 
by  electricity.  The  practicability  of  this  at  that  time 
was  negatived,  but  the  growth  of  electric  traction  in  the 
meantime  has  certainly  rather  confirmed  than  gainsaid 
his  theory  of  the  ulterior  [ultimate?]  prevalence  of  cur- 
rent over  steam.'5  .  .  . 

In  1888  the  Electric  Railway  company  of  America  was 
formed  in  order  to  consolidate  the  interests  of  Edison  and 
of  Stephen  D.  Field.  Edison  was  appointed  consulting 
electrician,  but  active  technical  work  was  left  to  Field. 
A  good  start  was  made,  but  the  business  affairs  of  the 
company  were  poorly  managed,  internal  differences 
cropped  up,  and  in  1890  all  rights  to  Edison  patents  were 

247 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Assigned  to  the  Edison  General  Electric  company,,  organ- 
ized by  Villard  in  1889-  In  1896  the  railway  company 
was  turned  over  to  a  receiver.  The  receiver  sold  Field's 
patents  back  to  Field,  who  sold  them  to  the  Westing- 
iiouse  company*  Thus,  through  no  apparent  fault  of 
either  Field  or  Edison,  their  labors  missed  direct  fulfil- 
ment. The  art  to  whose  beginnings  they  had  lent  such! 
Impetus,  was  carried  forward  by  C.  J.  Van  de  Poele,  Leo 
Daft,  Frank  J.  Sprague,  and  others. 

How  fallible  "practical"  infallibility  may  be  is  indi- 
cated by  certain  later  developments.  Frank  Thomsons 
road  electrified  its  terminal  in  New  York ;  so  did  the  New 
York  Central  system.  The  Manhattan  Elevated,  which 
had  once  rejected  the  electric  method  Edison  specially 
planned  for  it,  subsequently  adopted  electricity,  as  did 
other  elevated  roads.  Electricity  was  used  from  the  first 
in  the  New  York  subways.  Electric  zones  were  intro- 
duced on  the  New  York  Central  and  New  Haven  lines. 
Or  if  one  wished  to  go  further  afield  from  Henlo  Park  and 
West  Orange,  he  might  mention  that  in  time  the  Illinois 
Central  electrified  its  lines  in  and  about  Chicago,  or  that 
both  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  and  the  Great 
Northern  electrified  their  "mountain  divisions.**  It  is 
iiardly  necessary  to  adduce  further  instances  to  show  that, 
after  all,  Edison  and  Villard  were  right.  Rescued  from 
oblivion  at  Menlo,  Edison's  first  electric  locomotive  was 
placed  in  safe-keeping  at  Pratt  Institute  in  Brooklyn, 
JfeirYork. 

Flying  was  another  thing  that  Edison  was  "mixed  up 
In."  He  didn't  fly.  He  built  a  helicopter.  The  heli- 
copter didn't  fly,  either.  The  present  airplane  was  de- 
Yeloped  from  the  glider.  A  helicopter  is  a  flying-machine 
Hesigned  not  to  take  the  air  by  gliding  but  to  rise  verti- 

248 


MISCELLANEOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS 
caHy  from  the  ground*     IB  19&3»  in  Bis  re 
Interview^  Edison  said;5 

al  see  the  helicopter  is  coming  on.  I  always  did  believe 
in  that.  Thirty-eight  years  ago  James  Gordon  Bennett 
gave  me  $15000  to  make  experiments  in  the  direction  of 
flying.  I  constructed  a  helicopter,  but  I  couldn't  get  if 
light  enough.  I  used  stock  ticker  paper  made  into  gon 
cotton  and  fed  the  paper  into  the  cylinder  of  the  engine 
and  exploded  it  with  a  spark. 

"I  got  good  results,  but  I  burned  one  of  my  men  prettf 
badly  and  burned  some  of  my  own  hair  off  and  didn't  get 
much  further.  But  I  knew  then  it  was  only  a  matter  o£ 
experimenting,  and  I  reported  to  Mr.  Bennett  that  when 
an  engine  could  be  made  that  would  only  weigh  three  or 
four  pounds  to  the  horse-power  the  helicopter  would  be 
a  success.  I  believed  it  to  be  the  best  method  and  the 
most  likely  to  be  successful.  I  haven't  changed  my  ntincl* 
but  I  have  had  to  wait  a  long  while.'* 


It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  radio  is  the  onl 
sort  of  wireless  electrical  signalling.  Radio  is,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  but  one  variety  of  "wireless55  —  the  sort 
that  uses  electro-magnetic  waves.  More  than  a  half-* 
century  before  Marconi  started  radio  on  its  career  as  ait 
&rt,  S.  F.  B.  Morse  was  sending  "wireless"  messages 
across  a  canal  in  Washington  by  means  of  electric  con,* 
duction  through  the  water.  After  that*  others  experi- 
mented more  or  less  successfully  with  either  conduction 
or  induction.  Edison  (with  the  aid  of  Ezra  T,  Gilliland) 
worked  out  a  very  satisfactory  "wireless"  system  of  train 
telegraphy,  based  on  what  has  been  called  electrostatic 
induction. 

This  system  was  tried  experimentally  on  the  Statea 
World"  (New  York),  February  13,  1923. 
249 


EDISON;  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Island  rallroad5  and  in  1887  was  put  Into  use  on  the 
Lehigh  Valley.  It  was  commonly  styled  the  "grasshopper 
telegraph.5*  A  special  telegraph  wire,,  on  poles  shorter 
than  the  usual  kind?  was  strung  along  the  railway  line.® 
One  end  of  the  system  was  in  signalling-stations  at  various 
points  on  the  route,  the  other  in  passing  railway  cars. 
Metal  strips  were  laid  on  the  roofs  of  cars  so  used,  and 
these  strips  were  connected  with  a  telegraph  outfit  in 
which  the  standard  apparatus  had  been  modified  by  the 
addition  of  a  "buzzer"  and  a  telephone  receiver.  A" 
signalling-station  had  a  similar  outfit.  In  sending,  the 
**buzzer"  was  kept  vibrating,  and  the  operator  by  means 
of  his  key  broke  the  vibration  into  the  "shorts"  and 
"longs**  of  the  Morse  code.  These  were  transmitted  by 
induction  from  the  telegraph  wire  to  the  car  or  from  car 
to  wire — a  distance  of  not  to  exceed  fifty  feet.  The  tele- 
phone receiver  made  the  received  signals  distinctly  au- 
dible. The  system  continued  in  use  on  the  Lehigh  Valley^ 
for  some  little  time.  Edison  is  authority  for  the  state- 
ment that  the  patents  were  sold  to  a  capitalist  who  de- 
clined to  answer  letters  and  refused  to  sell  any  rights. 

But  Edison  took  another  step  in  the  general  direction 
of  radio.  He  found  that  telegraph  signalling  by  induc- 
tion could  be  made  effective  at  a  much  greater  distance 
than  that  which  sufficed  for  train  telegraphy.  His  idea 
was  to  employ  metal  plates  or  other  suitable  "condensing 
surfaces'*  placed  high  above  land  or  water.  Such  a  sur- 
face was  grounded  through  the  secondary  circuit  of  a 
high-voltage  induction  coil.  The  sending  contrivance 
consisted  of  a  circuit-breaker  that  was  revolved  by  a 
motor  and  was  kept  short-circuited  by  a  key  except  when 
signals  were  sent.  For  sending,  the  key  was  depressed; 
impulses  were  set  up  in  the  primary  circuit  of  the  coil; 
®  Some  accounts  say  that  the  regular  telegraph  wires  were  employed* 

250 


MISCELLANEOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS 
and  the  secondary  circuit  in  turn  produced  correspond-* 
ing  variations  in  electric  stress  at  the  "condensing  sur- 
face.9* These  variations  would  be  intense  enough  to  pro- 
duce electromotive  force  that  would  reach  to  the 
'complemental  plate  at  the  receiving  station.  For  re- 
ceiving?  the  electro-motograph,  Edison5®  "loud-speaking 
telephone/5  was  employed.  The  induced  currents  would 
cause  the  signals  to  be  declaimed  by  the  telephone.  Edi- 
son thought  this  arrangement  especially  well  adapted  t0 
use  between  vessels  on  the  high  seas,  or  between  coast 
stations  and  vessels  in-shore.  Though  he  did  not  de- 
velop it,  it  has  historical  interest. 

Curiously  enough,  he  had  chanced,  several  years  be- 
fore, upon  the  real  key  to  radio.  But  he  and  his  asso- 
ciates, after  about  a  month  of  experiment,  passed  on  to 
other  things  without  having  recognized  the  true  signif- 
icance of  what  they  had  observed;  and  afterward,  when 
he  was  studying  the  matter  of  telegraphy  without  wires, 
he  did  not  think  of  applying  the  "etheric  force'9  that  he 
had  noted.  "Etheric  force"  or  "etheric  current5*  was 
what  he  styled  the  cause  of  the  phenomena  witnessed  at 
Newark  in  1875* 

It  seems  that  while  experimenting  with  a  steel  bar  sus- 
pended near  one  of  its  ends  and  made  to  vibrate  through 
the  action  of  a  magnet,  he  was  forcibly  impressed  by  the 
sight  of  sparks  issuing  from  the  cores  of  the  magnet. 
The  better  to  watch  these  sparks,  he  had  a  "dark  box59 
made.  Inside  the  box  were  two  carbon  points  that  could 
be  adjusted  by  micrometer  screws.  When  the  "dark 
box"  was  placed  in  circuit  with  the  vibrating  device,  the 
sparks  between  the  carbon  points  could  be  watched 
through  an  eye-piece.  Many  experiments  were  tried,  im~ 
eluding  some  with  that  "good  familiar  creature55  the 
frog,  which,  from  the  days  of  Galvani  has  been  so  f reely 

251 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WOEK 
called  upon  to  perform  for  man5s  benefit.  Great  was  the 
surprise  at  the  fact  that  when  a  frog  was  placed  In  cir- 
cuit with  the  sounder  (or  vibrating  device)  and  the  "dark 
box/9  although  sparks  at  the  carbon  points  were  de- 
cidedly brightj  no  muscular  movement  occurred  in  the 
frog.  Charles  Batchelor  took  the  "dark  bos55  to  the  in- 
ternational electrical  exposition  at  Paris  in  1881S7  and 
the  phenomena  were  there  shown  in  connection  with  the 
Edison  exhibit. 

It  was  Heinrich  Hertz  who  explained  the  puzzle  by 
producing  and  detecting  electro-magnetic  waves,  some- 
limes  called  "Hertzian  waves.5*  He  likewise  pointed  out 
the  similarity  of  these  to  the  waves  of  heat  and  light, 
That  Hertz  had  derived  anything  from  Edison's  work  is 
not  at  all  likely.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Clerk  Maxwell  had, 
as  far  back  as  1867,  "outlined  theoretically  the  exact  type 
of  electro-magnetic  wave  that  is  used  in  radio  to-day." 
The  correctness  of  MaxwelPs  theory  was  established  by 
Hertz.5 

Had  Edison  continued  his  studies  either  in  his  "etheric 
'force"  or  in  space  telegraphy  5  it  is  possible  that  he  might 
liave  crossed  the  gap  that  lay  between  him  and  radio- 
telegraphy.  As  to  this,  one  may  merely  speculate.  In 
11889  Lord  Kelvin  said:9  *c.  .  .  Edison  seems  to  have 
noticed  something  of  the  kind  [i  e.,  "Hertz  sparks"]  in 
what  he  called  the  etheric  force.  His  name  'etheric*  may, 
thirteen  years  ago,  have  seemed  to  many  people  absurd. 
But  now  we  are  all  beginning  to  call  these  inductive  phe- 
nomena 'etheric.*  "  It  does  not  appear  that  Edison's 


Chapter  XI,  pp.  157-158. 
«See  J.  V,  L.  Hogan,  "The  Outline  of  Radio"  (Boston*  1923;  in  the 
Useful  Knowledge  Books  series,  edited  by  G.  S.  Bryan),  p.  10. 

remarks  before  a  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Electrical  3Sm- 
In  London  on  May  16. 

252 


MISCELLANEOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS 
plan  for  elevated  plates  was  ever  practically  developed* 
He  has  not  claimed  that  he  used  the  aerial  wire  (antenna)^ 
spark-gap,  or  high-frequency  electro-magnetic  waves  on 
which  Marconi  founded  radio.  It  has  been  stated 10  that 
in  19035  at  a  time  when  another  company  was  bidding  for 
them,  he  disposed  of  the  patent-rights  in  his  idea  to  Mar- 
coni's company  because  he  thought  that  in  the  hands  of 
rival  interests  they  might  possibly  be  used  to  make  trou- 
ble for  Marconi,  of  whose  work  he  held  a  high  opinion. 
It  should  be  added  that  when  constructing  and  studying 
incandescent  lamps  he  noted  a  phenomenon  associated 
with  the  fact  that  incandescent  bodies  give  out  electrons. 
Scientists  termed  this  phenomenon  the  "Edison  effect," 
It  helped  to  make  radio  history.  Prof.  J.  A.  Fleming  of 
England  in  1904  used  a  modified  form  of  incandescent 
lamp  as  a  radio  detector;  and  thence  was  evolved  the 
vacuum  tube  or  audion  that,  for  detecting?  amplifying, 
and  transmitting,  came  to  be  so  extensively  a  part  of 
radio  apparatus.11 

Edison  was  also  "mixed  up  inn  house-building.  It  was 
a  peculiar  sort  of  house-building^  because  it  proceeded 
downward  from  above  instead  of  upward  from  below.  It 
produced  a  new  sort  of  house — a  house  in  one  piece  in- 
stead of  many  parts — a  poured  house. 

The  general  idea  of  it  seems  to  have  occurred  to  Edi- 
son after  he  had  entered  on  the  manufacture  of  Portland 
cement.  Portland  cement  was  mixed  with  sand  and  coarse 
"aggregate"  to  make  concrete.  Various  things  were 
molded  of  concrete.  Why  not  a  house?  "A  decent  house 
of  six  rooms,  as  far  as  the  shell  would  go,"  he  once  said, 
**might  cost  only  three  hundred  dollars  or  so.  It  would  be 

10  D.  and  M.,  11,380. 

11  See  Hogan,  "The  Outline  of  Badio,'*  pp. 

253 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
stereotypy  over  again  and  the  expense  for  the  models 
[molds?]  would  disappear  in  the  duplications  repeated 
all  over  the  country."  12 

Later,  he  started  to  experiment.  He  found  that  his 
nations  as  to  costs  would  have  to  be  revised  ;  also  that  such 
a  house  could  not,  as  he  had  presupposed,  abe  poured  in 
three  hours,  and  be  dry  enough  for  occupancy  in  three 
days,35  1S  The  process  was,  however,  gradually  reduced 
to  a  practical  basis. 

It  was  proposed  to  build  the  houses  in  large  numbers  in 
some  particular  locality  —  say,  in  an  industrial  suburb  or 
ihe  like.  This  was  because  only  by  group  construction 
could  costs  so  be  kept  down  as  to  make  the  scheme  of  ad- 
vantage to  those  whom  he  specially  wished  to  benefit. 
The  mold  or  form  was  to  consist  of  a  double  set  of  sec- 
tional cast-iron  plates,  each  smooth  on  the  inside  —  nickel- 
plating  or  brass  facing  being  employed  for  any  relatively 
elaborate  detail.  Monolithic  cellar  walls,  known  as  "foot- 
ing/5 were  to  be  prepared  to  receive  the  mold,  which  was 
to  be  set  up  by  electric  derricks.  The  mold-plates  —  hun- 
^ireds  of  them,  all  told  —  were  pinned  and  bolted  together. 
Heimforcing  rods  were  specified  for  roof,  floors,  or  other 
spots  where  they  might  be  needed.  In  the  form,  before 
the  concrete  was  poured,  were  set  the  plumbing  ;  pipes  for 
gas,  water,  and  heat;  and  conduits  for  electric  wires.14 

The  mixture  was  1:8:  5  —  that  is,  one  barrel  of  packed 
Portland  cement  to  three  barrels  of  loose  sand  and  five 
of  gravel  or  broken  stone.  These  materials  were  sup- 
plemented by  a  colloid  substance  —  that  is,  a  jelly-like  or 

12  George  lies,  "Inventors  at  Work"  (New  York,  1906),  p.  483. 


i*E.  S.  learned,  "The  Edison  Concrete  House,"  in  the  "Scientific 
American  Supplement"  (1685;  April  18,  1908).  This  originally  ap~ 
Beared  in  the  "Cement  Age."  It  was  reprinted  by  the  "Scientiiks 
American"  as  a  pamphlet,  now  out  of  print. 

254 


MISCELLANEOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS 
glue-like  substance — intended  to  render  the  flow  uniform 
when  the  concrete  was  poured  and  to  help  keep  the  heav- 
ier parts  of  the  mixture  suspended.  Gravel  was  to  be 
obtained^  if  possible,  on  the  site.  From  mechanical  mix- 
ers the  mixture  was  dumped  into  a  storage  hopper,  and 
from  this  it  was  taken  by  a  bucket  elevator  to  a  distrib- 
uting hopper  at  the  top  of  the  house.  Pipes  conveyed  it 
thence  to  the  molds.  A  three-story  house  could  be  poured 
in  about  six  hours3  and  the  concrete  would  harden  in  as 
many  days. 

When  the  concrete  had  hardened  and  the  mold-plates 
had  been  removed,  a  house  was  disclosed  of  which  not  only 
stairways  and  interior  walls  but  bath-tubs,  laundry  tubs, 
mantels*  even  picture-moldings,  were  integral  parts. 
Then  a  heating  apparatus  could  be  put  in;  heating  and 
plumbing  connections  made ;  doors,  windows,  and  lighting 
fixtures  added.  The  outside  walls  could  be  specially 
painted  or  tinted;  the  interior  walls  also  could  be  tinted. 

In  order  to  obtain  variety,  six  different  molds  would 
be  used  in  an  outfit  and  the  molds  would  be  so  made  that 
parts  might  be  interchanged  to  form  yet  other  arrange- 
ments. It  was  claimed  that  two  houses  a  month  could  be 
turned  out  with  one  mold,  or  twelve  with  the  set  of  six. 

Civil  engineers  and  experts  in  concrete  had  a  host  of 
objections  to  raise  when  Edison's  tentative  plans  were 
first  announced.  They  said  that  no  mixture  could  be 
made  to  flow  freely;  that  a  mixture  might  flow  freely 
through  the  vertical  members  of  the  mold  but  not  in  the 
horizontal  members;  that  the  surface  would  be  imperfect; 
that  the  heavier  parts  of  the  mixture  would  sink  and  hence 
the  mixture  would  not  be  uniformly  deposited;  that  a 
colloid  would  retard  the  hardening  of  the  concrete.  AH 
this  they  said,  and  a  good  deal  more.  By  1910,  how- 
ever, Edison  was  ready  for  a  statement  that  difficulties  had 

255 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
been  overcome  and  that  the  poured  house  had  been  defi- 
nitely realized.  He  did  not  purpose  to  utilize  the  inven- 
tion in  projects  of  his  own,  but,  subject  to  certain  reason- 
able restrictions,,  with  no  return  to  him  save  for  expense 
involved,  it  could  be  put  into  practice  by  others.15 

One  of  the  items  often  encountered  in  a  list  of  Edison's 
inventions,  is  the  electric  pen.  This  was  used  to  make 
stencils  for  manifolding  manuscripts  and  was  superseded 
by  the  mimeograph.16  It  obtained  current  from  a  small 
battery  to  which  it  was  attached.  Inside  the  pen-barrel 
were  solenoid  coils — coils  of  conducting  wire  wound  in  the 
form  of  cylinders.  Inside  the  coils  was  a  steel  shaft  01; 
plunger  at  whose  lower  end  was  a  stylus.  When  the  bat- 
tery current  was  on,  the  coils  became  solenoidal  magnets; 
and  the  alternate  attraction  and  repulsion  set  up  between 
them  and  the  plunger  resulted  in  the  motion  of  the  stylus. 
As  the  pen  was  pushed  along,  the  stylus  made  fine  per- 
forations in  a  sheet  of  special  paper  and  thus  a  stencil 
was  formed* 

Among  other  inventions  of  Edison's  in  the  electrical 
field  is  his  "dead-beat"  galvanometer.  The  common  type 
of  galvanometer  used  for  measuring  the  strength  of  elec- 
tric current,  has  both  a  coil  and  a  magnetic  needle.  A 
current  flowing  in  the  coil  around  the  needle,  causes  the 

is  In  October,  1923,  it  was  stated  in  newspaper  dispatches  that  on  a 
5,000-acre  tract  south  of  the  Dearborn  plant  of  the  Ford  Motor  com- 
pany, Henry  Ford  would  erect  (if  that  is  the  word)  30,000  poured 
houses  with  molds  that  would  permit  of  twelve  different  types!  The 
houses  would  be  sold,  it  was  said,  at  a  price  close  to  the  cost.  Early 
in  1925  the  writer  learned  from  an  authoritative  source  in  Dearborn  ( 
that  this  scheme  had  "not  developed  into  a  definite  plan,"  and  that  it 
was  doubtful  whether  it  would  be  developed  "for  some  time  to  come."" 
The  dispatches,  it  was  added,  "contained  more  imaginary  statements 
than  facts." 

ieS«e  Chapter  VIII,  p.  71. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS 
needle  to  be  deflected.  The  amount  of  deflection  is  meas- 
ured on  a  scale.  A  "dead-beat35  or  aperiodic  galva- 
nometer is  one  in  which  the  moving  needle  comes  quickly 
to  rest,  without  swinging  to  and  fro.  Edison's  galva- 
nometer had  neither  coils  nor  needle.  Instead,  it  de- 
pended on  a  bit  of  platinum-iridinm  wire  shut  in  a  glass 
tube.  The  current  made  the  wire  expand,  and  this  ex- 
pansion permitted  a  coiled  spring  to  move  a  pivoted  shaft. 
On  the  shaft  was  mounted  a  small  mirror;  and  as  the 
shaft  moved,  the  mirror  threw  a  shifting  beam  of  light 
along  a  scale. 

Passing  mention  may  also  be  made  of  the  Edison- 
Lalande  primary  battery,  the  manufacture  of  which  be- 
came one  of  the  Edison  enterprises.  This  battery  was 
found  to  be  particularly  reliable  for  use  in  connection, 
with  railway  signals.  The  claim  was  made  for  it  that  it 
would  function  without  polarizing — 4.  e.9  that  hydrogen 
gas  would  not  collect  on  the  surface  of  the  negative  ele- 
ment and  thus  decrease  the  current-flow  by  increasing  the 
resistance. 

Then,  too,  Edison  was  "mixed  up  in"  the  Roentgen  rays 
— the  "X-rays,59  as  their  discoverer,  Prof.  W.  K.  Roent- 
gen, styled  them  because  he  was  uncertain  of  their  nature 
and  hence  applied  to  them  the  symbol  of  the  "unknown 
quantity."  Roentgen's  discovery  was  made  in  1895. 
Not  long  after  the  announcement,  Edison  set  assistants 
at  producing  crystals  of  various  chemical  combinations* 
They  thus  assembled  something  like  8,000  different  crys- 
tals. Edison  was  looking  for  substances  that  would 
fluoresce — i.  e.9  become  luminous — under  the  action  of 
the  X-rays.  This  canvass  yielded  about  1,800  substances 
that  would  do  so.  From  these  he  chose  tungstate  of  cal- 
cium as  the  best. 

He  first  made  a  fluorescent  lamp — a  glass  bulb  coated 

257 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
on  the  inside  with  the  tungstate.  If  an  adequate  vacuum 
were  provided,  the  tungstate  would,  under  the  action  of 
the  X-rays,  become  luminous  and  the  bulb  serve  as  a  lamp. 
He  also  invented  a  fluoroscope — an  apparatus  through 
which  the  effect  of  X-rays  could  be  observed.  This  was 
a  box  flaring  toward  its  outer  end,  where  a  fluorescent 
screen,  coated  on  the  inside  with  tungstate  of  calcium, 
might  be  attached.  At  the  other  end  was  an  eye-piece 
similar  to  the  eye-piece  of  a  stereoscope;  and  the  whole 
contrivance  was  held,  when  in  use,  by  a  handle  like  that 
of  a  stereoscope.  If  an  object  were  interposed  between 
the  screen  and  the  source  of  the  X-rays,  a  "shadow" 
would  be  thrown  on  the  screen.  A  very  early  public  dis- 
play— perhaps  the  first  in  the  United  States — of  X-ray 
action,  was  that  afforded  when  an  Edison  fluoroscope  was 
shown  at  an  electrical  exhibition  in  New  York  City  in 
J896-  The  fluoroscope  principle  was  applied  with  much 
success  to  surgical  purposes. 

That  other  purposes  for  it  were  entertained  in  artful 
but  uninformed  quarters,  is  indicated  by  the  printed  text 
of  a  letter  said  actually  to  have  been  received  at  the  West, 
Orange  laboratory :  "Dear  Sir, — I  write  you  to  know  if 
you  can  make  me  an  X-ray  apparatus  for  playing  against 
faro  bank?  I  would  like  to  have  it  so  I  can  wear  it  on 
my  body,  and  have  it  attached  to  spectacles  or  goggles  so 
I  can  tell  the  second  card  of  a  deck  of  playing  cards 
turned  face  up.  If  you  will  make  it  for  me  let  me  know 
what  it  will  cost.  If  I  make  a  success  out  of  it  I  will  pay 
you  five  thousand  dollars  extra  in  one  year.  Please  keep 
this  to  yourself.  If  you  cannot  make  it  will  you  be  kind 
enough  to  give  me  Professor  Roentgen's  address?  Please 
let  me  hear  from  you.** 

The  odoroscope  (or  odorscope)  was  an  ingenious  af-» 

258 


MISCELLANEOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS 
fair  that,  like  the  tasimeter  (or  microtaslmeter)  517  made 
use  of  the  fact  that  as  pressure  on  carbon  is  increased*  the 
electrical  resistance  of  the  carbon  is  decreased.  It  was 
constructed  similarly  to  the  tasimeter.  The  tasimeter 
had  a  strip  of  vulcanite,  a  platinum  plate9  a  carbon  but- 
ton, and  another  platinum  plate.  The  odorscope  had  a 
strip  of  gelatine  in  place  of  the  vulcanite*  It  not  only 
was  influenced  by  heat  but  also  was  so  readily  affected  by 
moisture  that  a  few  drops  of  perfume  or  of  water  thrown 
on  the  floor  of  the  room  in  which  it  was  would  be  at  once 
detected  by  the  instrument.  In  circuit  with  the  carbon 
button  and  the  two  platinum  plates  were  a  battery  and  a 
galvanometer ;  and  the  galvanometer  forthwith  responded. 
This  invention  could  be  used  for  testing  gases.  It  could 
also  be  adapted  to  hygrometers  or  barometers. 

Far  more  familiar  is  the  megaphone,  though  not  in  its 
original  form.  As  Edison  first  planned  it,  a  megaphone 
had  two  funnel-shaped  wooden  or  metal  horns  set  on  a 
tripod  at  a  fixed  angle  to  each  other.  Between  these  was 
a  speaking-trumpet.  From  the  small  ends  of  the  horns 
ran  flexible  ear-tubes.  With  the  aid  of  this  device,  a  per- 
son could  hear  and  be  heard  over  a  distance  of  more  than 
two  miles.  What  is  generally  known  to-day  as  a  mega- 
phone, is  a  funnel  of  papier-mache,  shaped  like  one  of 
the  receivers  of  the  original  megaphone  but  used  as  a 
transmitter.  It  finds  employment  in  many  ways — by 
yachtsmen,  cheer-leaders,  coxswains,  motion-picture  di- 
rectors, announcers,  guides.  It  even  wings  from  the  back 
porch  the  summons  to  meals. 

To  Edison  are  to  be  credited  two  unusual  motors.     The 

ir  For  the  tasimeter,  see  Chapter  VIII,  p.  83.— "Odorscope"  is  the 
form  preferred  by  the  dictionaries;  but  even  this  is,  like  "cablegram/' 
irregular, 

259 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
first  was  based  on  something  long  known  to  experimenters^ 
namely,  the  effect  of  temperature  on  magnetism.  Com- 
mon magnetic  iron  undergoes  many  changes  as  it  is  heated. 
At  a  dull  red  heat  it  becomes  non-magnetic.  Edison's 
pyro-magnetic  motor  accordingly  consisted  in  its  essen- 
tials of  an  electro-magnet  and  a  pivoted  iron  bar  that 
could  be  first  heateds  then  cooled.  When  hot,  the  bar 
was  not  attracted  to  the  magnet;  when  cold,  it  was  at- 
tracted. Thus  motion  resulted.  The  Edison  pyro- 
magnetic  generator  utilized  the  same  principle — the  en- 
ergy of  heat  being  converted  into  electrical  energy. 

The  other  motor  was  the  phononiotor  (or  voice-engine), 
a  curious  "philosophical  toy."  A  person  talked  against 
a  diaphragm;  the  diaphragm  moved  a  pawl;  the  pawl 
turned  a  ratchet-wheel  .that  revolved  a  pulley.  From  the 
pulley  a  cord  ran  to  a  cardboard  figure  that  would  execute 
a  mechanical  movement,  such  as  wood-sawing.  The 
phonomotor  had  its  place  in  Edison's  study  of  dia- 
phragms, by  which  he  was  aided  in  reasoning  out  the 
phonograph.  It  opens  up  rather  startling  possibilities 
as  to  the  power  that  might  be  derived  from  miscellaneous 
speech  now  cast  so  wastefully  upon  the  air. 

Such  are  some  of  the  further  accomplishments  that 
could  more  conveniently  be  grouped  here  than  introduced 
into  the  main  narrative  of  Edison's  story.  Though  but  a 
few  out  of  many,  they  indicate  the  man's  versatility,  the 
reach  of  his  interest,  the  sweep  of  his  ideas.  Inventions, 
projects,  notions,  hints  were  his  common  fare,  and  even 
the  crumbs  had  elements  of  worth.  It  would  seem  that 
he  could  conduct  widely  differing  researches  at  the  same 
time,  or  turn  from  one  field  to  another  and  back  again, 
without  confusion  or  sacrifice.  Sometimes  a  subject  took 
a  place  in  a  larger  course  of  study  and  experiment ;  some-* 


MISCELLANEOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS 
times  It  was  dropped  because  Edison  did  not  think  it 
could  be  profitably  utilized  just  then  or  because  he  had 
hit  upon  something  he  considered  better.  Sometimes  it 
was  crowded  out.  Again,  it  might  be  forfeited  because  of 
the  failure  of  Edison?s  business  or  professional  associates 
to  grasp  an  opportunity — as  in  the  case  of  his  electric- 
railway  work.  Or  it  might  be  turned  over  to  the  public* 
for  others,  if  they  would,  to  develop  and  improve.  But 
whatever  might  happen,  always  there  was  something  else 
to  do,  and  every  hour  was  "a  bringer  of  new  things." 

One  scarcely  knows  where  he  may  next  encounter  a  trace 
of  Edison,  a  touch  of  his  influence.  The  derived  use  of 
the  word  "filament"  as  an  electrical  term,  is  attributed 
to  him.  He  introduced  paraffin  paper,  now  so  commonly 
used  for  sanitary  wrappings. 

Perhaps  the  most  serviceable  miner's  electric  safety- 
lamp  is  the  one  invented  by  Edison.  The  current  for  it 
is  obtained  from  a  special  type  of  Edison  cell  strapped 
to  the  miner's  belt. 

It  is  stated  that  "Hello  I"  as  a  preliminary  call-word  in 
telephone  talk,  was  first  heard  in  the  Menlo  Park  labora- 
tory when  Edison  was  developing  a  transmitter  for  Bell's 
invention,  and  from  Menlo  was  carried  over  the  world. 
Bell's  original  call-word  was  "Ahoy !"  In  1876,  in  test- 
ing his  line  between  Boston  and  Cambridge,  Bell  called 
out  "Ahoy!  Ahoy!"  to  Thomas  Watson,  his  apparatus- 
maker,  who  was  stationed  at  the  other  end.  "Ahoy!'* 
Watson  sent  back.  "There  is  nothing  the  matter  with 
the  instruments." 

Of  "Hello!"  the  "Century  Dictionary"  tells  us:  "As 
a  greeting  its  use  is  confined  to  easy  colloquial  or  vulgar 
speech."  "It  is  to  be  regretted,"  the  "New  York  Eve- 
ning Post"  once  said,18  "that  Dr.  Bell  did  not  perpetuate 

is  August  $9  1922. 

201! 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
the  practice  of  <ahoylng?  along  with  Ms  Invention  itself, 
and  that  for  such  a  lusty  shout,  such  a  round,  ringing 
call,  should  have  been  substituted  the  present  'Hello/  a 
vapid,  flat,  meaningless  term  in  comparison.  How  ef- 
ficacious cAhoy!?  would  have  been  in  smoothing  over  dif- 
ficult telephone  interludes,  and  in  making  the  crustiest 
Interlocutor  affable  with  its  jovial  sound;  in  waking  the 
sleepiest  office  boy  to  alertness  with  its  heartiness;  la 
pleasantly  agitating  the  imagination  with  Its  nautical  as- 
sociations.55 Nevertheless,  "Hello !"  for  telephone  use 
spread  at  once,  not  only  in  the  United  States  but  else- 
where; though  Englishmen  clung  to  the  more  dignified 
and  euphonious  "Are  you  there?" 

After  his  period  of  active  service  as  president  of  the 
Naval  Consulting  Board,19  Edison  devoted  himself  to  that 
never-completed  task  of  improving  his  existing  Inventions, 
to  executive  duties,  to  chemical  experimenting.  Chemi- 
cal experimenting,  by  the  way,  was  always  a  favored  di- 
version with  him.  Even  at  his  Florida  residence  (about 
a  mile  from  Fort  Myers,  on  the  Caloosahatchee  river  and 
near  the  west  coast),  where  he  was  accustomed  to  pass  a 
few  weeks  of  winter,  he  had  a  chemical  laboratory  and  a 
small  machine-shop.  In  August,  1924,  when,  with  Henry 
Ford  and  Harvey  Firestone,  he  stopped  at  Plymouth, 
Vermont,  to  call  upon  President  Coolidge,  who  was  taking 
a  brief  vacation  there,  Edison  was  asked  by  reporters, 
"What  about  your  inventions  ?"  He  quizzically  an- 
swered, "I  have  several  irons  in  the  fire.  Now  and  then 
I  pull  out  a  little  one." 

If  to  Edison's  bona-fide  inventions  were  added  the  fic- 
titious devices  ascribed  to  him,  especially  during  the  years 
at  Menlo  Park,  the  list  would  be  yet  more  f ormidable. 

w  See  Chapter  XIV. 

262 


MISCELLANEOUS  ACHIEVEMENTS 
One  would  include  the  yarn,  related  with  solemn  plausi- 
bility and  bearing  indisputable  ear-marks  of  "Sunday- 
newspaper  science/9  about  the  Edisonian  plan  for  melt- 
ing snow  as  it  fell.  Huge  mirrors,  it  was  gravely 
explained,  were  to  reflect  rays  obtained  from  the  sun  or 
from  powerful  electric  lamps.  This  method  was  to  solve 
forever  the  problem  of  snow  removal  in  cities,  but  to  be 
particularly  valuable  in  keeping  railway  tracks  con- 
stantly clear. 

Wilder  still,  but  none  the  less  believed,  was  the  diverting 
announcement  of  the  Stratified  Shirt.  This  was  con- 
cocted by  a  reporter  who,  sent  to  get  an  "Edison  story" 
and  failing  to  run  down  an  authentic  one,  more  than  made 
good  the  lack.  Edison,  so  went  the  account,  considered 
his  patent  shirt  his  greatest  achievement.  It  had  a 
bosom  or  front  composed  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
layers  of  a  thin  fabric  whose  exact  nature  was  a  "trade 
secret."  Each  morning,  -on  dressing  for  the  day,  all  that 
an  owner  of  one  of  these  remarkable  garments  needed  to 
do  was  to  remove  the  top  layer  and  presto !  he  had  a  new 
shirt,  without  spot  or  blemish — at  least  so  far  as  con- 
cerned the  bosom.  Reprinted  from  China  to  Peru,  the 
item  evoked  a  flood  of  letters  from  persons  wishing  to 
inquire  about  these  shirts ;  to  order  them  (check  or  draft 
being  sometimes  inclosed) ;  to  take  an  agency  for  them. 
They  seemed  truly  to  fill  a  long-felt  want.  Said  Edi- 
son: ".  .  .  If  I  could  have  got  hold  of  the  young 
man,  ...  I  guess  he  wouldn't  have  wanted  a  shirt  or  any- 
thing else  on  his  back  for  a  few  weeks."  20 

It  is  to  be  added  that  Edison,  during  early  incan- 
descent-lighting days,  prepared  a  manual  of  instruc- 
tion on  the  isolated  electric  plant ;  and  that  he  contributed 
a  few  articles  to  general  magazines  and  the  technical  press* 

20  Jones,  p.  190. 

263 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
yague  allusions  have  been  made  to  a  "treatise  on  elec~ 
tricity"  that  lie  wrote  when  he  was  for  the  second  time  in 
Louisville  as  a  telegraph  operator.  At  one  time  he  un- 
dertook to  collaborate  with  George  Parsons  Lathrop  on  a 
fiction  "thriller"  in  which  it  would  appear  that  amazing 
inventions,  previously  unheard  of 9  were  in  some  way  to 
be  introduced — possibly  after  the  manner  of  Jules  Verne 
or  of  H.  G.  Wells,  with  a  wealth  of  convincing  scientific 
detail*  After  a  while  he  withdrew  from  this  literary 
partnership ;  and  the  book,  if  it  now  exists  at  al!9  exists  as 
an  unpublished  fragment. 


XVI 

WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

So  far  as  now  is  known,  the  camera9s  first  likeness  of  a 
human  being  was  the  daguerreotype  portrait  Dr.  John 
W.  Draper  of  New  York  University  made  of  his  sister 
Dorothy  in  1840.  In  184*7  Edison  was  born.  He  grew 
up  with  the  art  of  photography ;  and  that  art,  to  which  he 
personally  contributed  the  motion-picture  camera*  gave 
us  more  records  of  him  than  of  any  other  American  pri- 
vate citizen  of  his  time.  Examining  these  photographs^ 
one  is  struck  by  the  fact  that,  in  spite  of  the  years,  Edi- 
son's face  kept  unmarred  and  unblurred  to  a  remarkable 
degree  the  indomitable  cast  of  youth.  Similar  evidence^ 
to  a  less  extent  but  with  an  even  greater  authority,  is 
given  in  the  works  of  painter  and  sculptor. 

Five  feet,  nine  and  one-half  inches  in  height,  Edison 
as  a  telegraph  operator  was  decidedly  thin.  As  a  young 
inventor,  in  the  Newark  and  earlier  Menlo  days,  he  was 
spare.  Nearing  forty,  he  became  somewhat  fuller  of 
figure ;  at  the  same  time  his  face  grew  less  oval  of  outline. 
It  was  a  distinctive  face — large,  calm,  candid,  friendly* 
strong.  From  it  looked  uncommonly  liquid  and  brilliant 
gray  eyes.  The  chin  was  firm;  the  mouth  large,  finely- 
moulded,  and  sensitive;  the  nose  prominent.  Above  the 
generous  but  closely-set  ears  the  head  rose  dome-like. 
Dark  hair,  already  grizzled,  was  parted  at  the  right,  and 
usually  a  lock  or  two  of  it  hung  loosely  over  the  left  side 
of  the  high  forehead.  It  was  a  face  in  which  what  is 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND   HIS  WOEK 
conventionally  called  the  dreamer  was  blended  with  the 
man  of  action. 

{In  an  article  in  aScribner9s  Monthly55  (the  present 
"Century55)  for  November,  1878,1  William  H.  Bishop, 
journalist  and  author ?  told  of  an  evening  spent  in  the 
Menlo  laboratory,  where  he  discovered  Edison  "bending 
intently  above  some  detail  of  work.55  "The  hands  are 
stained  with  acid,  and  the  clothing  is  of  an  ordinary 
^ready-made'  order.  .  ,  .  He  has  the  air  of  a  mechanic, 
or  more  definitely,  with  his  peculiar  pallor,2  of  a  night- 
printer.  His  features  are  large;  the  brow  well  shaped, 
without  unusual  developments;  the  eyes  light  gray;  the 
nose  irregular,  and  the  mouth  displaying  teeth  which  are, 
also,  not  altogether  regular.  When  he  looks  up  his  at- 
tention comes  back  slowly,  as  if  it  had  been  a  long  way 
off.  But  it  comes  back  fully  and  cordially,  and  the  ex- 
pression of  the  face,  now  that  it  can  be  seen,  is  frank  and 
prepossessing.  A  cheerful  smile  chases  away  the  grave 
and  somewhat  weary  look  that  belongs  to  it  in  its  moments 
of  rest.  He  seems  no  longer  old.  He  has  almost  the  air 
of  a  big,  careless  school-boy  released  from  his  tasks.95 

Broad-shouldered,  deep-chested,  Edison  was  built  for 
endurance  and  labor.  His  weight  at  about  his  fortieth 
year  reached  one  hundred  and  seventy-five;  and  for 
twenty-five  years  it  remained  so  constant  that  all  his  new 
suits,  it  is  said,  were  made  by  a  New  York  tailor  that 
never  saw  him,  an  old  suit  having  been  taken  as  guide  to 
the  measurements.  This  weight  is,  to  be  sure,  some  ten 
pounds  above  the  average  that  insurance  and  other  ta- 
bles have  generally  fixed  for  men  of  his  height.  Edison 

iPp.  95-96. 

2  This  pallor  has  been  referred  to  by  others.  In  1928  a  newspaper 
article  ("The  World,"  February  9)  said:  **He  Is  pale,  as  always,  but 
there  is  a,  healthy  tint  in  the  pallor"  Dyer  «tnd  Martin,  however, 
mention  his  "good  color"  (II,  773). 

266 


WHAT  MANNEE  OF  MAN? 

is?  however,  no  average  man;  and  though  his  girth  may 
have  slightly  Increased  after  he  was  sixty-five,  he  has  never 
given  the  impression  of  superfluous  bulk.  Even  to-day 
he  could  not  well  be  called  portly. 

In  1911  William  Inglis  thus  vividly  sketched  him: 
".  .  .  The  hair,  white  now,  lies  sprawled  about  in  wisps 
that  reveal  the  scalp  here  and  there.  In  curious  contrast 
are  the  inky-black,  thick  eyebrows  that  jut  out  from  the 
base  of  his  big  forehead.  The  eyes  are — by  electric  light, 
at  least — a  deep,  gray-greenish  blue,  like  very  dark5  un- 
polished jade.  They  do  not  gleam  or  glisten;  yet,  when 
he  speaks,  they  have  a  curious  glow  that  seems  to  pene- 
trate one's  inmost  mind.  The  longish  nose  and  deep  chin 
were  familiar  from  thousands  of  portraits ;  but  there  was 
one  characteristic  I  had  never  seen  in  any  portrait — the 
broad,  often-smiling  mouth.  .  .  .  There  is  something 
careless,,  winning,  and  yet  dynamic  about  that 
smile.59  .  .  .* 

"Edison's  hands  are/5  he  adds9  "worth  a  great  deal  of 
watching.  They  are  not  muscular  hands  at  all,  but  long 
and  hollow-backed,  the  hands  of  the  dreamer,  the  idealist, 
the  man  of  imagination.  The  fingers  are  ten  slim  anten* 
n^?  full  of  speculation ;  the  backs  of  the  hands,  from  wrist 
to  knuckles,  are  actually  a  little  concave.  .  .  .  Looking  at 
the  hands  alone,  one  would  classify  Edison  as  one  who  lives 
entirely  in  the  world  of  delicate  but  vast  imaginations. 
It  is  the  squareness  of  the  jaws  [*&?],  the  width  and  depth 
of  the  back  head  and  the  fulness  of  the  torso  that  indi- 
cate his  limitless  combativeness  and  robust  energy  in  fol- 
lowing his  glorious  imaginings  to  the  uttermost  end,  re- 
gardless of  obstacles," 

Four  years  later,  when  he  had  become  president  of  the 
Naval  Consulting  Board  of  the  United  States^  he  was 
«  "Harper's  Weekly"  for  November  4,  1911 5  p.  8, 

267 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WOEK 
thus  referred  to  in  the  Washington  correspondence  of  the 
"Nation":4  "A  casual  glance  at  the  man  would  give 
you  but  a  slight  suggestion  of  a  genius.  ,  .  .  When  you 
meet  him,  however,  and  he  takes  your  hand  and  looks  into 
your  eyes,  you  begin  to  compass  him  mentally.  The 
large,  somewhat  heavy  face  acquires  a  cheerful  life  you 
had  not  seen  in  its  set  lines  before,  and  the  stocky  frame 
beneath  seems  to  relax  as  he  talks  to  you.  Conversation, 
by  the  way,  has  been  more  a  duty  than  a  pleasure  to  him 
of  late  years,  as  his  deafness  has  been  steadily  on  the  in- 


crease." 


At  first  considered  a  somewhat  delicate  child,  Edison 
soon  outgrew  that  phase,  and  the  ingratiating  daguerreo- 
type of  him  in  his  train-boy  days  shows  him  sturdy  and 
good-humored.  Illness  he  has  hardly  known.  He  inher- 
ited a  hardiness  that  withstood  constant  sustained  work, 
a  nervous  system  of  rare  balance.  T.  C.  Martin  is  au- 
thority for  the  story  that  "in  the  early  days"  one  of  Edi- 
son*s  laboratory  staff — a  "very  famous  inventor" — went 
to  Edison  one  morning  and  "begged  to  be  told  the  real 
secret  of  such  uncanny  powers  of  endurance,  so  impera- 
tively necessary  in  a  place  which  knew  neither  night  nor 
day*3*  With  no  thought  that  the  remark  might  be  taken 
seriously,  Edison  carelessly  replied  that  he  ate  a  Welsh 
rabbit  for  breakfast  every  morning.  Each  morning  for 
six  weeks  the  "ingenious  interlocutor"  followed  the  pre- 
scription— "then,  well-nigh  perishing,  placed  himself  in 
the  hands  of  an  incredulous  doctor !" 

If  Welsh  rabbit  was  not  the  secret — and  manifestly  it 
was  not — what  was?  Not  some  hobby,  for  Edison  had  no 
hobby  save  more  work.  Not  recreation,  for  about  all  the 
recreation  he  had  in  those  days  was  an  infrequent  fishing 
excursion  along  the  New  Jersey  coast.  Later,  he  now 

4  October  28,  1915;  "Notes  from  the  Capital" 

268 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

and  then  played  a  game  of  billiards,  and  his  Llewelyn 
Part  house  contained  a  billiard-room;  but  the  only  in- 
door sport  he  ever  showed  much  interest  in  was  the  ancient 
East  Indian  game  of  pachisi — known  to  Occidentals  as 
parcheesi.  Outdoor  games  he  did  not  play.  A  vacation 
was  a  rare  event.  What,  then,  was  the  answer? 

Fundamentally  we  are  not,  of  course,  likely  to  learn 
what  it  was.  Such  men  do  not  easily  surrender  their  se- 
crets — are  not  glibly  explained.  Browning  says., 

"Outside  sliould  suffice  for  evidence."  «  .  . 

[At  all  events,  we  can  only  note  things  more  or  less  on  the 
surface.  There  was  a  constitution  of  marked  stamina 
and  resistance.  There  was  much  common-sense  in  the 
matters  of  diet  and  dress,5  There  was  such  nervous  sta- 
bility that  sleep,  even  when  brief,  was  instant,  unbroken, 
and  wholly  restful.  There  was  relief  through  change  of 
work.  There  was  a  temperament  expressed  in  the  words, 
"Spilt  milk  doesn't  interest  me."  Also,  there  was  a  cer- 
tain well-considered  pace  in  his  way  of  living  and  working. 
The  present  writer  was  once  shown  through  a  brass- 
rolling  mill,  and  he  commented  on  the  deliberate  manner 
of  a  particular  group  of  workmen.  He  was  informed 
that  these  men  were  constantly  employed  in  handling 
heavy  masses  of  metal,  and  that  the  deliberateness  was  the 
result  of  experience.  At  this  leisurely  tempo  the  work 
was  best  accomplished  and  the  strength  of  the  workers 
best  conserved*  It  was  thus  that  Edison  went  about  his 
tasks.  Nobody,  it  seems,  ever  saw  Edison  lazy ;  nobody, 
by  the  same  token,  ever  saw  him  in  a  hurry.6  He  worked 
with  a  concentrated  steadiness  and  an  interminable  pa- 

s  "Much  liquor,"  he  is  quoted  as  saying,  "is  a  bad  thing  for  any  one 
who  wawts  to  go  through  life  and  work  In  earnest."     (Jones,  p .  295.) 
e  IX  ajadM.,  I»  263. 

269 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
tience.  In  other  words,  Ms  style  was  not  that  of  the 
"Standardized  American  Citizen" — "the  fellow  with  Zip 
and  Bang59 — booster  of  "the  tenets  of  one-hundred-per- 
cent pep9* — so  glowingly  celebrated  In  George  F.  Bab- 
bitt's immortal  speech  at  the  dinner  of  the  Zenith  Real 
Estate  Board. 

When  the  motor-vehicle  came  in,  Edison  found  time  for 
occasional  tours.  With  advancing  years$  a  fortnight's 
motor-car  jaunt  In  the  company  of  friends  became  an  an- 
nual event.  Then,  too,  the  winter  sojourn  in  Florida 
was  lengthened,  and  there  Edison  and  his  pal  Henry 
Ford  would  take  fishing  trips  up  the  Orange  river.  Oc- 
casional holidays  were  had.  Daily  working  hours  were 
cut  down  (by  1923  they  were  only  about  sixteen!)  and 
so  was  the  daily  ration  of  black  cigars  and  black  coffee. 
Food  was  more  carefully  and  more  frugally  selected,  the 
menus  including  little  meat  but  plenty  of  fruit.  At  the 
regular  birthday  luncheon  tendered  by  the  Edison  Pio- 
neers, the  "Old  Man55  would  have  dishes  specially  cooked 
for  him  or  would  bring  his  meal  from  home  in  a  tin  box. 
For  those  that  care  to  know,  it  may  be  recorded  that  at 
the  1924$  luncheon  he  had  grapefruit  cocktail,  sardines, 
spinach,  stewed  tomatoes,  and  a  glass  of  milk.  "Then," 
said  the  press  account,  "he  lighted  a  cigar  and  mouthed  it 
thoughtfully,  talking  with  no  one.  .  »  *  Only  at  rare  in- 
tervals did  he  so  much  as  smile."  T 

In  1921,  at  his  regular  birthday  interview,  he  told  the 
reporters  assembled  that  he  wasn't  at  all  bothered  by  any 
question  as  to  how  a  man  over  seventy  might  pass  his  days. 
"If,"  he  assured  them,  "a  man  encounters  that  difficulty, 
the  trouble  is  that  he  didn't  take  interest  in  a  great  num- 
ber of  things  when  he  was  mentally  active  in  his  early 
years.  If  he  was  mentally  active  enough  he  would  find 
World,'*  February  12,  1924, 
270 


From   "(rfnnpses  of  Old 

New  York,"  by  Henri/ 

Collins  Brown 


Copyright,  19 1»,  by  II.  C.  Brown. 

AT  THE  CX)KNBR  OP  BROADWAY  AND  JOHN  STREET, 
IN  1800  AND  1913 


Copyright  by  Underwood  c&  Underwood, 

THE  CONCRETE   (POURED)   HOUSE 
Showing  the  Forms  and  the  Completed  Building 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

plenty  to  occupy  his  time  in  reading^  observing  and  watch- 
ing people/9  .  ,  ,  A  man  that  "retired"  at  seventy  might, 
he  thought,  expect  to  die  within  three  years.  He  added: 
MI  don't  want  to  retire-  When  the  doctor  brings  in  the 
oxygen  cylinder  I'll  know  it's  time  for  me  to  give  up."  8 

On  his  seventy-fifth  birthday  he  responded  to  the  stated 
query  about  how  he  felt:  "How  do  I  feel?  Like  a  two- 
shift  man  always  feels — well.95  He  thought  that  on  his 
seventy-sixth  birthday  he  was  just  in  his  prime.  On  his 
seventy-seventh,  asked:  "What  is  your  philosophy  of 
life?59  he  answered  in  writing : 

"Work.  Bringing  out  the  secrets  of  nature  and  ap- 
plying them  for  the  happiness  of  man.  Looking  on  the 
bright  side  of  everything."  9 

On  May  18th,  1924 — three  months  after  his  seventy- 
seventh  birthday — he  unveiled  a  bust  of  Joseph  Henry  in 
the  Hall  of  Fame,  New  York  University.  "On  that  oc- 
casion,59 wrote  William  H.  Bishop  (himself  about  the 
same  age),  "he  sat  with  his  hat  off  for  hours  on  the  plat- 
form, in  a  wintry  breeze  that  would  have  almost  killed 
anybody  else.59 10  That  evening  he  attended  a  motion- 
picture  showing  in  New  York;  and  when  his  motor-car 
started  for  Llewellyn  Park,  he  was  riding  with  the  chauf- 
feur on  the  open  front  seat — overcoatless,  though  light 
overcoats  were  being  worn  by  the  majority  of  men  afoot* 

He  uses  glasses  for  reading  and  close  work  but  not  for 
general  purposes— this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  for  sixty 
years  his  eyes  have  been  unsparingly  active,  much  of  the 
time  by  artificial  light.  W.  S.  Mallory,  one  of  Edison's 
associates,  has  stated  that  he  was  once  present  when  Edi- 
son's eyes  were  examined  by  an  oculist  unaware  who  the 

»"New  York  Tribune,"  February  12,  1921. 

»"The  World,"  editorial,  February  13,  1922;  "New  York  Tribune," 
February  11,  1924;  !6V  February  12. 
3.0  In  a  personal  letter  to  the  author,  February  18,  1925. 

271 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Inventor  was.  Said  the  oculist  to  Mallory:  al  .  .  t 
have  never  seen  an  optic  nerve  like  that  of  this  gentle- 
man. An  ordinary  optic  nerve  is  about  the  thickness  of 
a  thread,  but  his  is  like  a  cord.  He  must  be  a  remark- 
able man  in  some  walk  of  life."  .  *  .n 

Edison  the  telegrapher  is  described  as  uncouth  in  man- 
ner and  rough  in  dress.12  His  carelessness  as  to  dress 
and  general  appearance  has  in  later  days  been  somewhat 
exaggerated.  His  tastes  in  apparel  have,  it  is  true,  been 
always  of  the  simplest.  He  prefers  subdued  colors, 
quiet  patterns.  Furthermore  he  believes  that  all  clothing 
should  be  worn  loose.  His  waistbands  are  liberal.  So 
are  his  shoes — "as  big  as  his  feet  and  then  some."  Uni- 
formly his  choice  of  collars  has  been  one  of  the  "rolling9* 
variety,  exceedingly  low,  or  one  of  the  sort  that  gapes 
broadly  in  front,  permitting  a  free  AdamVapple — a  sort 
akin  to  that  which  another  Grand  Old  Man,  Gladstone, 
made  famous  in  Victorian  times.  With  the  collar  went 
either  a  bow-tie  or  a  string-tie,  white  or  black. 

The  tradition  of  Edison's  extreme  carelessness  in 
clothes  dates,  probably,  from  the  Menlo  Park  period,  es- 
pecially those  years  of  it  when  he  was  introducing  and  de- 
veloping his  incandescent-lighting  system.  Visitors  to 
the  laboratory  were  likely  to  find  him  in  nondescript 
clothing  discolored  with  chemicals  and  decidedly  well  worn 
• — such  clothing  as  in  the  circumstances,  under  the  existing 
conditions  of  work,  was  suitable  enough.  A  group  taken 
in  1878  by  Isaacs,  the  staff  photographer,  on  the  piazza 
at  the  front  (eastern)  end  of  the  laboratory  building, 
shows  Edison  no  more  rough-and-ready  than  most  of  his 
associates.  But  rough-and-ready  he  undoubtedly  was, 
judged  by  the  ultra-conventional  standards  of  the  aver- 

11 D.  and  M,»  II,  763. 

6.,  i,  68,  ioa 

272 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

age  business  or  professional  man  of  that  starched  and 
frock-coated  period.  When  mains  were  being  laid  for 
the  Pearl-street  station  in  New  York,  Edison,  laboring 
four  evenings  a  week  in  street  and  trench,  sleeping  casu- 
ally in  a  cellar  upon  a  pile  of  tubes,  was  beyond  question 
not  arrayed  like  a  member  of  the  board  of  directors  of 
the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  company.  Then,  too, 
carelessness  in  attire  was  taken  to  be  one  of  the  stock  at- 
tributes of  genius,  and  newspapers  played  it  up  as  a  help- 
ful ingredient  of  Edison's  picturesqueness.  They  did 
much  the  same  kind  of  thing  in  the  case  of  the  late  Charles 
P.  Steinmetz. 

It  cannot,  indeed,  be  said  of  Edison,  as  Carlyle  said  of 
the  Dandy,  that  every  faculty  "is  heroically  consecrated 
to  this  one  object,  the  wearing  of  Clothes  wisely  and 
well.**  .  .  .  The  whole  subject  of  clothes  "rather  bores 
him."  He  does  not  "scorn  the  shocking  hat."  For  a 
while  a  disreputable  duster — a  kind  of  "masculine  'Mother 
Hubbard*  " — and  a  battered  straw  "cady"  formed  part  of 
his  laboratory  costume.  He  has  been  heard  to  chaff  at 
spats  and  swallow-tailed  coats.  "At  seventy-five,"  he 
once  threatened,  "I  expect  to  wear  loud  waistcoats  with 
fancy  buttons" —  but  he  did  not  execute  the  threat.  He 
doesn't  sport  a  top-hat  and  he  isn't  fond  of  carrying 
gloves.  Yet  visitors  at  the  West  Orange  works  have 
marked  the  neatness  of  his  linen,  have  even  fancied  they 
discerned  a  certain  Quakerish  finicalness  of  garb.  He 
has  been  photographed  in  a  dinner-jacket  (looking  quite 
modish  and  thoroughly  at  ease,  too!) ;  and  when  he  un- 
veiled the  bust  of  Joseph  Henry  in  the  Hall  of  Fame,  he 
appeared  in  an  afternoon  coat  of  unexceptionable  cut  and 
trousers  smartly  creased.  They  do  say  that  the  second 
Mrs.  Edison  has  been  a  modifying  influence — but  be  that 
as  it  may. 

273 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 

Edison  was  constitutionally  able  to  get  along  with  rela- 
tively little  sleep.  This  capacity  enabled  him  to  serve 
as  a  night  telegraph  operator  and  then  study  and  do 
extra  work  during  a  good  share  of  the  day.  In  Boston 
he  devoted  from  eighteen  to  twenty  hours  to  his  job,  his 
reading*  and  his  special  experimenting.  In  Newark  "half 
an  hour  of  sleep  three  or  four  times  in  the  twenty-four 
hours  was  all  he  needed.9* 13  At  Menlo  he  knew  no  such 
thing  as  a  regular  quitting-time.  At  West  Orange  in 
,18889  while  developing  the  wax-cylinder  type  of  phono- 
graph, he  put  in  five  days  and  nights  of  continuous  work ; 
and  this  remained  his  record  performance. 

In  1920  T.  C.  Martin  wrote: 14 

"Edison  sleeps  well  at  seventy-three.  When  he  sleeps 
lie  does  nothing  else.  He  never  dreams,,  nor  is  he  rest- 
less. He  seems  to  have  the  faculty  of  getting  more  rest 
out  of  two  hours  than  most  men  get  out  of  six  or  eight. 
A  short  time  ago  he  was  working  all  around  the  twenty- 
four-hour  clock,  went  to  bed  at  half -past  five  one  mom* 
ing  and  was  up  at  seven,  having  had  about  one  and  a  half 
hours  of  real  sleep.  When  he  went  to  breakfast  he  was 
asked,  'How  do  you  feel  this  morning?'  and  he  replied, 
CI  would  feel  better  if  I  had  not  overslept  myself  half  an 
tour.' " 

A  cot  was  placed  for  him  in  an  alcove  of  the  library  in 
the  West  Orange  laboratory,  and  there,  after  long  exer- 
tion, he  would  slumber  peacefully^  his  right  cheek  resting 
on  his  hand.  Waking  him  was  no  easy  matter. 

It  is  hardly  to  be  wondered  at  that  such  a  man  believes 
folk  as  a  rule  sleep  too  much.  When,  touring  with  Ford 
and  Firestone,  he  stopped  in  August,  19&4,  at  Plymouth* 

is  D.  and  M.,  I,  134-. 

i*  IB  Ms  pamphlet  "Edison  at  Seventy-three." 

274 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

Vermont,  to  call  upon  President  Coolidge,  he  asked  Mrs* 
Coolidge,  "How  much  does  the  President  sleep?95 

"Too  much,  I  think/3  said  she.  "He  takes  a  nap  after 
dinner  and  sleeps  until  four,  and  then  goes  to  bed  early 
at  night/3 

To  which  Edison  with  finality  responded,  "Lack  of. 
sleep  never  hurt  anybody/9 15 

He  used  to  have  a  story  of  a  man  who  applied  to  him 
for  a  position.  This  man  was,  by  his  own  statement,  a 
martyr  to  insomnia,  so  Edison  thought  him  a  first-rate 
find.  "I  put  him  to  work  on  a  mercury  pump5  and  kept 
Mm  at  it  night  and  day.  At  the  end  of  sixty  hours  I  left 
him  for  half  an  hour,  and  when  I  returned,  there  he  was, 
the  pump  all  broken  to  pieces  and  the  man  fast  asleep  on 
the  ruins/5  .  „  ,16 

Edison  gives  an  impression  of  simplicity,  freedom  from 
aside,"  an  essential  humility.  Years  ago,  in  applying 
for  membership  in  the  Engineers5  Club  of  Philadelphia, 
lie  thus  stated  his  professional  achievements :  "I  have  de- 
signed a  concentrating  plant  and  built  a  machine-shop, 
etc.,  etc.*  When  the  "Independent,"  in  19135  took  a 
referendum  of  its  readers  as  to  the  ten  Americans  whom 
they  considered  most  useful  and  most  nearly  indispensa- 
ble, Edison  led,  his  name  appearing  on  eighty-seven  per 
cent,  of  the  lists.  Declining  the  editor's  request  for  an 
article,  he  replied  in  part  thus : 

"Modesty  forbids  any  comments  on  my  part  concern- 
ing the  result  of  the  poll  of  your  readers.  The  only 
thing  that  troubles  me  Is  the  fear  (in  which  my  wife 
shares)  that  if  these  things  keep  up  I  may  get  a  swelled 
head.  When  I  look  over  the  list  of  names  of  those  for 

iff  "Herald  Tribune,"  August  20,  1924. 
10  Jones,  p,  224». 

275 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
whom  your  readers  have  voted,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  express 
nay  feelings  concerning  the  honor  they  have  done  me."  17 

He  has  told  about  going  to  Philadelphia  to  attend  a 
'dinner  given  by  George  W.  Childs  for  Joseph  Chamber- 
lain. The  trip  was  made  in  the  private  car  of  Roberts, 
then  president  of  the  Pennsylvania  railroad.  When  Edi- 
son returned  to  the  Philadelphia  station,  Roberts  was  on 
hand  and  insisted  upon  carrying  Edison's  valise  for  him. 
"I  never,"  protested  Edison,  "could  understand  that.55 1S 

When  Waldo  Warren  asked  him  whether  he  had  "max- 
ims or  conclusions95 — "things  you  have  found  out,  funda- 
mental laws" — that  he  could  give  to  other  inventors,  Edi- 
son rejoined: 

"Ah,  these  men  know  more  about  their  own  work  than 
I  could  tell  them.  I  haven't  any  conclusions  to  give;  I 
am  just  learning  about  things  myself.55  .  .  ,19 

During  the  same  interview  he  mused : 

"I  have  tried  so  many  things  I  thought  were  true,  and 
found  I  was  mistaken,  that  I  have  quit  being  too  sure 
about  anything.  All  I  can  do  is  to  try  out  what  seems 
to  be  the  right  thing,  and  be  ready  to  give  it  up  as  soon 
as  I  am  convinced  that  there  is  nothing  in  it.55  20 

His  unpretentiousness  has  at  times  had  its  rather  pro- 
vincial and  amusing  side.  In  1889,  during  the  Universal 
Exposition,  he  visited  France  and  was  made  a  commander 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  of  which  he  was  already  a  chev- 
alier. "My  wife,55  he  has  said,  "had  me  wear  the  little 
red  button,  but  when  I  saw  Americans  coming  I  would 
slip  It  out  of  my  lapel,  as  I  thought  they  would  jolly  me 

ir  "The  Independent,"  September  4,  1918. 
is  D.  and  M.,  II,  745. 

10  W.  P.  Warren,  "Edison  on  Invention  and  Inventors,"  in  the  "Cen- 
tury Magazine"  for  July,  1911;  p.  419. 
20/6.,  417-418. 

276 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 
for  wearing  it.*'21     Possibly  Edison  himself  is  jollying! 

If  he  is*  in  the  words  of  one  observer,  "a  simples  demo- 
cratic old  man/3  22  it  is  likely  that  his  sense  of  humor  is 
in  part  responsible.  He  has  enjoyed  telling  jokes  at  his 
own  expense:  how,  for  example,  having  rented  the  ma- 
chinery in  one  of  his  Newark  shops  when  he  removed  to 
Menlo  Park,  he  heard  no  more  of  it  and  three  years  later 
visited  Newark  to  find  a  hotel  where  the  shop  had  been ; 
how  at  Goerck  street  he  tried  to  terrify  Sitting  Bull  and 
other  Sioux  with  a  violent  electric  arc — and  failed  ut- 
terly; how  at  Menlo,  when  the  potato-bug  was  a  novel 
pest,  he  sprinkled  bisulphide  of  carbon  on  the  potato- 
vines  of  a  farmer  who  had  sought  his  aid,  with  the  result 
that  he  destroyed  not  only  bugs  but  vines  as  well  and 
had  to  pay  $800  damages. 

To  mark  the  f  orty-fif  th  anniversary  of  the  phonograph^ 
first  appearance  in  a  working  model,  phonograph  distrib- 
utors presented  to  him  a  crayon  portrait  of  himself. 
After  close  inspection  of  it,  his  only  comment  was:  "I 
look  like  a  United  States  Senator  there.55  Which  may  or 
may  not  reveal  his  opinion  of  the  portrait  as  a  work  of  art. 
Near  his  desk  in  the  West  Orange  laboratory  hangs — or 
did  hang — a  cartoon  showing  him  toiling  away  while  two 
scientists,  vainly  endeavoring  to  see  him,  are  intercepted 
by  a  negro  porter.  The  porter  impressively  warns: 
aSh !  De  Wizard  am  embossed  in  thought,  gemmen,  and 
he  cain't  be  introrupted.  He  hain't  et  er  slep'  fo5  fo* 
days.55 

An  English  writer  found  it  remarkable  that  Edison 
should  be  able  "at  any  moment  to  lift  himself  out  of  his 
scientific  surroundings  and  enter  glibly  into  the  lightest 

21 D,  and  M.,  II,  748. 

22  G.  E.  Walsh,  "With  Edison  in  His  Laboratory,"  in  "The  Independ- 
ent" for  September  4,  1918. 

277 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORE 
of  light  conversation,  with  all  the  abandon  of  irresponsi- 
ble youth."  True  it  is  that  he  has  always  had  the  Amer- 
ican fondness  for  swapping  stories ;  that  having  seen  the 
funny  sido  of  things  as  he  went  along?  he  has  been  filled 
with  amusing  reminiscences.  He  seems  to  have  regarded 
humorless  men — even  a  friend  like  Henry  Villard — in  a 
Mud  of  puzzlement.  The  "lean  and  hungry  look59  of  the 
unsmiling  Jay  Gould  repelled  him.  He  has  chuckled  over 
the  remembered  spectacle  of  Werner  von  Siemens  endeav- 
oring to  interpret  American  jokes  to  Hermann  von  Helm- 
holtz.  Or  of  Bergmann — "little  Bergmann,"  who  made 
electroliers,,  meters,  and  such  things  for  the  Edison  light- 
ing system — issuing  orders  that  the  factory  whistle  was 
not  to  be  blown  after  Edison  had  shown  him  three  or  four 
foolscap  sheets  of  figures  and  solemnly  assured  him  they 
were  calculations  proving  great  loss  of  power  through  the 
"blowing  of  the  whistle. 

Probably  the  best  known  of  Edison's  bons  mots  is  his 
analysis  of  genius :  "Genius  is  1  per  cent,  inspiration  and 
99  per  cent,  perspiration."  This  is  a  kind  of  restatement 
of  Carlyle's  "transcendent  capacity  of  taking  trouble, 
first  of  all.5523  Needless  to  say,  this  analysis,  though 
flattering  to  mediocrity,  is,  like  all  other  epigrams  about 
genius,  unsatisfactory.  One  likes  better  his  reply  when 
asked  why  a  certain  man  no  longer  was  in  his  employ: 
"Oh,  he  was  so  slow  that  it  would  take  him  half  an  hour 
to  get  out  of  the  field  of  a  microscope."  Or  his  counsel  to 
the  member  of  the  building  committee  of  a  Philadelphia 
church  who  consulted  him  about  the  advisability  of  plac- 
ing lightning-rods  on  the  new  edifice:  "By  all  means. 

as  "Frederick  the  Great,"  IV,  iiL  The  "first  of  all"  Is  Invariably 
omitted  and  the  remainder  almost  invariably  misquoted*  See  the  "En- 
cyclopaedia Britannica,"  llth  ed.,  art.  "Genius." 

278 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

You  lnow,  Providence  is  sometimes  absent-minded,5* 24 
Or  his  suggestion  as  to  Iiow  electricity  might  best  be  ap- 
plied for  executions :  "Hire  the  criminals  out  to  some  of 
the  New  York  electric  light  [L  #.,  arc-lighting]  com- 
panies.59 When,  on  Broadway,  he  avoided  a  meeting 
with  his  chief  legal  adviser,  a  friend  sought  the  reason. 
aWhy,3>  explained  Edison,  "I  was  afraid  to  shake  hands 
with  him  again  until  I  found  out  whether  I  could  afford 
to  pay  his  fee  for  it.s? 

Not  always  is  he  good-natured.  "Those  in  closest 
touch  with  Edison/'  wrote  the  late  T.  C.  Martin,  "are 
constantly  impressed  with  his  moderation  and  patience  in 
personal  relationships;  and,  truly,  he  has  reaped  his  re- 
ward in  general  good-will.  Yet  even  now  [in  1920]  he 
occasionally  uses  language  somewhat  removed  from  bene- 
diction; and  what  a  glorious  hater  he  can  be  on  occa- 
sion!"25 

".  .  .  Of  ten55— -so  says  Bailey  Millard  2e— "he  is  in  the 
highest  spirits,  whistling  and  joking — then  depressed, 
sullen,  and  angry.  His  patience  applies  only  to  his  la- 
bor. With  the  men  about  him,  particularly  those  who 
are  not  very  keen,  he  has  no  patience  whatever.  When 
he  is  in  bad  humor,  word  passes  quickly  about  among  the 
five  thousand  employes  in  his  big  shops  that  *the  old  man 
is  on  the  rampage  today,5  and  everybody  who  can  possi- 
bly do  so  keeps  away  from  him.  Once,  when  he  was  in 
such  a  humor,  I  saw  him  turn  upon  an  employe  who  had 

24  Was  this  a  belated  echo  of  the  curious  protest  that  arose  when 
another  Philadelphia,  Benjamin  Franklin,  devised  the  lightning-rod? 
FrankMn  was  accused  of  interfering  with  divine  action,  and  churches 
were  especially  slow  in  adopting  the  supposedly  impious  protection! 

25  "Edison  at  Seventy-three." 

26  "Our  Twelve  Great  Scientists,    VI.    Thomas  Alva  Edison,"  in  the 
"Technical  World  Magazine"  for  October,  1914 

279 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
forgotten  to  wind  up  a  phonographs  and  vent  upon  him 
such  wrath  as  made  the  delinquent  wince  visibly.  His  ar- 
guments are  fulminations.  He  pounds  the  table  and 
shouts  angrily.  As  he  is  extremely  deaf,  his  opponent — 
as  he  insists  upon  regarding  anyone  who  does  not  agree 
with  him — must  raise  his  voice  to  a  high  pitch,  so  that 
what  Edison  apparently  considers  a  mild  debate  often  re- 
sembles the  hottest  kind  of  row.59  A  man  that  visited  the 
West  Orange  laboratory  in  answer  to  an  advertisement 
for  a  production  engineer,  described  Edison  as  pacing 
back  and  forth,  "irritably  demanding  why  certain  results 
were  not  being  obtained  in  his  factory  and  denouncing 
what  he  termed  bone-headed  moves  on  the  part  of  his  ex- 
ecutives, while  the  latter  shouted  their  excuses  into  his 
deaf  ears."  27 

It  was  quite  in  the  nature  of  things  that  Edison's  pe- 
culiarly individual  way  of  working  and  his  insistence  upon 
it,  his  more  or  less  blunt  disregard  of  aught  save  the  goal 
he  had  in  view,  would  not  be  wholly  congenial  to  all  his 
more  immediate  co-workers,  especially  on  the  research 
staff.  His  essential  fairness  and  justice  have,  however, 
always  been  insisted  on  by  those  who  may  be  supposed  to 
know  him  best.  W.  S.  Mallory  once  went  so  far  as  to 
say,  "I  doubt  if  there  is  another  man  living  for  whom  his 
men  would  do  as  much."  That  he  can  show  forbearance 
is  indicated  by  an  anecdote  related  in  connection  with 
the  theft  of  seventy-eight  of  his  electric-lighting  inven- 
tions. A  dishonest  patent-solicitor  did  not  file  the  appli- 
cations he  was  supposed  to  file,  but  sold  them  to  other 
persons.  These  persons  then  signed  new  applications 
and  thus  fraudulently  took  out  patents  on  Edison's  work, 
Edison  confessed  that  this  incident  "has  left  a  sore  spot 
in  me  that  has  never  healed."  Yet  he  would  not  mratioa 
27  "The  New  York  Times/'  May  II,  1921. 

280 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

that  patent-solicitor's  name,  merely  observing,  "It  is  of  no 
practical  use.  .  .  .  I  believe  he  is  dead,  but  he  may  have 
left  a  family/9  28 

At  Menlo  Park,  on  the  upper  floor  of  the  office- 
building,  Edison  had  a  reference-library  for  the  use  of 
himself  and  the  staff,  and  at  West  Orange  was  assembled 
one  much  more  comprehensive — a  fine  collection — as  part 
of  the  equipment  of  his  laboratory.  In  connection  with 
Ms  work  he  has  leaned  heavily  upon  abook  learning.59 
The  assumption  sometimes  encountered  that  Edison  is  a 
sort  of  improvisator,  purely  original  and  underived, 
scorning  classified  knowledge,  impatient  of  all  precedent, 
is  but  one  of  many  errors  regarding  him.  He  is  himself, 
authority  for  the  statement  that,  aside  from  special  re- 
search, for  which  he  has  collected  and  studied  vast  quan- 
tities of  printed  matter,  he  has  also  constantly  read  in 
such  favorite  subjects  as  astronomy,  biology,  mechanics^ 
metaphysics,  music,  physics  (including,  of  course,  elec- 
tricity), and  political  economy.  In  addition  to  this,  he 
has  kept  fully  in  touch,  through  scientific  journals  and 
proceedings  of  scientific  bodies,  with  new  developments  in 
science. 

The  closeness  with  which  he  can  read  when  exploring 
a  subject  may  be  judged  by  an  experience  of  one  of  his 
assistants.  In  this  case  the  subject  happened  to  be  a 
portion  of  the  mechanism  of  typewriting-machines.  Edi- 
son ordered  that  arrangements  be  made  with  the  manu- 
facturers of  every  available  form  of  machine  to  have  a 
specimen  at  the  Edison  works  on  a  certain  date  and  with 
each  machine  a  representative  to  explain  it;  also  that  all 
the  books  treating  of  this  particular  mechanism  be  as- 
sembled from  the  library.  The  evening  before  the  day 
appointed,  these  books  were  sent  up  to  the  house*  fThe 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
experts,  when  they  appeared,  were  amased  to  find  Edi- 
son so  familiar  with  the  subject  that  he  was  able  to  correct 
certain  of  their  statements.  Curious  to  see  how  long  it 
would  take  him,  the  assistant  set  out  to  read  the  refer- 
ences that  Edison  had  evidently  absorbed  at  a  sitting. 
They  required  all  his  spare  time  for  eleven  days,29 

Ever  since  he  was  a  train-boy,  when,  between  trains,  he 
essayed  to  read  his  way,  alcove  by  alcove,  through  the 
Detroit  public  library  of  the  time — ever  since  he  was  a 
telegraph  operator,  when  he  browsed  in  the  second-hand 
book-shops  and  was  sometimes  called  "Victor  Hugo95  Edi- 
son because  of  his  fondness  for  the  Frenchman's  works,  he 
has  done,  too,  some  reading  in  miscellaneous  belles-lettres. 
Reported  among  his  later  preferences  in  fiction  are  the 
romances  of  Dumas  and  Jules  Verne  and  the  "thrillers" 
of  Gaboriau.  As  for  poetry,  he  has  said :  "...  I  can't 
stand  jingle.  Where  the  thought  is  twisted  out  of  shape 
just  to  make  it  rime — I  can't  stand  that.  But  I  like 
*Evangeline,'  'Enoch  Arden,5  and  things  like  that.  These 
I  call  true  poetry. 

"But,  ah,  Shakspere!  That's  where  you  get  the 
ideas!  My,  but  that  man  did  have  ideas!  He  would 
have  been  an  inventor,  a  wonderful  inventor,  if  he  had 
turned  his  mind  to  it.  He  seemed  to  see  the  inside  of 
everything."  .  .  .so 

Of  his  literary  predilections,  little  else  is  known. 
What,  if  anything,  he  thinks  about  contemporary  liter- 
ature, has  not  been  divulged.  It  is  said  that  he  some- 
what depends  on  the  judgment  of  Mrs.  Edison  and  is  in- 
clined to  accept  her  recommendations. 

2»  French  Strother,  *4The  Modem  Profession  of  Inventing/'  in  "The 
World's  Work"  for  June,  1905, 

ao  "w.  P.  Warren,  "Edison  on  Invention  and  Inventors/*  in  the  "Cen- 
tury Magazine"  for  July,  1911;  p.  418. 

282 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

Misconceptions  have  been  common  as  to  how  Edison  ar- 
rived at  his  results.  These  misconceptions  may  be  clas- 
sified as  largely  of  two  varieties:  those  that  held  he  was 
guided  by  sudden  bursts  of  supreme  insight,  and  those 
that  held  he  tried  everything,  hit  or  miss,  until  by  main 
strength  he  succeeded.  Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Edi- 
son's method  in  developing  an  idea  may  be  called  a 
method  by  elimination.  He  starts  out  in  absolute  indif- 
ference to  whatever  difficulties  may  theoretically  exist. 
He  thoroughly  studies  what  previously  has  been  learned 
and  done  that  may  in  any  way  bear  on  the  subject — 
searching  everything  available  in  print.  Then  his  as- 
sistants try  things ;  and  in  laboratory  note-books  is  kept  a 
detailed  record  of  the  processes.  For  example,  he  wished 
at  one  time  a  chemical  mixture  having  "two  properties 
that  are  rarely  found  together  in  the  same  compound.'1 
He  might,  proceeding  from  the  known  to  the  unknown, 
have  had  his  chemists  first  determine  what  chemicals  were 
most  likely  to  fill  the  bill  and  then  try  those  few.  What 
he  actually  did  was  to  turn  to  Watts'  "Dictionary  of 
Chemistry"  and  from  the  formulae  there  given  have  every 
sort  of  mixture  prepared  that  could  be  imagined  even  re- 
motely to  be  of  use.  Edison's  summary  was:  "Out  of 
the  lot,  I  found  about  seven  compounds  that  worked,  but 
when  I  finished  the  experiment  I  knew  beyond  a  doubt 
that  those  seven  were  the  only  ones  that  could  be  made 
for  that  purpose,"31 

The  late  Dr.  R.  C.  Maclaurin  warned  us,  however,  that 
it  is  a  mistake  to  set  up  Edison  "as  a  ^practical  man5  in 
the  narrow  sense."  "It  is  true,"  said  Doctor  Maclaurin, 
"that  he  has  described  himself  as  *pure  practice'  in  dis- 
tinction from  Mr.  Steinmetz,  whom  he  has  called  'pure 

at  French  Strother,  "The  Modern  Profession  of  Inventing,"  m  "The 
World's  "Work"  for  June,  WQB. 

288 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
theory/  but  this,  of  course,  was  a  joke*  Newspaper  men 
have  expanded  it  so  as  to  make  it  appear  that  Edi- 
son knows  nothing  about  science,,  cares  nothing  for  the 
achievements  of  the  great  experimenters  and  thinkers 
who  have  preceded  him,  and  merely  tries  everything  he 
can  think  of  until  he  happens  upon  what  he  is  seeking. 
Few  things  more  absurd  could  be  suggested.  He  is  no 
slave  to  theory;  he  is  ready,  as  every  scientific  man  is 
ready,  to  try  anything  that  seems  reasonable,  but  prac- 
tically always  he  has  what  seems  to  him  a  good  reason  for 
everything  that  he  tries.  In  the  rare  cases  where  he  has 
tried  blindly,,  it  has  been  because  there  was  absolutely  no 
light.55  S2 

"Not  only,"  declared  Doctor  Maclaurin,  "has  he  shown 
his  faith  in  science  by  great  achievements,  but  he  has 
proved  himself  a  great  force  in  education  by  giving  so 
brilliant  an  exhibition  of  the  method  of  science,  the 
method  of  experimentation.59  And  he  finds  it  interest- 
ing to  reflect  what  Edison's  acquaintance  with  Fara- 
day's works,  purchased  second-hand  in  Boston  while  Edi- 
sou  was  still  a  telegraph  operator,  has  meant  for  the 
world.  One  thinks  of  the  1,600  tests  of  earths,  minerals, 
and  ores  in  making  metallic-wire  filaments  for  the  Edison 
incandescent  lamp ;  of  the  65000  distinct  species  of  plants 
(chiefly  bamboos)  that  Edison  tried  as  material  to  be 
carbonized  into  filaments ;  of  the  50,000  separate  experi- 
ments made  in  developing  the  nickel-iron  storage  battery ; 
of  the  patient  improvement  of  the  telephone,  the  phono- 
graph and  its  ancillary  devices,  or  the  motion-picture 
camera.  The  laboratory  note-book  record  is  said  to  show 
that  one  of  his  assistants  alone  once  conducted  a  series 
of  about  15,000  experiments  in  connection  with  a  problem 

« In  an  address  before  the  Civic  Forum,  New  York,  on  May  6,  1915, 
when  a  medal  for  public  service  was  presented  to  Edison*    See  p.  ITS. 

2S4* 


WHAT  MANNEE  OF  MAN? 
f,o  which  Edison  was  then  devoting  particular  attention. 

In  brief  9  Edison's  way  has  been  the  way  of  knowledges 
close  research,  and  persevering  hard  work.  But  in  addi- 
tion to  all  this5  men  who  have  long  been  associated  with 
him  are  wont  to  refer  to  his  direct  apprehension  —  his 
"guesswork/9  as  he  styles  it.  Said  P.  R.  Upton  :  "One 
of  the  main  impressions  left  upon  me  after  knowing  Mr. 
Edison  for  many  years  is  the  marvellous  accuracy  of  his 
guesses."  33  ".  .  .  Very  many  times,35  said  W.  S.  Mai- 
lory,  "I  have  heard  Mr.  Edison  make  predictions  as  to 
what  a  certain  mechanical  device  ought  to  do  in  the  way 
of  output  and  costs,  when  his  statements  did  not  seem  to 
be  even  among  the  possibilities.  Subsequently,  after  more 
or  less  experience,  the  predictions  have  been  verified."  34 
*  .  .  One  of  Edison's  engineers  has  added  that  Edison 
"seems  to  carry  in  his  head  determining  factors  of  all 
kinds,  and  has  the  ability  to  apply  them  instantly  in  con- 
sidering any  mechanical  problem.55  35  At  a  time  when  lit- 
tle was  really  known  about  dynamos,  he  contrived,  against 
such  precedent  as  there  then  was,  to  build  a  dynamo  with 
small  internal  resistance  and  thus  delivered  ninety  per 
cent,  of  the  energy  produced.  It  is  said  that  when  asked 
how  his  earlier  dynamos  came  to  be  so  much  superior  to 
anything  that  had  preceded  them,  he  would  answer, 
"Well,  I  happened  to  be  a  pretty  good  guesser.9*36 

Again,  his  own  words  were  : 

"One  question  concerning  this  early  system  has  often 
been  asked,  namely  :  'Why  did  I  fix  110  volts  as  a  stand* 
ard  pressure  for  the  carbon  filament  lamp?5  The  an- 
swer to  this  is  that  I  based  my  judgment  on  the  best  I 


.  and  M,,  I,  297* 
8*16,,  IT,  512. 
asJ5v  II,  621. 
a<5  Jones,  p.  024. 

285 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
thought  we  could  do  In  the  matter  of  reducing  the  cost  of 
copper  and  the  difficulties  we  had  in  making  filaments 
stable  at  high  voltages.  I  thought  that  110  volts  would 
be  sufficient  to  insure  the  commercial  introduction  of  the 
system,  and  110  volts  Is  still  the  standard.55  37 

This  inherent  grasp  of  things  may  be  regarded  as  a 
mark  of  Inventive  imagination.  "Imagination/5  Edi- 
son has  affirmed,  "supplies  the  ideas,  and  technical  knowl- 
edge carries  them  out.5538 

His  laboratory  note-books  are  filled  with  sketches  by 
him.  Whether  in  the  laboratory,  discussing  a  new  idea, 
or  in  the  home,  during  an  evening  of  talk,  he  has  always 
had  a  way  of  seizing  on  pieces  of  paper  and  covering  them 
with  rude  drawings  to  illustrate  what  he  was  saying. 
This  was  likely  to  be  accompanied  by  tricks  of  tapping 
with  the  pencil  or  of  tugging  at  his  bushy  eyebrows,  which 
retained  their  dark  color  after  his  hair  had  turned  white. 
As  his  deafness  increased,  his  voice  took  on  the  somewhat 
flat,  colorless  tone  so  common  among  persons  of  defective 
hearing. 

Speeches  by  him  have  been  extremely  rare.  When  an 
after-dinner  speech  has  been  expected  of  him,  or  a  re- 
sponse to  an  address,  he  has  almost  invariably  contrived 
to  provide  a  substitute.  No  doubt  a  small  club  might  be 
formed  of  those  who  have  served  in  this  fashion  and  re- 
gard their  service  as  a  distinction.  He  has  declared  that 
lie  can't  understand  how  any  man  makes  a  speech  or  writes 
a  book.  His  first  radio  talk  was  given  from  Atlantic 
City,  New  Jersey,  on  May  19th,  1926,  during  the  con- 
vention there  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association. 

ST  Quoted  in  T.  CX  Martin,  "Forty  Years  of  Edison  Service"   (New 
York,  1922)  ;  p.  15. 

38  w.  P,  Warren,  "Edison  on  Invention  and  Inventors,"  In  the  "Cen- 
tury Magazine"  for  July,  1911;  p.  4*16. 

286 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

It  consisted  of  the  following  twenty-two  words:  "Why* 
I  don't  know  what  to  say.  This  Is  the  first  time  I  ever 
spoke  into  one  of  these  things.  Good-night.59 

But  to  his  laboratory  or  wherever  else  he  might  be 
waylaid,  newspaper  men  and  magazine  men  have  flocked 
to  get  him  to  talk ;  and  they  have  spread  abroad  not  only 
his  accounts  of  his  inventions,  his  comments  on  scien- 
tific affairs,  or  his  predictions  as  to  Industrial  develop- 
ments of  the  future,  but  also  his  opinions  on  a  wide  range 
of  topics,  his  personal  views  about  almost  every  conceiv- 
able thing  of  which  he  would  admit  any  personal  view 
whatever.  He  has  always  been  "good  copy.55 

Even  before  the  invention  of  the  phonograph,  the 
"Wizard  myth"  was  taking  form.  With  the  appearance 
of  the  phonograph,  and  thenceforward  for  many  years,  it 
received  large  accretions.  The  dear  public  was  ready  to 
expect  the  marvelous  from  Edison;  and  the  young  lions 
of  the  press  sometimes  helped  to  supply  the  marvels. 
Nor  was  it  merely  that  they  added  fantastic  embroidery 
to  the  facts.  ".  .  .  The  worst  of  it  is,"  Edison  once  com- 
plained, "that  these  fellows  who  come  out  here  [West 
Orange]  go  back  without  ever  having  seen  me  or  heard 
me  speak  a  word  and  write  out  alleged  interviews  that 
make  me  seem  foolish  to  people  who  don't  know  me."  89 

Mingled  with  these  "fairy  tales  of  science"  were  un- 
authentic  and  confused  yarns  about  Edison's  career  and 
more  strictly  personal  history.  Fictions  of  both  these 
classes  found  place  in  magazine  articles  and  in  books.  It 
is  an  interesting  example  of  how  legend  may  collect  even 
In  modern  days  and  during  the  lifetime  of  the  hero.  By 
way  of  apology  it  has  sometimes  been  hinted  that  Edison 
rather  encouraged  this  sort  of  thing.  It  is  possible  that 
he  has  not  been  wholly  unaware  of  the  sweet  uses  of  ad- 

39  "Electrical  Review"  for  January  12ft  1901;  p.  63. 

287 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
vertisement ;  It  is  not  improbable  that  some  of  his  quiet 

"joshing"  has  been  reported  more  gravely  than  he  in- 
tended; it  is  certain  that  he  could  not  keep  a  corrective 
or  advisory  eye  on  all  the  immense  amount  of  material 
relating  to  him  that  has  appeared  in  print.  The  fact 
remains  that  misstateinents  of  all  sorts  have  been  widely 
circulated  and  some  of  them  have  reached  an  extreme 
that  moved  him  to  sharp  protest. 

In  later  years  his  judgments  have  constantly  been 
sought  by  reporters  and  special  writers  and  featured  by 
editors.  On  his  seventy-seventh  birthday,  for  example, 
the  allied  interviewers  submitted  a  long  list  of  questions 
for  him  to  answer  in  writing.  When  coal  and  oil  are 
gone,  whence  shall  we  get  power?  Whom  would  he 
choose  for  President?  What  about  Fundamentalists  and 
Modernists?  Has  the  modern  young  woman  been  too 
severely  criticised?  Shall  we  ever  communicate  with 
Mars?  Even  that  ancient  battle-horse  of  amateur  debat- 
ing societies.  Is  the  world  growing  better  or  worse?  And 
so  forth.  Readily  and  in  a  firm  hand  he  wrote  his  terse 
answers,  then  turned  straight  back  to  his  work, 

It  is  the  accepted  thing  for  many  American  newspa- 
pers and  for  American  magazines  of  a  certain  type  to  air 
the  opinions  of  men  who  chance  to  be  conspicuous  figures 
in  the  world  of  commerce,  industry,  or  finance;  for  on 
all  sides  it  is  taken  as  axiomatic  that  whatever  such  folk 
have  to  say  about  anything  at  all  must  be  profoundly 
knowing.  Not  for  this  reason  is  Edison  quizzed,  but  be- 
cause Americans  are  interested  in  his  flavorsome  person- 
ality; respect  his  uncommon  and  stimulating  mind;  read 
what  he  says ;  highly  esteem  his  opinions  in  fields  in  which 
they  believe  him  experienced  and  informed ;  and  are  prone 
to  find  entertainment,  even  while  they  discount  them,  in 
what  they  may  consider  Ms  prejudices,  foibks,  or  errors. 

283 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

In  19159  when  the  Franklin  medal  of  the  Franklin  Insti- 
tute was  awarded  to  Edison3  Dr.  Harry  F.  Keller,  in  sur- 
veying Edison's  achievements*  declared:  "I  may  say 
without  fear  of  contradiction  that  no  other  inventor's 
name?  either  in  this  or  any  other  country,  has  become  so 
universally  popular  as  his/5  40 

In  the  earlier  days  of  the  electrical  art  in  this  country* 
a  dispute — long  since  settled  and  largely  forgotten — • 
arose  between  the  exponents  of  the  alternating  current  on 
the  one  side  and  of  the  direct  current  on  the  other.  To 
the  former  group  belonged  George  Westinghouse.  In  his 
biography  of  Westinghouse5  Francis  E.  Leupp  says : 4t 
"Interviewers  pursued  Westinghouse  wherever  he  went, 
trying  to  lure  him  into  some  explosive  utterance  against 
Thomas  A.  Edison,  the  chief  exponent  of  the  continuous 
current,  which  might  produce  a  personal  collision  between 
the  two  inventors,  and  thus  set  free  a  fund  of  spicy 
*copy.?  "  It  has  been  stated  on  behalf  of  Edison  that  his 
electric-lighting  system,  as  at  first  introduced,  was 
planned  for  thickly-settled  areas,  wherein  distribution  by 
low-pressure,  direct  current  was,  he  believed,  the  only 
really  safe  method;  and  that  for  transmission  he  con- 
sidered alternating  current,  under  proper  safeguards, 
perfectly  suitable.  He  had  no  inclination  toward  becom- 
ing a  controversialist  in  his  special  field  of  work,  but  he 
did  have  definite  convictions ;  and  in  the  case  of  a  public 
service  like  that  of  supplying  electric  current,  and  es- 
pecially in  view  of  the  fact  that  in  those  pioneer  days  so 
little  was  known  about  electric  systems  anyway,  he 

40  At  a  stated  meeting  of  the  Institute,  held  on  the  evening  of 
Wednesday,  May  19,  1915.  See  the  "Journal"  of  the  Institute  for  July* 
1915. 

«,  "George  Westinghouse:  His  Life  and  Achievements."  See  pp.  I4r8-* 
Wl. 

289 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
thought  that  in  its  own  interest  the  public  should  be  kept 

Informed. 

Some  of  his  offhand  utterances  about  matters  not  within 
his  particular  province  have  had  the  effect  of  stimulating 
answer  and  rebuttal — nor  is  it  unlikely  that  he  was  aware 
of  the  possibility  of  such  result.  When  in  1923  he  pre- 
dicted that  motion-pictures  would  eventually  oust  books 
from  schools,,  a  chorus  of  dissent  arose.  When  in  1910  he 
discussed  the  survival  of  human  personality,  the  late  Dr. 
William  H.  Thomson,  whose  volume  "Brain  and  Person- 
ality" he  had  recommended,  took  issue  with  him,  saying 
that  some  of  Edison's  remarks  were  very  superficial  and 
that  Edison's  view  was  "unscientific.53  "If  Mr.  Edison's 
objections  are  based  on  scientific  facts  exclusively,"  said 
Doctor  Thomson,  "he  shows  a  great  ignorance  of  brain 
discoveries."  Others  arose  to  label  the  inventor's  state- 
ments dogmatic  and  contradictory.42 

If  one  traces  such  records  as  exist,  one  will  discover, 
however,  that  the  bugbear  of  consistency  has  never  se- 
riously bothered  Edison.  At  one  time  he  has  berated  the 
colleges,  at  another  has  granted  "College  forces  a  young 
man  to  learn  at  least  something  when  he  doesn't  want 
to.'9  4*  The  student  will  have  a  hard  job  in  entirely  rec- 
onciling Edison's  assertions  in  1910  regarding  the  sur- 
vival of  human  personality,  with  his  views  as  reported  in 
the  press  in  1923,  at  the  time  when  he  attended  the  funeral 
of  his  friend  and  camping  companion  President  Hard- 
ing.44 But  who  shall  say  that  we  may  not  here  trace  the 
scientific  spirit?  Of  the  scientist  it  has  been  said,  "A 
theory  is  merely  a  tool,  and  he  drops  one  theory  and  picks 

42  See  "Current  Literature"  for  November  and  December,  1910, 

48  "New  York  Tribune"  for  February  12,  1924. 

4*  See  the  "New  York  Evening  Post"  for  August  11,  1928;  "The 
World"  of  the  same  date.  Of.  the  "Scientific  American"  for  October  30, 
1920;  pp.  446  et  aeq. 

290 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

up  another  without  a  thought  of  inconsistency,  just  as 
a  carpenter  drops  his  saw  and  picks  up  his  chisel.3*  45 

With  respect  to  Edison's  religious  position,  it  may  be 
noted  that  men  that  well  knew  him  have  described  him  as 
of  a  "reverential  attitude  of  mind55 ;  and  that  he  himself 
has  said:  "Science  cannot  reach  any  other  conclusion 
than  that  there  is  a  great  intelligence  manifested  every- 
where.55 4e  His  theological  position,  if  he  has  one,  has 
not  been  made  clear ;  but  of  the  struggle  between  Funda- 
mentalists and  Modernists  he  has  said  that  it  marks  "the 
transition  from  myth  to  facts.55  47 

It  may  not,  all  things  considered,  be  wholly  surprising 
to  find  Edison  speaking  slightingly  of  the  so-called  dead 
languages  as  instruments  of  intellectual  discipline,  or 
somewhat  disparaging  the  cultural  side  of  American 
life.48  It  may  not  be  surprising  to  find  him  inexorable 
toward  the  cigarette,  though  he  has  been  a  steadfast 
chewer  of  tobacco  and  at  one  time  smoked  twenty  strong 
cigars  a  day.  It  is,  however,  a  surprise  to  discover  him 
pooh-poohing  mathematics  beyond  simple  arithmetic. 
Though  himself  lacking  mathematical  faculty,  tastes,  or 
training,  he  has  of  course  been  able  to  obtain  the  services 
of  mathematicians  when  he  needed  them — including  those 
of  such  men  as  F.  R.  Upton  and  Arthur  E.  Kennelly,  the 
second  of  whom  later  became  professor  of  electrical  en- 
gineering in  Harvard  University  and  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology. 

In  1921  and  later,  Edison  aroused  a  good  deal  of  at- 
tention and  comment  through  his  "questionnaires55 — lists 

4»  E.  E.  Slosson,  "Easy  Lessons  in  Einstein"  (New  York,  1920) ;  p. 
100. 

*»  W.  P.  Warren,  "Edison  on  Invention  and  Inventors,"  in  the  "Cen- 
tury Magazine"  for  July,  1911;  p.  417. 

47  "The  World"  for  February  12,  1924. 

48  See  D.   and  M.,  II,   768. 

291 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
of  questions  to  be  answered  by  applicants  for  work  as  in- 
spectors in  the  Edison  plant.  It  was  proposed  that  the 
men  that  passed  the  test  should*  if  they  made  satisfactory 
progress,  be  promoted  to  executive  and  administrative 
posts.  In  the  old  days  at  Menlo  Park,  Edison  had  a 
different  form  of  examination,  judging  from  the  story 
of  J.  EL  Vail,  who  wished  at  that  time  to  have  charge  of 
the  dynamo-room.  According  to  Vail,  Edison  pointed 
out  a  pile  of  junk  and  said,  uPut  that  together  and  let 
me  know  when  it's  running."  The  junk  turned  out  to  be 
a  dynamo;  and  after  Vail  had  put  it  together  and  got  it 
going,  he  was  considered  to  have  passed.49 

For  society  in  any  formal  sense,  Edison  has  cared  but 
little — for  "society'*  in  its  pettiest  sense,  nothing  what- 
ever. In  her  volume  called  "The  Social  Ladder95  (the 
general  drift  of  which  appears  to  be  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  real  "society"  in  America),  Mrs.  J.  K.  Van 
Rensselaer  concludes  that  "Artists,  scientists,  educators, 
inventors,  are  far  too  busy  in  their  own  spheres  to  take  on 
additional  burdens  for  the  sake  of  numbering  themselves 
among  the  socially  elect."  50  Certainly  this  is  true  of 
Edison. 

He  is  fond  of  his  home,  over  which  the  second  Mrs. 
Edison  has  so  well  presided.  Mrs,  Edison  is  a  cultured* 
gracious,  accomplished  woman,  a  director  of  the  Play- 
ground and  Recreation  Association  of  America,  and  in* 
terested  in  other  public  movements.  It  was  she  who  was 
selected  to  unveil  the  fine  statue  of  Joan  of  Arc  by  Aima 
Vaughn  Hyatt  (Mrs.  Archer  M.  Huntington)  on  River* 
side  Drive,  New  York,  The  other  members  of  the  family 
are  Madeline  (now  Mrs.  John  E.  Sloan),  Charles  (who  is 
being  trained  to  succeed  to  the  general  direction  of  the 

as  R  and  M*  II,  618-614, 
cop.  135* 

292 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

Edison  companies) ,  and  Theodore.  The  first  Mrs.  Edi- 
son left  three  children — Thomas  Alva,  jr,?  William  Les- 
lie* and  Marion,  who  married  an  officer  in  the  German 
army. 

In  addition  to  the  decorations  and  medals  that  Edison 
has  received,  he  has  also  had  conferred  upon  him  three 
academic  degrees:  Hon.  Ph.D.  by  Union  College  (1878)  ; 
D.Sc.  by  Princeton  University  (1915)  ;  and  LL.D.  by  the 
University  of  the  State  of  New  York  (1916).  It  is  per- 
haps worthy  of  note  that  the  last-named  degree  was  ac- 
tually conferred  by  the  telephone,  toward  whose  perfect- 
ing Edison  years  ago  contributed  so  much.  President 
J.  H.  Finley,  speaking  from  Albany  to  West  Orange,  ad- 
dressed the  candidate  as  "not  in  absentia  but  merely  m 
loco  remote."  51 

Edison  has  been  criticised  for  not  being  something  he 
never  professed  to  be — a  "pure  scientist,"  or,  as  the  old- 
fashioned  style  had  it,  "natural  philosopher.55  He  has 
repeatedly  made  it  as  clear  as  he  possibly  could  that  with 
him  the  commercial  availability  of  an  invention  has  been 
the  first  point  to  consider.  On  this  theme  he  enlarged 
as  follows: 

"The  point  in  which  I  am  different  from  most  inven- 
tors is  that  I  have,  besides  the  usual  inventor's  make-up, 
a  bump  of  practicality  as  a  sort  of  appendix,  the  sense 
of  the  business,  money  value  of  an  invention.  Oh,  no,  I 
didn't  have  it  naturally.  It  was  pounded  into  me  by 
some  pretty  hard  knocks."  52 

"...  I  always  keep  within  a  few  feet  of  the  earth's 
surface  all  the  time,"  he  told  an  interviewer.  "At  least 

«  See   "Academic    Honors   for   a  Wizard/*   in   "The   Outlook"   for 
November  19  1916;  pp.  481-482. 

ss  French  Strother,  "The  Modern  Profession  of  Inventing,"  in  "The? 
World's  Work"  for  June,  1905. 

298 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
I  never  let  my  thought  run  up  higher  than  the  Hima- 
layas.5* .  .  *53  He  defined   a   "successful   invention"   as 
"something  that  is  so  practical  that  a  Polish  Jew  will  buy 
it."     Surely  all  this  is  explicit  enough. 

When  Edison  took  up  invention  as  a  career,  the  Civil 
War  was  past.  The  energies  of  the  country  had  been  re- 
leased for  a  burst  of  business  enterprise,  of  speculation, 
of  material  progress  generally.  Edison  had  a  faculty  of 
making  things  work,  of  bringing  things  to  pass,  of  over- 
coming obstacles  thought  to  be  insurmountable.  His  in- 
genuity and  boldness  of  attack  were  exactly  what  capi- 
talists  and  public  were  looking  for — capitalists  because 
lie  showed  the  way  to  profitable  investment;  public  be- 
cause he  did  "stunts**  with  things  near  to  Its  everyday 
life.  He  gave  Bell's  telephone  a  real  transmitter  and  thus 
made  it 

"„  .  .  speak  out  loud  and  bold." 

His  name  for  years  was  placed  on  all  Bell  telephone  sets. 
With  his  electro-motograph  he  furnished  to  Morse's  tele- 
graph a  new  sounder  requiring  neither  a  retractile  spring 
to  withdraw  an  armature  from  an  electro-magnet  nor  any 
electro-magnet  at  all.  He  thereby  delivered  the  tele- 
graph from  the  menace  of  Jay  Gould,  who  controlled  the 
Page  patent  on  a  retractile  spring.  Using  the  principle 
of  this  same  electro-motograph,  he  provided  a  loud- 
speaking  receiver  for  the  telephone.  He  thus  established 
the  fact  that  BelPs  receiver  was  not  indispensable  In  te- 
lephony any  more  than  Page's  retractile  spring  was  in 
telegraphy.  Such  a  man  naturally  convinced  financiers 
that  he  was  a  handy  person  to  have  around  when  they 
wished  to  escape  suits  for  Infringement  or  to  stake  their 
.  P.  Warren,  in  the  "Century"  for  July,  1911;  p.  416* 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

investments  on  schemes  that  were  likely  to  be  "practical" 
from  the  dividend-paying  viewpoint.  The  public  began 
to  regard  him  as  a  marvel  and  to  call  him  athe  Wizard" 
- — a  title  bestowed  on  him  by  the  newspapers. 

Then  he  invented  the  phonograph,  by  which  he  was  the 
first  mechanically  to  reproduce  human  speech  and  song. 
The  phonograph  aroused  prodigious  general  interest. 
Edison  was  now  looked  upon  as  a  "wizard"  indeed.  To 
be  applied  to  several  "practical"  uses5  the  phonograph 
had  only  to  be  developed.  That  development  was  post- 
poned to  make  way  for  Edison9s  advance  against  a  fresh 
impossibility — the  subdivision  of  the  electric  current. 
From  the  invention-factory  at  Menlo  Park  issued  the  in- 
candescent electric  lamp,  dynamos  to  supply  it  with  cur- 
rentj  and  a  long  series  of  auxiliary  devices  through  which 
the  central-station  system  of  incandescent  electric  light- 
ing was  organized  and  rendered  commercially  possible. 
On  this  spacious  accomplishment  was  based  a  vast  new 
industry.  This  industry  in  turn  lent  the  first  real  im- 
petus to  the  new  profession  of  electrical  engineering ;  and 
from  it  grew  manufactures  of  great  variety  and  wide  ex- 
tent. Green  pastures  opened  in  every  direction  for  capi- 
tal stock.  So  impressed  was  the  public  that  many  per- 
sons became  persuaded  that  Edison  had  invented  elec- 
tricity ! 

The  record  is  not  in  doubt.  Edison  was  working,  as 
he  frankly  professed,  in  applied  science.  A  tendency  has 
grown  up  to  criticise  him  because  he  was  not  a  disinter- 
ested seeker  after  truth,  was  not  concerned  with  pure 
scientific  research,  was  not  content  to  ascorn  delights  and 
live  laborious  days"  for  the  sake,  primarily,  of  adding  to 
the  sum-total  of  scientific  knowledge.  Such  criticism  is 
rather  beside  the  mark,  but  it  may  help  to  define  Edison's 
position  more  clearly. 

295 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND   HIS  WORK 

In  19&2  Edison  visited  the  General  Electric  works  in 
Scheneetady,  New  York.  It  was  no  wonder,  editorially 
commented  "The  New  York  Times/5  that  he  received  a 
"clamorous  and  enthusiastic  welcome."  54 

"Mr.  Edison,9'  continued  the  "Times/5  "is  a  great  in- 
ventor and  exploiter  of  inventions,  and  but  little  more 
than  incidentally  a  *man  of  science.5  His  efforts  always 
have  been  aimed  directly  at  the  doing  of  things  that  needed 
to  be  done — things  the  doing  of  which  would  be  immedi- 
ately and  largely  profitable.  That  was  his  natural  bent, 
and  properly  he  followed  it,  to  his  own  and  the  world5s 
great  advantage.  If  what  is  called  'pure  science5 — the 
search  for  new  truth  and  new  knowledge  for  their  own 
sakes — ever  has  interested  him,  it  has  not  been  for  long 
or  deeply. 

"As  he  put  it  himself,  men  like  Langmuir,  Whitney  and 
Steinmetz  have  traveled  far  in  fields  he  only  entered  be- 
cause they  had  more  time.  But  they  didn?t;  he,  like 
everybody  else,  had  all  the  time  there  was.  He  chose  to 
use  it  for  other  purposes,  and  he  has  his  reward,  just  as 
they  have  theirs.55  .  .  . 

It  should  be  added  that  just  as  Edison  is  not  lacking 
in  appreciation  of  "pure  science,55  so  he  has  enjoyed  the 
admiration  and  respect  of  such  men  as  John  Tyndall5 
Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  Hermann  von  Helmholtz,  Louis  Pas- 
teur, Lord  Kelvin,  C.  P.  Steinmetz — men,  that  is,  pre- 
eminently qualified  to  understand  and  value  his  achieve- 
ments and  services.  Kelvin,  one  of  the  greatest  physi- 
cists of  his  own  or  any  time,  was  outspoken  in  his  praise 
of  Edison's  work,  with  which  he  kept  closely  in  touch. 
Edison,  on  the  eve  of  his  sixty-ninth  birthday,  was  guest 
of  honor  at  a  banquet  tendered,  by  the  Illuminating  En- 
gineering Society  (New  York)  ;  and  in  a  speech  deliv- 
w  October  20,  1922. 

296 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

€red  on  that  occasion,  Steinmetz  said:  aHe  lias  done 
more  than  any  other  man  to  promote  the  art  and  science 
of  electrical  engineering.55 

The  suggestion  has  occasionally  cropped  up  that  Edi- 
son owed  much  to  the  ideas  of  his  assistants  and  that  the 
rf act  has  never  been  properly  acknowledged.  As  to  this, 
we  have  the  testimony  of  men  closely  associated  with  him 
at  various  times.  In  their  work  on  Edison,  Dyer  and 
Martin  say :  55  ".  .  .  Edison  always  stood  shoulder  to 
shoulder  with  his  associates,  but  no  one  ever  questioned 
the  leadership,  nor  was  it  ever  in  doubt  where  the  inspira- 
tion originated.  The  real  truth  is  that  Edison  has  always 
been  so  ceaselessly  fertile  of  ideas  himself,  he  has  had 
more  than  his  whole  staff  could  ever  do  to  try  them  all 
out ;  he  has  sought  co-operation,  but  no  exterior  sugges- 
tion.55 

Referring  to  the  autumn  of  1880,  when  he  was  a  new 
man  at  Menlo,  E.  G.  Acheson  wrote :  58 

"Mr.  Edison  was  at  this  time  working  upon  an  electric 
meter  to  be  used  in  connection  with  central  station  dis- 
tribution. I  became  acquainted  with  the  requirements  of 
the  case  and  the  urgent  need  of  such  an  instrument. 
What  appeared  to  be  a  happy  thought  occurred  to  me 
for  the  method  and  design  of  a  meter.  I  made  a  draw- 
ing of  my  proposed  instrument,  and  the  next  time  Edi- 
son came  into  the  room  I  showed  it  to  him.  He  seated 
himself  on  a  high  stool  at  the  drawing  table,  put  his  arms 
on  the  board,  and  his  head,  face  down,  on  them,  and 
seemed  lost  for  some  time  in  thought.  After  some  minutes 
he  raised  his  head  and  addressing  me  said,  £I  do  not  pay 
you  to  make  suggestions  to  me.  How  do  you  know  but 

W  T,  pp.  824-825. 

e<r  "My  Days  with  Edison,"  In  the  "Scientific  American"  for 
ruary  11,1911;  p.  142. 

297 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
that  I  already  had  that  ideas  and  now  If  I  use  it  you  will 
think  I  took  it  from  you.9  I  assured  him  that  I  consid- 
ered anything  I  could  produce  while  in  his  employ  and 
pertaining  to  his  interestss  belonged  to  him;  that  my 
thinking  on  those  lines  was  due  to  my  being  in  his  lab- 
oratory and  cognizant  of  his  needs  and  lines  of  work.  He 
made  a  test  of  my  meter  scheme,  and  notwithstanding  It 
looked  so  feasible,  it  proved  a  failure."  .  .  . 

W.  S.  Mallory,  at  the  time  he  was  connected  with  Edi- 
son's ore-milling  venture,  emphatically  stated:  "I  want 
to  say,  and  I  know  whereof  I  speak9  for  I  have  been  with 
him  night  and  day  for  several  years,  that  ninety-nine  per 
cent,  of  the  credit  of  all  the  invention  and  new  work  of 
this  establishment  is  due  personally  to  Mr.  Edison,  I 
have  heard  it  stated  that  Mr.  Edison  is  an  organizer  who 
uses  the  brains  of  other  men.  Nothing  could  be  further 
from  the  truth  than  this."  5T 

After  selling  his  electro-motograph  rights  to  Orton  of 
the  Western  Union  for  $100,000,  Edison  specified  that 
the  amount  should  be  paid  to  him  at  the  rate  of  $6,000  a 
year.  His  reason  for  this  arrangement  was  that  It  would 
safeguard  him  against  staking  the  lump  sum  on  a  new 
invention.  Your  business  man  would  probably  exclaim, 
4*Why,  he  was  only  getting  interest  for  the  use  of  his 
money!"  But  if  business  men  have  criticised  Edison's 
business  ways,  no  less  has  Edison  from  his  viewpoint  criti- 
cised the  ways  of  business. 

Here  and  there,  in  tracing  Edison's  story,  one  has  il- 
luminating side-lights  on  a  certain  type  of  American  "big 
business"  ethics.  For  example  there  Is  the  episode  of  Jay 
Gould  and  the  Automatic  Telegraph  company.  Briefly, 
Gould  contracted  to  purchase  the  Automatic  interests  for 

57  Theodore  Waters,  "Edison's  Revolution  in  Iron  Mining,"  in  "Me* 
Clure's  Magazine"  for  November,  1897;  p.  92. 

298 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

$4,000,000.  He  appropriated  the  patents  and  properties 
of  the  Automatic  company — the  patents  including  those 
connected  not  only  with  the  automatic  but  also  with  the 
duplex  and  quadruples.  Then  he  repudiated  his  con- 
tract. "I  lost,"  said  Edison5  "three  years  of  very  hard 
labor.59  5S  For  about  thirty  years  the  matter  dragged 
through  the  courts ;  and  at  the  end  the  plaintiffs  won  but 
a  hollow  victory. 

"Wall  Street59  and  its  methods  have  had  faint  praise 
from  Edison.  When  he  engaged  Charles  E.  Chinnock  to 
put  the  Pearl-street  central  station  on  a  commercial  ba- 
sis, he  personally  guaranteed  Chinnock  $10,000  in  the 
event  of  success.  Chinnock  made  good,  and  Edison  duly 
paid  over  the  $10,000.  Afterward,  the  Edison  Electric 
Light  company,  when  Edison  suggested  that  it  reimburse 
him  for  this  amount,  said  it  was  "sorry"  but  declined  to 
pay — this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  money  had  been 
expended  in  behalf  of  the  company,  contributing  toward 
the  establishment  of  the  Edison  system,  which  the  com- 
pany controlled.  "Wall  Street  sorry**  was  how  Edison 
characterized  this  attitude.59  He  has  also  related  that 
"one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  New  York95  tried  to  induce 
him  to  "sell  out59  his  associates  in  electric  lighting — a 
bribe  of  $100,000  being  vainly  dangled.60  For  such  du- 
plicities of  business  he  has  had  a  hearty  contempt. 

Of  the  treatment  of  inventors  by  capitalists,  he  once 
said: 

".  .  .  The  working  out  or  commercializing  an  inven- 
tion costs  money,  but  that  is  usually  done  by  the  company 
that  makes  money  out  of  it.  What  they  need  is  to  do 
something  so  the  inventor  can  make  money  out  of  his  in- 

«Sce  D*  and  M.»  I,  I6&-I67. 
«!&.,  I,  436. 
«OJ6.,  II,  664. 

299 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
rention  and  not  have  It  all  go  to  the  company  that  buys 
up  his  rights.  If  an  inventor  could  make  $50,000  out  of 
his  first  invention  he  would  turn  right  around  and  put 
that  money  into  making  other  inventions — some  that 
might  be  worth  millions  to  the  public.  That  is  a  char- 
acteristic of  a  true  inventor.  Inventors  have  insufficient 
means  to  fight  a  patent  case  with  the  present  methods  of 
procedure  in  the  courts,  and  it  amounts  to  a  nullification 
of  the  patent  as  far  as  the  inventor  is  concerned.  There 
are  many  corporations  that  know  this  and  make  a  busi- 
ness of  appropriating  every  patent  of  value.  Sometimes 
a  competing  company  will  give  the  inventor  enough  to 
pay  a  little  on  his  debts  and  fight  the  pirating  company, 
but  the  inventor  gains  nothing  if  they  are  successful.  I 
think  courts  ought  to  protect  the  inventor  against  busi- 


ness men."  .  .  ,61 


For  business  routine  Edison  has  never  had  a  liking. 
In  Newark,  according  to  him,  when  first  he  was  manu- 
facturing stock-tickers,  he  jabbed  bills  receivable  on  one 
hook,  bills  payable  on  another,  and  allowed  all  notes  to 
go  to  protest.  This  delightfully  simple  method  func- 
tioned* he  says,  to  everybody's  satisfaction.  But  in  a 
fatal  moment  he  acquired  a  book-keeper.  At  the  end  of 
three  months  the  book-keeper  reported  a  profit  of  $$,000. 
Edison  celebrated  this  with  a  supper  to  some  of  the  men. 
Two  days  later  the  book-keeper  rendered  a  revised  state- 
ment showing  a  loss  of  $500.  This  made  the  supper  ap- 
pear a  bit  premature — but  only  temporarily,  for  a  re- 
revised  statement  proclaimed  a  profit  of  more  than  $7,000. 
Small  wonder  if  Edison  looked  fondly  back  to  his  little 
system  of  two  hooks  and  protested  notes ! 62 

ei  W.  P.  Warren,  "Edison  on  Invention  and  Inventors,"  Si*  the  "Cen- 
tury Magazine"  for  July,  1911;  p.  419. 
62  D,  and  M.,  I,  135. 

&00 


WHAT  MANNER  OF  MAN? 

At  Henlo  he  would  neglect  his  correspondence  for  days 
at  a  stretch.  Sometimes  he  would  be  asleep  when  the  busi- 
ness office  most  urgently  wished  to  confer  with  him.  But 
when  he  was  accessible,  he  would  quickly  fasten  upon  the 
substance  of  the  details  presented  to  him  and  give  his  di- 
rections as  to  what  should  be  done. 

For  business  in  the  broader  sense  he  has,  of  course* 
shown  great  capacity.  He  saw  a  future  for  electric  trac- 
tion though  few  business  men  could  see  it.  As  a  manu- 
facturer of  essential  parts  for  his  electric-lighting  system, 
he  developed  an  undertaking  of  high  commercial  value. 
After  he  removed  to  West  Orange,  he  built  up  a  series  of 
Edison  enterprises  under  his  personal  supervision  and 
carried  them  on  with  administrative  skill.  The  collapse 
of  his  big  ore-milling  scheme  was  due  to  natural  causes 
that  could  not  have  been  foreseen  and  the  effect  of  which 
could  not  be  avoided.  His  energy  in  tackling  new  prob- 
lems— as,  for  example,  the  making  of  synthetic  phenol — 
has  been  striking. 

He  has  gained  wealth,  but  doubtless  he  might  have 
gained  far  more  had  it  not  been  that  wealth  for  its  own 
sake  does  not  appeal  to  him.  Back  in  18793  a  reporter 
said  to  him,  "If  you  can  make  the  electric  light  supply  the 
place  of  gas,  you  can  easily  make  a  fortune."  Edison 
answered,  "I  don't  care  so  much  for  a  fortune"  es — and  he 
meant  it.  Prof.  F.  W.  Taussig,  the  well-known  econo- 
mist, has  written  that  although  "the  love  of  distinction 
and  the  more  material  self -regarding  motives"  have  also 
clearly  moved  Edison  to  some  extent,  yet  the  man  is 
chiefly  possessed  by  "an  instinct  of  workmanship  or 
continuance."  "We  are  so  immersed,"  adds  Taussig,  "in 
the  present  individualist  system  that  we  can  hardly  con- 

ea  See  H.  C.  Brown,  "The  Book  of  Old  New-York"  (New  York, 
1913) ;  p.  247. 

aoi 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WOEK 
celve  how  we  should  act  under  conditions  totally  differ- 
ent. Prediction  might  be  expected  to  be  easier  as  re- 
gards those  rare  persons,  like  Mr.  Edison,  in  whom  some 
particular  bent  appears  with  extraordinary  strength. 
[Yet  even  here  we  cannot  be  sure.  What  sort  of  things 
would  he  have  worked  at  in  a  collectivlst  society,  and 
would  his  services  have  been  greater  or  less?  To  these 
questions  we  can  give  no  convincing  answers.95  64 

Edison's  gospel  o£  wort  and  his  disrelish  of  mere  money- 
making  for  its  own  sake  have  held  valuable  lessons  for  his 
countrymen — and  still  hold.  The  same  is  true  of  his 
firm  insistence  upon  high  standards  in  design,  materials* 
workmanship,  and  marketing.  He  has  never  knowingly 
sacrificed  quality.  It  has  been  his  pride  to  see  that  his 
signature  trade-marked  upon  a  product  was  a  guarantee 
of  excellence.  He  has  not  sponsored  contraptions.  The 
improvement  of  a  thing  is  to  him  as  attractive  as  the 
original  invention  of  It.  When  he  has  felt  that  an  Edi- 
son device  was  defective  under  conditions  of  actual  use,  he 
has  withdrawn  or  retired  it.  It  Is  rather  an  open  secret 
that  even  within  the  Edison  sales  organizations  murmurs 
have  been  heard  that  the  "Old  Man"  was  too  much  con- 
cerned with  making  things  good.  In  a  civilization  whose 
modern  factory  system  has  turned  out  so  much  of  the 
sham,  the  shoddy,  and  the  inferior,  Edison's  example  has 
been  salutary. 

Yet  another  service  Edison  has  rendered,  if  we  may  ac- 
cept the  expert  testimony  of  Doctor  Maclaurin : 

"All  the  world  is  indebted  to  Mr*  Edison,  but  the 
portion  of  it  that  Is  tinder  special  obligation  is  the 
educational  worlds  particularly  the  schools  of  technol- 
ogy. It  is  not  merely  that  he  has  helped  them  by 

*    64  See  the  "Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics"  for  August,  1912;  pp» 
776-781. 

302 


WHAT  MANNEE  OF  MAN? 

criticism  and  constructive  suggestion;  it  is  not  merely 
that  by  financial  assistance  he  has  enabled  them  to  carry 
on  scientific  investigations  in  fields  that  he  has  cultivated 
with  such  remarkable  success;  but  it  is  mainly  because 
he  has  himself  been  for  a  generation  an  educational  in- 
stitution of  the  first  rank.  As  much  as  any  other  school 
he  has  had  a  profound  influence  throughout  the  country 
in  arousing  in  the  minds  of  young  men  some  sense  of  the 
limitless  possibilities  of  science  when  devoted  to  the  serv- 
ice of  man.  ...  It  has  been  a  great  thing  for  America  to 
Jiave  such  a  central  figure  in  this  age  of  applied  science — - 
a  man  with  such  a  hold  on  the  popular  imagination  as  to 
force  men  to  watch  what  he  is  doing.39 

In  the  "Independent55  referendum^  when  Edison  was 
chosen  as  the  most  useful  American,  various  reasons  for 
selecting  him  were  given  on  the  lists  submitted ;  and  these 
were  interesting  as  indicating  the  more  intelligent  pop- 
ular view  of  Edison.  From  them  may  be  quoted: 

"Perhaps  the  one  name  which  no  one  could  possibly 
omit  Jro»4uch  a  list.     An  incomparable  combination  of 
diligence  and  inventive  ingenuity.     A  per~ 
of  the  'good-old-times'  doctrine.55 

"Leader  in  the  development  and  application  of  inven- 
tions that  have  revolutionized  civilization  in  the  last  cen- 
tury." 

"The  world  would  surely  be  a  dull  place,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  Ms  genius.55 

"There  is  no  one  like  him.  He  is  the  one-man~to~the~ 
century  inventor.  Millions  of  people  all  over  the  world 
are  Ms  debtors.55  .  ,  . 

"Because  he  has  demonstrated  that  inventive  genius 
may  be  turned  to  a  nobler  and  better  purpose  than  the 
mere  making  of  money.55 

"$VTi0  has  added  more  to  the  material  elements  of  cm~ 

808 


EDISON:  THE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 
Hzation,  by  his  own  Inventions  and  by  what  they  have  sug- 
gested to  others^  than  any  other  one  man  in  the  history  of 
the  world.55 

"Occupying  probably  the  first  place  among  strictly 
utilitarian  men.  Without  his  aid  few  of  our  modern  en- 
terprises could  be  carried  on  as  effectively  as  they  are.5*  65 

To  these  may  be  added  the  words  of  one  enthusiastic 
citizen,  who,  when  the  present  writer  referred  to  the  sin- 
gular esteem  in  which  Edison  is  held,  exclaimed,  aAnd  why; 
not?  Sure,  didn't  he  set  the  whole  world  a-goin9?99 

This  "hold  on  the  popular  imagination,95  Edison  has 
never  lost.  When  he  makes  pilgrimage  to  open  the  Elec^ 
trical  and  Industrial  Exposition,  the  old  marvels  are  re- 
hearsed. Nor  would  most  men  be  surprised  to  learn 
that  a  new  marvel  was  forthcoming.  Though  Edison  has 
repeatedly  announced  his  withdrawal  from  active  inven- 
tion, yet  he  has  not  wholly  quit — and  who  knows?  .  .  » 

On  the  day  after  he  unveiled  the  bust  of  Joseph  Henry 
in  the  Hall  of  Fame,  the  "Times95  of  New  York  said  edi- 
torially : eQ  "Many  who  saw  the  procession  of  those  gath- 
ered to  honor  the  ^immortals9  will  have  wondered  who  of 
that  living  company  would  come  to  take  their  places  in 
bronze  beside  those  whose  faces  were  unveiled  yesterday. 
To  one  at  least  that  honor  is  likely  to  come.  He  who 
came  to  pay  homage  by  his  presence  to  Joseph  Henry 
will  live  on  with  Joseph  Henry.99 

es  See  "The  Independent"  for  May  I,  1913;  pp.  9S6-95&* 


APPENDIX 


AN  EDISON  CHRONOLOGY 

Born  at  Milan,  Erie  county  5  Ohio,  Feb- 
ruary 11  1847 

In  the  cellar  of  the  house  at  Port  Huron, 
Michigan,  its  up  the  first  Edison  lab- 
oratory Abt.  185t 

Becomes  a  newsboy  on  the  GrUnd  Trunk 
railway  J.859 

Issues  "The  Weekly  Herald55  from  a 
railway  car  L186$ 

Learns  telegraphy  from  J.  11  Mac- 
kenzie at  Mount  Clemens,  Michigan  1862 

Works  in  a  local  telegraph  office  at  Port 
Huron  1862-186^ 

Is  a  railway  telegraph  operator  on  the 
Grand  Tnmk  at  Stratford  Junction, 
Ontario,  Canada  t1868 

Is  a  roving  telegrapher  in  the  central 
West  1863-1868 

Goes  to  Bostirn  as  an  operator  1868 

Invents  his  vote-recorder,  his  first  pat- 
ented invention  J868 

Arrives  in  New  York  and  becomes  su- 
perintendent of  the  Gold  and  Stock 
Telegraph  company  1869 

Becomes  a  partner  in  the  firm  of  Pope, 
Edison  &  Co.,  electrical  engineers, 
New  York  18G4 

Invents  the  unison  device  and  other  im* 

307 


APPENDIX 

provements  in  stock-tickers;  also  the 
^Universal5*  stock-printer  1869 

Opens  in  Newark,  New  Jersey,  a  shop  of 

Ms  own,  where  he  builds  stock-tickers  1870 

Aids  Christopher  L.  Sholes,  inventor  of 
the    first    practical    typewriting-ma- 
chine, in  making  an  improved  work- 
Ing  model  1871 
Works  on  the  automatic  telegraph;  de- 
velops duplex  and  quadruples  tele- 
graph systems;  invents  the   mimeo- 
graph and  electric  pen;  begins  re- 
searches in  telephony                                      1872—1875 
Removes  from  Newark  to  Menlo  Park, 

N.  J.  1876 

Opens  up  the  possibilities  of  Bell's  tele- 
phone by  inventing  the  carbon  trans- 
mitter, applying  it  to  a  closed  circuit, 
and  introducing  an  induction  coil ;  in- 
vents the  electro-motograph,  the  prin- 
ciple of  which  was  later  applied  to  his 
loud-speaking  telephone  J876 

Invents  the  phonograph  J.877 

Improves  the  phonograph;  begins  his 

study  of  electric  lighting  1878 

Works  on  incandescent  electric  lamps, 

putting  into  circuit  on  October  21  one 

that  establishes  the  general  principle 

on  which  success  is  based  3.879 

Develops  new  type  of  dynamo  having 

greatly  increased  efficiency ;  plans  and 

works  out  his  system  of  incandescent 

electric  lighting,  including  means  for 

distributing,  controlling,  and  measur- 

308 


APPENDIX 

ing  the  current,  as  well  as  appliances 
for  the  lamps;  publicly  exhibits  the 
system  at  work  at  Menlo  Park  (De- 
cember 31, 1879)  187&-188Q 

Invents  the  magnetic  ore  separator  1880 

Builds  his  pioneer  electric  railway  line 
and  makes  experiments  in  electric 
traction  1880-1882 

Opens  offices  in  New  York  for  the 
purpose  of  introducing  his  electric- 
lighting  system;  establishes  the  first 
commercial  manufactory  of  incandes- 
cent lamps,  also  shops  for  turning  out 
dynamos,  underground-tube  conduc- 
tors, junction-boxes,  meters,  chande- 
liers, switches,  sockets;  devises  his 
"three-wire  system"  of  distribution, 
first  installed  at  Sunbury,  Pennsyl- 
vania ,1881 

Opens  the  first  commercial  electric-light- 
ing central  station  in  the  United 
States  at  255-257  Pearl  street,  New 
York,  September  4  1882 

Removes  his  laboratory  and  headquar- 
ters to  West  Orange,  New  Jersey  1887 

Develops  the  improved  wax-cylinder  pho- 
nograph 1887-1890 

Invents  the  motion-picture  camera  (ki- 

netograph)  1891 

Develops  and  manages  his  ore-milling 
enterprise,  solving  its  engineering  dif- 
ficulties and  providing  necessary  in- 
ventions 1891-1900 

Enters  the  Portland-cement  industry; 

309 


APPENDIX 

invents  the  "long  kiln53*;  introduces 
the  "pourecP  house ;  invents  and  per- 
fects the  alkaline  storage  battery; 
produces  a  new  form  of  business  pho- 
nograph and  introduces  his  "Univer- 
sal" electric  motor  to  be  used  with  this 
machine  ,1900-1910 

Develops  a  phonograph  of  greatly  im- 
proved type?  using  disc  records  ,1910—1914* 

Introduces  the  "talking  motion-picture" 
(kinetophone) 

Introduces  the  telescribe  and  the  transo- 
phone 

Unable  to  obtain  phenol  (carbolic  acid) 
from  abroad,  devises  a  process  for 
making  synthetic  phenol  and  opens 
a  plant  that  within  a  month  produces 
a  ton  a  day  L19l4s 

Becomes  president  of  the  Naval  Consult- 
ing Board  of  the  United  States  ,1915, 

Evolves  plans  and  develops  inventions 

for  the  United  States  Government  1917-1918 

Improves  his  existing  inventions;  con- 
ducts chemical  experiments;  manages 
his  business  undertakings  1919- 


THE   COMMERCIAL  VALUE   OF 
EDISON'S   INVENTIONS 

(From  an  article  in  "The  New  York  Times1'  of  June  24,  1023) 

There  is  one  human  brain  that  has  a  hard  cash  market 
value  today ,  In  the  business  and  industrial  world,  of  $15,- 
0005000,000,  Billions  is  correct,  not  millions.  That  is 
within  20  per  cent,  of  equaling  the  value  of  all  the  gold 
dug  from  the  mines  of  the  earth  since  America  was  dis- 
covered. 

The  brain  is  that  of  Thomas  Alva  Edison5  who  many 
a  time  has  said  to  his  cronies,  "Well,  if  worse  comes  to 
worst,  IVe  got  a  good  trade.  I  can  always  make  $75  a 
month  as  an  expert  telegraph  operator  and  I  can  live 
comfortably  on  that.?? 

The  $15,000,000,000  represents  the  present  Investment 
in  America  alone  In  industries  which  are  entirely  based 
on  the  inventions  of  Edison  or  which  have  been  materially 
stimulated  by  his  inventions.  Several  of  the  country's 
largest  Industries  are  Included. 

Here  Is  the  list,  and  it  touches  only  the  high  spots.  It 
shows  either  the  capital  or  the  total  Investment,  accord- 
ing to  the  latest  dependable  estimates: 

Moving  pictures    ,  $1,250,000,000 

Telephones    1,000,000,000 

Electric   railways    ,     6,500,000,000 

Electric  lighting  and  power  5,000,000,000 

Electrical   supplies    ,        857,000,000 

Fixtures 37,000,000 

an 


APPENDIX 

Phonographs     . ., ,  105,000,000 

Electric  car  shops ,.  .  109,000,000 

Dynamos  and  motors I  00,000,000 

Edison  storage  batteries    ,. . , .  5 ,000,000 

Cement    , 271,000,000 

Telegraph   . . ., •»  350,000,000 

Wireless   telegraph    15,000,000 

The  total  Is  $15,599,000,000, 

It  will  at  once  bq  objected  that  Edison  did  not  invent 
the  telephone^  for  Instance.  True.  But  lie  did  Invent 
the  carbon  transmitter — he  Is  said  to  have  sold  It  for 
$100^000 — without  which  the  telephone  would  not  have 
been  commercially  practicable  on  a  large  scale. 

If  there  are  Items  In  the  table  which  In  fairness  should 
not  be  entirely  placed  to  Edison's  credit^  there  are  still 
others  not  mentioned  at  all  which  would  In  the  aggregate 
nm  his  brain  value  up  to  more  than  the  total  as  given, 

PART  OF  AN  EDISON  QUESTIONNAIRE 

Here  Is  a  list  of  some  of  the  questions  on  one  Edison 
questionnaire,  as  furnished  by  Charles  Hanson  to  **The 
New  York  Times95  and  published  in  that  newspaper  on 
May  11,  1921.  Mr.  Hansen  had  been  a  candidate. 
"No  person/9  commented  the  "Times,**  "is  allowed  to 
write  down  the  questions  or  make  notes  of  them,  so  Mr. 
Hansen9s  list  is  from  memory  and  he  makes  no  pretense 
of  giving  more  than  the  substance  and  purport  of  the 
queries.9* 

What  countries  bound  France? 
Wliere  Is  the  River  Volga? 

What  counfcry  and  city  produce  the  finest  china? 
Where  does  the  finest  cotton  grow? 

812 


APPENDIX 

What  country  consumed  the  most  tea  before  the  war? 

What   city  in  the  United  States  is  noted  for  its  laundry- 
maeliine  making? 

What  city  is  the  fur  centre  in  the  United  States? 

Can  yon  play  any  musical  instrument? 

What  country  is  the  greatest  textile  producer? 

Is  Australia  larger  than  Greenland  in  area? 

Where  is  Copenhagen? 

Where  is  Spitzbergen? 

In  what  country  other  than  Australia  are  kangaroos  found? 

What  telescope  is  the  largest  in  the  world? 

Who  was  Bessemer  and  what  d^d  he  do? 

Where  do  we  get  prunes  from? 

How  many  States  in  the  Union? 

Who  was  Paul  Revere? 

Who  was  [John?]  Hancock? 

Who  was  Plutarch  ? 

Who  was  Hannibal? 

Who  was  Daiiton? 

Who  was  Solon? 

Who  was  Francis  Marion? 

Who  was  Leonidas? 

Where  did  we  get  Louisiana  from? 

Who  was  Pizarro? 

Who  was  Bolivar? 

What  war  material  did  Chile  export  to  the  Allies  during  the 
war? 

Where  does  the  most  coffee  come  from? 

Where  is  Korea? 

Where  Is  Manchuria? 

Where  was  Napoleon  born? 

What  is  the  highest  rise  of  tide  on  the  North  Atlantic  coast? 

Who  invented  logarithms? 

Who  was  Emperor  of  Mexico  when  Cortex  landed? 

Where  is  the  Imperial  Valley  and  what  is  it  noted  for?, 

In  what  cities  are  hats  and  shoes  made? 

Where  is  the  Sargasso  Sea? 

SIB 


APPENDIX 

What  is  the  greatest  depth  ever  reached  in  the  ocean"? 

What  is  the  name  of  a  large  inland  body  of  water  that  has  no 
outlet? 

What  is  the  capital  of  Pennsylvania  ? 

What  State  is  the  largest?     The  next? 

Rhode  Island  is  the  smallest  State.     What  is  the  next  and  the 
next? 

How  far  is  it  from  New  York  to  Buffalo  by  way  of  the  New 
York  Central  Eailroad? 

How  far  is  it  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco? 

Of  what  State  is  Helena  the  capital? 

What  State  has  the  largest  copper  mines  ? 

What  State  has  the  largest  amethyst  mines? 

What  is  the  name  of  a  famous  violin  maker? 

Who  invented  the  modern  paper-making  machine? 

Who  invented  the  typesetting  machine? 

Who  invented  the  printing  press? 

On  what  principle  is  the  telephone  based? 

Of  what  is  brass  made? 

Where  do  we  get  tin  from? 

What  ingredients  are  in  the  best  white  paint? 

How  is  leather  tanned? 

How  is  artificial  silk  made? 

What  is  a  caisson? 

What  is  coke? 

How  is  celluloid  made? 

Where  do  we  get  shellac  from? 

What  causes  the  tides? 

To  what  is  the  change  of  seasons  due? 

What  is  the  population  of  the  following  countries :     Germany, 
Japan,  England,  Australia,  Bussia  ? 

From  what  part  of  the  North  Atlantic  do  we  get  codfish? 
Who  discovered  the  south  pole  ? 
What  is  a  monsoon? 
Where  is  Magdalena  Bay? 
From  where  do  we  import  figs? 
From  where  do  we  import  dates? 

BU 


APPENDIX 

From  where  do  we  get;  domestic  sardines? 

What  railroad  is  the  longest  in  the  world? 

Where  is  Tallahassee? 

Where  is  Kenosha? 

How  fast  does  sound  travel  per  foot  per  second  ? 

How  fast  does  light  travel  per  foot  per  second? 

What  planet  is  it  that  has  been  recently  measured  and  found 
to  be  of  enormous  size? 

What  large  river  in  the  United  States  is  it  that  flows  from 
south  to  north? 

Where  are  the  Straits  of  Messina? 

In  what  country  are  earthquakes  frequent? 

What  mountain  is  the  highest  in  the  world? 

Where  do  we  import  cork  from? 

Name  six  big  business  men  in  the  United  States. 

Who  is  called  the  father  of  railways? 

Where  was  Lincoln  born? 

Who    stated    the    following:     "Fourscore    and    seven    years 
ago/'  &c.? 

What  business  do  you  like  best  ? 

Are  you  experienced  in  any  of  the  following:     Salesmanship, 
clerk,,  stenography  j  bookkeeping? 

Name  a  few  kinds  of  wood  used  in  making  furniture,  and  the 
highest  priced. 

What  kind  of  wood  is  the  lightest? 

What  kind  of  wood  is  the  heaviest? 

Of  what  kind  of  wood  are  axe  handles  made? 

Of  what  kind  of  wood  are  kerosene  barrels  made? 

What  part  of  Germany  do  we  get  toys  from? 

What  Slates  bound  West  Virginia? 

Where  do  we  get  peanuts  from? 

What  is  the  capital  of  Alabama? 

Who  wrote  the  "Star-Spangled  Banner"? 

Who  wrote  "Home,  Sweet  Home*'? 

Who  composed  "II  Trovatore"? 

Who  was  Cleopatra? 

tWhere  are  condors  to  be  found? 

315 


APPENDIX 

What  voltage  is  used  on  street  cars? 
Who  discovered  the  law  of  gravitation? 
What  cereal  is  used  all  over  the  world? 
Where  is  the  Asstian  Dam? 
What  country  produces  the  most  nickel? 
What  is  the  distance  between  the  earth  and  the  sun? 
Who  invented  photography? 
Where  do  we  get  wool  from? 
What  is  felt? 

What  States  produce  phosphates? 
Why  is  cast  iron  called  pig  iron? 
Name  three  principal  acids. 
Name  three  principal  alkalis. 
Name  three  powerful  poisons. 
Who  discovered  radium? 
Who  discovered  the  X-ray? 

What  is  the  weight  of  air  in  a  room  20x30x10? 
Where  is  platinum  found? 

With  what  metal  is  platinum  associated  when  found? 
How  is  sulphuric  acid  made? 
Who  discovered  how  to  vulcanise  robber? 
Where  do  we  get  sulphur  from? 
Where  do  we  import  rubber  from  ? 
Who  invented  the  cotton  gin? 
What  is  the  price  of  12  grs.  of  gold? 
What  is  vulcanite  and  how  made? 
What  is  glucose  and  how  made  ? 

What  is  the  difference  between  anthracite  and  bituminous  coal  ? 
Where  do  we  get  benzol  from  ? 
Of  what  is  glass  made? 
How  is  window  glass  made? 
What  is  porcelain  ? 

What  kind  of  a  machine  is  used  in  cutting  the   facets  on 
diamonds  ? 

What  country  makes  the  best  optical  lenses  and  what  city? 
Where  do  we  get  borax  from? 
.What  is  a  foot  pound? 

316 


APPENDIX 

EDISON  HIMSELF  ANSWERS  A 
QUESTIONNAIEE 

This  questionnaire  was  prepared  by  Byron  R.  New- 
ton and  published  in  "Collier's"  for  July  14,  1928. 

"I  never  give  another  man  a  dose  of  medicine  I  wouldn't  take 
myself." 

Thomas  A.  Edison  was  speaking.  It  was  some  years  ago.  I 
was  a  reporter  then  and  had  journeyed  to  his  laboratory  to  talk 
with  him  about  his  storage  battery.  The  interview  was  finished, 
and  Edison  was  talking  about  certain  rules  and  principles  that 
governed  his  life.  His  medicine  proverb  so  quaintly  expressed 
the  Golden  Rule  that  it  made  a  lasting  impression  on  me.  I  won- 
dered if  he  really  meant  it  and  practiced  it.  Now  I  have  put 
him  to  the  test  and  he  rings  true. 

Everybody  will  remember  that  not  long  ago  Mr.  Edison  set 
the  world  talking  by  propounding  a  questionnaire  to  the  college 
men  of  the  country.  Therefore  I  have  propounded  a  question- 
naire to  Mr.  Edison,  which  he  has  answered  frankly  and  appar- 
ently with  less  difficulty  than  the  college  men  found  in  disposing 
of  the  questions  submitted  to  them.  Twenty  questions  were  pre- 
sented to  Mr.  Edison^  and  out  of  the  twenty  he  answered  nine- 
teen and  a  half. 

Q.  I. — Do  you  ezpect  to  see  a  successful  third  party  in  1924;? 

A. — I   hope  not.     Two  are  probably   necessary*  and   that's 

enough, 

Q.  2. — A  straw  vote  of  the  country,  which  Is  now  being  taken 
by  Collier's,  shows  Henry  Ford  to  be  leading  all  other  candi- 
dates for  president  Do  you  think  this  indicates  a  definite, 
permanent  preference  of  the  people  for  Mr.  Ford^  and  if  so,  what 
are  the  reasons  for  that  preference? 

A.— The  common  people  lilce  Mr.  Ford  for  the  same  reason 
that  John  Burroughs  UJeed  him?  a*  lie  fe  a  lover  of  naturep  a* 

81* 


APPENDIX 

practical  humanitarian  who  practices  'what  he  preaches*  and  one 
who  JKU  not  been  so  owercivilised  as  to  become  an  artificial  person. 

Q,  3. — It  has  been  suggested  that  a  national  convention  of  all 
presidential  aspirants  be  held  a  year  or  six  months  prior  to  the 
nominating  conventions,  in  order  that  the  country  may  know 
where  each  candidate  stands  with  reference  to  the  great  problems 
of  the  country.  Do  you  favor  that  plan? 

A. — Don*t  think  it  practicable. 

Q.  4. — The  American  people  have  lost  confidence  in  their 
political  leaders.  Why? 

A. — I  can't  remember  that  they  ever  had  very  much. 

Q.  5. — The  head  of  an  American  university  recently  declared 
that  the  great  multitude  of  brain  workers—the  so-called  middle 
class  in  the  United  States— were  being  pressed  between  organ- 
ized labor  and  organized  capital  to  a  point  where  they  must 
soon  find  deliverance  through  a  strong  leader  or  be  driven  to 
choosing  between  the  white  feather  and  the  red  flag.  Do  you 
share  that  view,  and  do  you  think  the  middle  class  of  the  coun- 
try may  be  turning  to  Henry  Ford  as  their  leader? 

A. — I  do  not  believe  this.  Too  many  persons  want  brain  work 
and  have  no  natural  or  acquired  capacity  for  such  work.  They 
want  easy  jobs;  hence  the  supply  exceeds  the  demand  for  this 
type,  with  the  usual  result. 

Q.  6. — American  mothers  Inspire  their  sons  with  the  thought 
that  they  must  be  president  of  the  United  States  or  president  of 
a  bank.  The  result  is  that  a  great  multitude  of  these  white- 
collar  boys  are  looking  for  $25-a-week  jobs.  Mentally  they  are 
unfitted  for  presidential  responsibilities,  but  they  have  the  mus- 
cles for  good  mechanics.  Do  you  think  the  high  wages  being 
paid  for  skilled  labor  will  attract  them  to  the  extent  of  develop- 
ing a  new  class  of  American  workers  ? 

818 


APPENDIX 

A. — "My  experience  is  that  they  do  not  want  to  learn  a  trade} 
it  is  too  slow.  They  want  executive  positions  of  some  kind;  even 
&t  low  wages. 

Q.  7. — The  entry  of  American  women  into  business,  politics, 
and  other  hitherto  masculine  activities  has  changed  the  character 
of  our  family  life,  giving  us  the  homeless  house.  Do  you  think 
this  situation  is  permanent  and  that  civilization  can  adjust  itself 
to  it,  or  is  it  a  temporary  thing  that  will  pass  ? 

A» — I  think  it  is  only  temporary, 

Q.  8. — Being  civilized  and  enlightened,  why  do  women  bare 
their  breasts  in  winter  and  cover  them  with  furs  in  summer? 

A. — Ask  me  nothing  about  women.  I  do  not  understand  them* 
and  don't  try  to, 

Q.  9. — The  rapid  increase  of  motor  vehicles  has  congested  the 
thoroughfares  of  every  American  city  to  a  point  where  the  author- 
ities confess  that  they  are  powerless  to  deal  with  the  problem. 
What  general  solution  do  you  suggest? 

A. — Some  years  ago  I  suggested  that  the  city  of  New  Torts 
should  pass  an  ordinance  providing  thai  after  a  certain  year , 
no  more  new  manufacturing  establishments  should  be  permitted 
below  the  Harlem  River. 

Q.  10. — The  transportation  machinery  of  the  United  States 
to-day  is  unable  to  handle  the  country's  increasing  traffic.  What 
is  the  basic  trouble  and  the  remedy? 

A, — Too  much  Government  interference.     Too  much  politics* 

Q,  11.- — The  skilled  workers  in  the  building  trades  are  now 
averaging  more  than  $10  a  day  and  are  demanding  increases.  As 
a  result  contractors  are  shutting  down  building1  operations.  Do 
you  blame  them? 

Allowing  for  Sundays,  holidays,  and  normal  interruptions,  the 

319 


APPENDIX 

American  mechanic  averages  less  than  250  working  days  in  the 
year*  At  $10  a  day  lie  would  earn  $2,500  a  year,  or  less.  Con- 
sidering the  excessive  cost  of  food;  rent,  fuel,  clothing,  that 
amount  does  not  give  him  and  his  family  the  common  comforts  of 
modern  life.  He  wants  to  live  like  a  progressive  American  citi- 
zen. That  is  why  he  is  asking  for  more.  Do  you  blame  him? 
If  both  are  right,  then  who  is  wrong  and  what  is  necessary  to 
adjust  the  situation? 

Mr.  Edison  answered  only  the  first  paragraph  of  this  question, 
as  follows: 

A. — This  is  perfectly  natural*  It  is  due  to  the  regular  work- 
ing of  the  law  of  supply  and  demand.  Skilled  workers  in  the 
building  trades  are  less  in  number  than  the  demand.  Society  ha$ 
taken  little,  if  any,  measures  to  train  more  skilled  men  "in  tho$e\ 
traded  Every  natural  person  tries  to  get  the  most  for  his  serv^ 
ices9  "for  the  goods  which  he  sells. 

Q.  12. — Do  yon  believe  that  the  domain  of  electricity  has 
practically  been  explored  and  charted,  or  is  it  still  an  unexplored 
realm,  destined  still  further  to  contribute  to  the  happiness  and 
wonderment  of  mankind? 

A. — The  Electrical  Age  is  just  starting. 

Q.  13. — Do  you  believe  that  through  its  far-reaching  agencies 
we  shall  yet  communicate  with  the  dead  or  gain  some  knowledge 
of  the  future  existence  of  the  human  soul  ? 

A. — My  views  on  this  subject  liwve  already  been  set  forth  «wj 
mtermews  published  in  the  newspapers  and  magazines.  See 
^Cosmopolitan^  May,  1920;  ** American  Magazine™  October  &$ 
[}],  W20;  "Scientific  American,"  November  [October?]  80, 
1920. 

Q.  I4f. — Should  we  go  forward  with  our  attempt  to  enforce 
prohibition  in  the  United  States,  or  give  it  up  as  a.  bad  job  and 
unworkable? 

A. — We  should  go  forward.    N&  law  can  b&  fully 

820 


APPENDIX 

but  in  this  case  it  will  be  easier  as  time  goes  on  and  as  the  netsft 
generation  (wlucJi  hasn't  acquired  the  drink  habit)  comes  into 
control. 

Q.  15. — Do  yon  believe  that  tlie  Government's  present  re- 
strictive policy  with  reference  to  immigration  will  work  ad- 
vantageously for  the  future  of  the  United  States? 

A. — I  believe  in  the  present  restrictive  policy f  but  perfected 
in  its  workings. 

Q.  16. — Looking  to  the  future,  would  the  United  States  be 
benefited  by  membership  in  the  League  of  Nations? 

A. — Yes,  if  joined  under  specified  conditions. 

Q.  17. — In  view  of  the  future  possibilities  for  wholesale  de- 
struction of  human  life  and  property  through  scientific  discover- 
ies since  the  armistice^  do  you  believe  that  another  world  war 
Is  probable?  Will  not  the  certainty  of  the  appalling  destruction 
of  another  great  war  act  as  a  restraining  force  upon  all  nations 
of  the  earth? 

A. — I  think  it  will  oppose  any  large  wars  and  restrain  them,, 

Q.  18. — Do  you  believe  that  civilization  is  retrograding,  of 
that  the  present  moral  laxity  and  unrest  are  indicative  of  a  new 
phase  of  human  life  and  a  great  change  for  the  better? 

A. — I  believe  civilization  is  advancing •,  but  the  great  war  and 
the  rapid  advance  in  scientific  method®  makes  it  seem  qneev^ 
It  is  the  rapid  transition  that  make®  it  so. 

,Q,  19. — If  the  population  of  the  world  continues  to  increase 
at  the  rate  of  the  past  half  century^  what  wiE  be  the  result  in 
two  hundred  years  ? 

A*— Fiwr, 


FAMILIAR  GLIMPSES 

IK  a  certain  biography  of  Edison  the  following  story 
about  the  inventor  is  attributed  to  Chauncey  M.  Depew. 

"During  the  exhibition  at  Chicago  [the  World's  Co- 
lumbian Exposition,  1893],  Edison  visited  the  Fair,  and 
saw  everything  in  the  electrical  line.  One  day,  while 
down  town,  he  happened  to  see  the  Shingle'  of  an  electric- 
belt  concern — a  belt  you  put  around  you,  and  which  is 
supposed  to  cure  any  ailment  you  happen  to  be  troubled 
with.  Well,  thinking  that  perhaps  there  was  something 
in  the  application  of  electricity  that  was  new  to  him,  he 
went  up  to  the  office.  A  very  pert  young  lady  immedi- 
ately inquired  what  she  could  do  for  him. 

"  'Well,'  began  Edison,  *I  wanted  to  know  how  those 
belts  worked,  and  I  thought  I  might  learn  by  coming  up 
here.' 

"  'Certainly,5  said  the  young  lady,  taking  up  a  belt. 
*You  see  the  current  of  electricity  goes  from  the  copper 
to  the  zinc  plate,  and  then 9 

"  *  Just  a  moment,'  suid  Edison  politely,  'I  don't  hear 
very  well  at  times.  Did  you  say  the  current  went  from 
"the  copper  to  the  zinc  plate?' 

"  *I  certainly  did.     Then,  as  I  was  saying * 

"  *  Just  one  moment,'  interrupted  Edison  again.  'Let 
me  understand  this*  You  say  it  goes  from  the  copper  to 
the  zinc?' 

**  'Yes,  sir,  it  goes  from  the  copper  to  the  zinc,5 

a  'But  do  you  know,  I  always  thought  it  went  from  the 
gsinc  to  the  copper,' 

322 


APPENDIX 

« 'Well,  it  don't.5 

a*But  are  you  sure?5  Edison  asked,  smiling. 

a  *Well,  maybe  you  know  more  about  electricity  than  I 
'do/  snapped  the  girl,  as  she  threw  the  belt  down  and 
glared  at  the  Wizard.9 

"  'Perhaps  I  do/  Edison  admitted,  and  he  turned  and 
left  the  place." 

Amusing  though  it  be,  the  anecdote  is  not,  however, 
Senator  Depew's.  The  present  writer  submitted  a  copy 
of  it  to  the  Senator,  who  kindly  read  it  and  returned  it 
with  this  annotation: 

"The  above  is  not  my  story.  I  never  heard  of  it  or  saw  it, 
Chauncey  M.  Depew." 

Earnest  E.  Calkins,  a  New  York  advertising  man,  re- 
fused, as  did  Edison,  to  let  deafness  become  an  affliction. 
Calkins  once  asked  Edison,  as  one  deaf  man  to  another, 
why  he,  of  all  men,  had  not  tried  some  electrical  device 
for  making  hearing  easier.  According  to  Calkins,  Edi- 
son replied :  "Too  busy.  A  lot  of  time  is  wasted  in  lis- 
tening. If  I  had  one  of  those  things,  my  wife  would  want 
to  talk  to  me  all  the  time." 

Electrocution,  so-called,  was  first  adopted  by  the  state 
of  New  York.  A  law  making  this  method  of  capital  pun- 
ishment obligatory  became  effective  on  January  1st,  1889* 
The  first  person  sentenced  to  suffer  death  under  the  new 
law  was  a  certain  William  Kemmler.  The  law  was  at- 
tacked as  providing  a  "cruel  and  unusual"  form  of  pun- 
ishment and  as  being  therefore  unconstitutional  Bourke 
Cockran,  a  lawyer  well-known  in  New  York,  an  ex- 
Congressman,  and  an  orator  with  a  large  local  reputation 
for  florid  eloquence,  took  tip  the  case  (as  he  explained)  "in 

32S 


APPENDIX 

the  interests  of  love  of  humanity  and  a  desire  to  prevent 
an  inhuman  execution." 

Edison  was  called  as  a  witness.  Cockran  was  aware 
that  Edison  was  on  principle  opposed  to  capital  punish- 
ment in  any  form ;  but  he  was  disappointed  in  his  hope  of 
gaining  assistance  from  Edison's  testimony,  which  wan 
to  the  general  effect  that  electricity  might  be  made  to  ac- 
complish instant  and  painless  death.  Examined  by  Cock- 
ran,  Edison  stated  that  he  regarded  it  as  safe  to  "double 
up"  dynamos  in  order  to  increase  the  current  used  for 
executions. 

"That  is  your  belief — not  from  knowledge?"  queried 
Cockran, 

Patiently  the  witness  responded:  "From  belief.  I 
never  killed  anybody." 

The  law  was  eventually  sustained  in  both  state  and 
Federal  courts,  and  Kemmler  was  duly  executed  at  Au- 
burn. Invited  to  be  present  at  the  execution,  Edison  de- 
clined. 

It  was  said  that  at  one  of  Edison's  regular  birthday 
interviews  a  reporter  took  occasion  to  congratulate  the  in- 
ventor on  his  vigorous  health. 

Edison,  continues  the  story,  answered:  "Yes,  I  am 
well  enough,  thank  you,  considering  my  age.  This  is  my 
*998th  birthday.  You  didn't  know  I  was  so  old  as  that, 
did  you?  Man,  that's  nothing — just  nothing.  I  expect 
to  be  at  least  1,500  before  the  4th  of  July.  It's  the 
newspapers,  bless  'em.  It's  all  right;  I  haven't  gone 
crazy  or  anything,  I  just  made  the  remark  because  a 
clipping  bureau  has  sent  me  an  entirely  new  Edison  story, 
and  it  raises  the  date.  You  see,  we've  been  amusing  our- 
selves at  home,  among  ourselves,  by  collecting  these  yarns 
and  calculating  how  old  I  should  have  to  be  to  live  througK 


APPENDIX 

all  the  adventures  they  have  set  me  down  for.  When  we 
quit  last  night  I  was  only  970,  but  the  bureau  boosted 
me  twenty-eight  years  this  morning.95 

In  August,  1924,  Edison,  Henry  Ford,  and  Harvey 
Firestone  called  at  the  Coolidge  homestead  in  Plymouth, 
Vermont,  to  pay  their  respects  to  President  Coolidge,  who 
was  taking  a  vacation  there.  A  group  of  interviewers 
cornered  and  catechised  the  inventor.  One  of  the  ques- 
tions asked  was :  "What  do  you  think  about  the  radio 
being  used  for  political  campaigns  this  year?5* 
.  "Not  much  in  it/'  declared  Edison,  "People  like  mu- 
tilated music ;  they  like  to  hear  about  contests  such  as  the 
Democratic  convention  [this  was  the  convention  that  met 
on  June  24th  and  did  not  adjourn  until  July  10th9  after 
twenty-nine  sessions  and  one  hundred  and  three  ballots — 
thus  setting  a  record]  ;  but  to  sit  and  hear  a  political 
speech — well,  I'll  tell  you  a  story. 

"A  reformer  went  to  Sing  Sing  to  deliver  a  talk  to  the 
prisoners.  He  started  in  with  that  reform  talk,  you 
know,  and  kept  up  talking  and  talking  until  he  had  'em  all 
bored  to  death.  He  talked  for  an  hour  when  a  colored 
man  let  out  a  yell  A  guard  hit  him  over  the  head  and 
knocked  him  senseless.  When  he  came  to  in  about  an 
hour,  the  reformer  was  still  talking.  The  man  called  the 
guard  and  said :  *Hit  me  again,  boss.  I  can  still  hear 
it'  >* 

Edison  told  of  dn  assistant  who  once  helped  him  to  con- 
struct a  miniature  electric-lighting  plant.  So  delighted 
was  this  man  with  the  part  he  had  played  in  the  work  that, 
smirking  proudly,  he  said  to  Edison : 

4<Mr.  Edison,  after  working  with  you  like  this,  I  be- 
lieve I  could  put  up  an  electric-lighting  plant  myself." 

325 


APPENDIX 

"Could  you?9*  returned  Edison  calmly. 
**Yes,  I  believe  I  could/5  the  fellow  answered* 
only  one  thing  that  beats  me.** 

"And  what  is  that?w  asked  Edison. 

"I  don*t  quite  see  how  you  get  the  oil  along  the  wires,95 

In  his  "Remembered  Yesterdays9*  R.  U.  Johnson  ob- 
serves, "Alas!  I  made  a  great  mistake  in  not  availing 
myself  of  the  opportunity  to  buy  stock  in  the  company 
that  exploited  the  electric  light."  "Edison,"  he  con- 
tinues, "has  a  naive  and  delightful  humor,  of  which  I 
have  heard  this  example.  After  his  return  from  his  first 
trip  ,to  England,  some  one  asked  him  his  impressions. 
*Well,5  he  said,  'the  English  are  not  an  inventive  people; 
they  don't  eat  enough  pie/  (Probably  he  overlooked  the 
gooseberry  tart  of  Olde  England.)59 

When  Edison  was  for  the  second  time  at  Louisville  as 
a  telegraph  operator,  an  Associated  Press  representative 
came  seeking  his  aid.  This  man  had  accompanied  the 
presidential  party  of  Andrew  Johnson  in  Johnson's  once- 
famous  "swinging  round  the  circle,"  a  speech-making  trip 
in  which  the  President  sought  to  explain  to  the  country 
his  side  of  the  case  in  his  difficulties  with  Congress,  The 
Associated  Press  man  had  taken  shorthand  notes  of  the 
speeches.  From  these  he  dictated,  and  Edison  wrote  out 
the  dictation  in  longhand.  As  they  went  along,  the  A,  P. 
man  would  constantly  alter  words,  and  frequently  he 
would  compel  Edison  to  strike  out  an  entire  paragraph 
and  do  it  over  again.  When  Edison  asked  the  reason  for 
30  many  and  such  drastic  changes,  the  A.  P,  man  released 
this  wisdom : 

"Sonny,  if  these  politicians  had  their  speeches  ptib- 

326 


APPENDIX 

listed  as  they  deliver  them,  a  great  many  shorthand  writ- 
ers would  be  out  of  a  job." 

As  is  commonly  known,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  shot  on 
April  14th,  1865,  and  lingered  unconscious  until  the 
next  morning.  Edison  was  at  that  time  a  telegraph 
operator  in  Cincinnati,  and  Junius  Brutus  Booth,  brother 
of  J.  Wilkes  Booth  and  Edwin  Booth,  was  playing  an  en- 
gagement at  the  National  Theater  in  that  city.  That 
night,  happening  to  look  through  a  window  of  the 
Western  Union  operating-room,  Edison  noticed  a  dense 
crowd  gathered  about  a  newspaper  office.  A  messenger 
Tboy  was  sent  to  find  out  what  the  matter  was.  In  a  few 
moments  the  boy  rushed  back,  crying  out,  "Lincoln?s 
shotP  Each  operator  looked  at  his  fellows  and  his  fel- 
lows  looked  at  him.  Through  that  office  the  message 
must  surely  have  come — but  who  had  received  it?  To  the 
man  in  charge  of  "press  report"  the  manager  said,  "Look 
over  your  files." 

The  man  ran  over  the  sheets  while  the  others  expec- 
tantly waited.  Soon  he  came  to  the  message.  There  it 
was — a  duplicate  of  what  had  gone  out  to  the  newspaper. 
An  operator  had  received  it.  Never  before  had  he  re- 
ceived, never  again  would  he  receive,  though  for  years  he 
might  listen  to  the  tappings  of  a  sounder,  any  other  news 
so  moving  as  the  dispatch  he  had  taken  on  that  April 
night.  But  so  mechanically  had  he  worked  that  although 
he  had  recorded  letters  and  words,  his  mind  had  abso- 
lutely failed  to  take  in  their  meaning. 

Jtmius  Brutus  Booth  was  kept  in  hiding  by  his  friends, 
mob  violence  being  feared.  Lincoln  breathed  his  last  at 
7:  %>&  o'clock  on*  April  15th.  That  day  Cincinnati  began 
Jianging  out  its  draperies  of  black. 

327 


APPENDIX 

In  the  large  room  in  which  worked  Glacomo  Puccini, 
the  Italian  composer,  two  letters  hung  side  by  side.  One 
was  dated  1861  and  was  signed  by  Richard  Wagner. 
was  the  other  : 


Edison  Laboratories 
Orange^  N.  J. 
Giacomo  Puccini: 

Men  die  and  Governments  change,  but  the  songs  of  "La 
Boheme"  will  live  forever. 

Thomas  A.  Edison 
Sept,  1920 

Early  in  1924,  when  it  was  announced  that  Giovanni 
Papini,  an  Italian  author  who  became  known  in  the 
United  States  through  a  widely  advertised  translation  of 
his  "Life  of  Christ,"  would  lecture  at  Columbia  Univer- 
sity during  the  following  summer,  Dr.  C.  C.  Faraa  of 
New  York  wrote  in  protest  to  Dr.  N.  M.  Butler,  presi- 
dent of  the  University.  In  this  letter  he  cited  passages 
from  Papini's  writings,  asserting  that  they  were  deroga- 
tory to  the  United  States,  its  founders,  its  men-of-letters, 
and  others  of  its  prominent  folk.  Dr.  Fama  also  wrote 
to  Edison,  calling  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  PapinI 
had  styled  him  "the  undesirable  Edison."  Edison 
answered  thus: 

al  have  your  letter  of  January  12  with  the  newspaper 
clippings  attached.  If  you  will  please  pardon  me  for 
being  rather  brusque,  I  will  ask  you  why  you  pay  atten- 
tion to  Papini.  The  more  he  talks,  the  worse  it  will  be 
for  him.n 

'Among  Edison's  stock  of  anecdotes  about  the  old  Pearl 
Street  station  in  New  York  (the  first  commercial  electric 
central  station  to  be  established  in  the  United  States)  was 

£28 


APPENDIX 

one  that  had  to  do  with  Chinnock.  The  station's  first 
superintendent  turned  out  to  be  incompetent,  and  Ms 
place  was  taken  by  Chinnock,  who  in  a  short  time  put  the 
•station  on  a  paying  basis.  Many  complaints  from  sub- 
scribers had  to  be  listened  to  and  many  adjustments  made* 

Edison  said  that  somebody  asked  Chinnock,  "Did  Mr, 
Blank  have  charge  of  this  station?" 

"Yes.93 

"Did  he  know  anything  about  running  a  station  like 
this?" 

"Does  he  Jcnow  anything  about  running  a  station  like 
this?59  echoed  Chinnock.  "No,  sir.  He  doesn't  even 
suspect  anything." 

Long  before  Flagler,  Plant,  and  others  had  successfully 
"boomed"  Florida  as  a  "resort"  state,  Edison  had  a  winter 
residence  near  Fort  Myers.  There  he  would  spend  a 
month  or  six  weeks ;  not,  however,  idling.  He  maintained 
a  chemical  laboratory  and  a  machine-shop,  and  in  his 
more  strenuous  days  would  keep  constantly  in  touch  with 
the  progress  of  experiments  his  assistants  were  carrying 
on  up  North.  In  later  years  Henry  Ford  became  a 
neighbor. 

On  Washington's  Birthday,  1925,  this  news  item,  was 
sent  to  northern  papers : 

"Henry  Ford  and  his  wife  left  here  yesterday  for  De- 
trdit,  after  a  month  in  their  winter  home  on  Caloosa- 
hatchee  Bay.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas  A.  Edison  were  at 
the  station  to  bid  them  Godspeed.  The  Fords  rode  to  the 
station  in  their  big  machine,  while  Mr.  Edison  and  his 
wife  rattled  up  in  one  of  the  ancient  small  automobiles 
that  made  Mr.  Ford  famous.  Mr.  Edison  rode  in  the 
front  seat  with  the  driver.  The  automobile  was  one  of 
the  first  cars  manufactured  by  Mr,  Ford." 

329 


APPENDIX 

During  the  visit  of  the  Crown  Prince  and  Crown  Prin- 
cess of  Sweden  to  the  United  States  in  1926,  a  meeting 
with  Edison  was  arranged  for  them  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  Crown  Prince.  The  meeting  took  place  on  June  3rd 
at  the  West  Orange  worts.  According  to  the  colorful 
account  (by  Hugh  O'Connor)  in  "The  World"  (New 
York) ,  "The  conversation  was  so  public  that  it  was  pos- 
sible to  set  down,  perhaps  for  the  first  time  in  history, 
what  actually  is  said  when  a  Prince  meets  an  inventor/* 
The  Crown  Prince  shouted  at  Edison  and  Edison  shouted 
back  at  the  Crown  Prince;  and  with  the  assistance  of 
Meadowcroft  they  seemed  to  get  along  pretty  well.  The 
royal  party  was  entertained  at  luncheon  at  Glenmont, 
the  Crown  Prince  being  a  passenger  in  Edison's  Ford 
car  from  the  works  to  the  house.  During  the  ride,  "Edi- 
son was  seen  to  grin  at  the  Crown  Prince  and  the  Prince 
grinned  back  at  Edison."  It  was  said  that  Edison  after- 
ward named  the  car  "Gustaf  Adolf"  in  the  Prince's  honor. 


880 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

In  preparing  this  volume,  tlie  author  drew  upon  many  and 
varied  printed  sources.  These  have  1>een  freely  cited  through- 
out, in  immediate  connection  with  the  text.  The  list  below  is 
of  books,  pamphlets,  and  articles  in  periodicals.  From  the  ex- 
tensive material  of  these  sorts  that  has  been  consulted,  the  aim 
lias  been  to  select  that  which  bears  directly  on  Edison  and  which 
lias  been  found  particularly  useful.  The  list  does  not  include 
files  of  contemporary  newspapers,  the  author's  collection  of  press 
clippings,  works  of  general  reference,  or  the  large  amount  of 
other  published  matter  that  has  been  indirectly  of  great  service. 

I!      BOOKS  AN0  PAMPHLETS 

American  Concrete  Institute;  Beport  of  the  Committee  on 
Edison  Fire.  Philadelphia,  1915. 

Pamph.  An  authorized  reprint  from  the  "JournaF  of  the  American 
Concrete  Institute. 

Bernhardt,  Sarah:  Memories  of  My  Life.  New  York,  1907. 
Brown,  H.   C.    (ed.):  The  Book  of  Old   New-York.    Ne^ 
York,  1913. 

Brown,  H.  C.  (ed.)  :  Glimpses  of  Old  New-York.    New  York, 

,1917. 

Burnley,  James:  Millionaires  and  Xings  of  Enterprise.  Lon- 
don, 1901. 
Pp.  161-174:  "Edison— 'The  Wizard.' » 

Clements,  H.  B.:  Gramophones  and  Phonographs:  Their  Con- 
struction, Management  and  Bepair.  London,  1913. 

Cooper,  F.  T.  (?) :  Thomas  A.  Edison.  New  York,  1914. 
""  In  a  series,  "Great  Men."  Little  more  than  an  abridgment  of  the 
Mography  by  Dyer  and  Martin. 

Davis,  A.  C.:  A  Hundred  Years  of  Portland  Cement,  1 824-* 
.  London,  1924. 

Dicks  on,  W.  K.  L.,  and  Dickson,  Antonia:  The  Life  and  In- 
of  Thomas  Alva  Edissoe.  New  York,  1892. 

33 11 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Dyer,  F.  L.,  and  Martin,,  T.  C,:  Edison:  His  Life  and  In- 
tentions. 2  vols.  New  York,  1910. 

This  has  been  regarded  as  the  "official"  biography.  Edison  furnished 
oral  and  written  statements  for  it;  W.  H.  Meadowcroft,  Edison's  secre- 
tary, lent  aid.  It  is  an  extensive  collection  of  material,  valuable  for  ref- 
erence, and  presents  the  authentic  Edison.  An  ^Appendix'*  (Vol.  II, 
pp.  785-970)  is  devoted  to  detailed  explanations  of  Edison's  principal 
inventions  and  to  a  list  of  Edison's  patents  as  applied  for  to  September 
13,  1909. 

Fiske,  Rear-Adm.  B.A.,  UJS.N.:  Invention.  New  York,  1921. 

'Fleming,  J.  A.:  Fifty  Years  of  Electricity.  London,  1921. 

Ford,  Henry:  My  Life  and  Work.  Garden  City,,  N.  Y.,  1924. 
[(Samuel  Crowther  was  co-author  of  this  volume.) 

Forman^  S.  E.:  Stories  of  Useful  Inventions.  New  York.,  1911: 

GarMt,  F.  J.:  The  Phonograph  and  Its  Inventor,  Thomas 
,Alvah  [sicl  Edison.  Boston,  1878. 

Greusel,  J.  H. :  Thomas  A.  Edison!  The  Man,  His  Work  and 
His  Mind.  Los  Angeles,  1913. 

In  a  series,  "Hours  with  Famous  Americans." 

Hammond^  J.  W.:  Charles  Proteus  Steinmetz:  A  Biography. 
New  York,  1924. 

Holland,  R.  S,:  Historic  Inventions.  Philadelphia,   1911. 

Hutchison,  M.  E.:  A  Series  of  Twelve  Non-teclmical  Letters 
on  the  Edison  Storage  Battery.  Orange,  N.  J.,  1912. 

Pamph,  A  reprint  from  the  "Journal  of  Commerce"  (New  York). 

Hes,  George :  Flame,  Electricity  and  the  Camera.  New  York, 
E190CL 

Hes3  George:  Inventors  at  Work.  New  York,  1906. 

lies,  George:  Leading  American  Inventors.  New  York,  1912; 

In  a  series,  '"Biographies  of  Leading  Americans,"  edited  by  W.  P. 
Trent. 

Isolani,  Eugen:  Thomas  A.  Edison,  der  amerikanische  Bl- 
inder. Stuttgart,  1906. 

Volume  I  In  a  series,  ^*MSnner  des  Erfolgs.** 

'Johnson,  E.  U.:  Remembered  Yesterdays.  Boston,  1923. 

"Jones,  F.  A.:  Thomas  Alva  Edison:  Sixty  Years  of  an  Iirvesn- 
tor's  Life,  New  York,  1907. 

This  has  appeared  (New  York,  1924)  In  a  revised  form,  with  the  tl€e 
"Thomas  Alva  Edison:  An  Intimate  Record."  Except  wlien  otherwise 
noted,  it  is  to  the  original  work  that  the  references  in  the  present  vol- 
9nue  are  made. 

332 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Kaempffertj  Waldemar:  A  Popular  History  o£  American  In- 
vention. 2  vols.  New  York,  1924. 

Keim,  Albert:  Edison.  Paris,  1913. 

Lesley,  R.  W.  (with  J.  B.  Lober  and  G.  S.  Bartlett) :  History 
of  the  Portland  Cement  Industry.  Chicago^  1924. 

Leupp,  F.  E.:  George  Westinghouse :  His  Life  and  Achieve- 
ments. Boston,,  1918. 

Macfarlane,  Lloyd  (psend.  of  I.  L.  Cochrane):  The  Phono- 
graph Book.  New  York,  1917. 

Martin,  T.  C.:  Edison  at  Seventy-three.  New  York,  1920. 

Pamph.  First  printed  (February,  1920)  as  a  "press  service"  article 
in  various  newspapers. 

Martin,  T.  C.:  Forty  Years  of  Edison  Service,  1882-1922. 
New  York,  1922. 

Chapters  I-V  deal  with  the  invention  of  the  Edison  lamp,  the  devel- 
opment of  the  Edison  lighting  system,  and  the  introduction  of  the  sys- 
tem into  New  York  City. 

Maynard,  G.  S.:  Storage  Batteries:  A  List  of  References, 
1900-1915.  New  York,  1915. 

Pamph.  Issued  by  the  New  York  Public  Library. 

McClure,  J.  B.:  Edison  and  His  Inventions.     Chicago,  1898. 

Meadowcroft,  W.  H.:  The  Boy's  Life  of  Edison,  New  York, 
1911. 

This  has  appeared  (New  York,  1921)  in  an  enlarged  edition.  It  is  to 
be  distinguished  from  the  ordinary  run  of  "juvenile**  volumes  about  Ed- 
ison, in  that  it  was  written  by  Edison's  secretary  and  with  Edison's  aid, 
and  was  published  with  the  inventor's  express  approval.  Quoted  state- 
ments by  Edison  are  in  effect  identical  with  the  versions  in  the  biog- 
raphy by  Dyer  and  Martin. 

Phillips,  W.  P.  {"John  Oakum") :  Sketches  Old  and  New. 
New  York,  1897. 

Eedesdale,  Baron  (A.  B.  Bussell-Mitford) :  The  Bamboo  Gar- 
den. London^  1896. 

Scott,  L.  N.:  Naval  Consulting  Board  of  the  United  States. 
Washington,  1920. 

This  is  the  official  story  of  the  organization  and  work  of  the  Board 
and  carries  a  preface  by  Josephus  Baniels.  Chapter  XI  (pp,  16&-M2) 
is  entirely  devoted  to  Edison's  inventive  accomplishments* 

Sh&w,  (J.  B.:  The  Irrational  Knot.  New  York^  1918. 
Sub-title:  "Being  the  Second  Novel  of  His  Nonage."  A  new  lssii£  of 
the  original  American  edition  (1905)»  with  the  author's  preface. 

333 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Stieringer,  Luther:  The  Life  and  Inventions  of  Thomas  A, 
Edison.  New  York,  1890. 

Story  of  Menlo  Park,  The.  New  York,  1925. 

Pamph.  It  is  interesting  chiefly  for  its  illustrations  and  its  map  of 
Menlo  Park  in  1876-18&2.  The  title-page  states:  "Compiled  and  printed; 
but  not  published  by  Edison  Pioneers." 

Technical  Staff  of  the  Edison  Storage  Battery  Company:  The 
Alkaline  Storage  Battery.  Orange,  N.  J.,  1924, 

Pamph.  Monograph  III  in  the  National  Education  Association  Joint 
Committee  series. 

Tewksbury,  G.  E.:  A  Complete  Manual  of  the  Edison  Phono- 
graph, Newark,  1897. 

Twenty-third  Annual  Beport  of  the  American  Scenic  and  His- 
toric Preservation  Society,  1918.  Albany,  1918. 

Pp.  157-158. 

Useful  Knowledge  Books,  The  (edited  by  G.  S.  Bryan)  : 

I — Hogan,  J.  V.  L.:  The  Outline  of  Radio.     Boston,  1923; 
revised  ed.,  1925. 

II — Davis,  W,   S.:  Practical  Amateur  Photography.     Bos- 
ton, 1923, 

Hi— Wade,  H.  T.:  Everyday  Electricity.     Boston,  1924. 
IV— Saylor,  H.  H,:  Tinkering  with  Tools.     Boston,  1924. 
Villard,  Henry:  Memoirs.  2  vols,  Boston,  1904. 
Wildman,  Edwin:  Famous  Leaders  of  Industry.  Boston,  1920. 
First  series.  Pp,  115-117:  "Thomas  Alva  Edison." 


II :   ARTICLES  IN  PERIODICALS 

Acheson,  E.  G.:  My  Days  with  Edison.  "Scientific  Ameri- 
can," Feb.  11,  1911. 

Baker,  J.  B.:  Edison's  Latest  Invention.  A  Storage  Battery 
Designed  and  Constructed  from  the  Automobile  User's  Point  of 
View.  "Scientific  American/*  Jan.  I4f,  1911. 

Banning,  Kendall:  Thomas  A.  Edison,  Manufacturer  of  Car- 
bolic Acid.  "System,"  Nov.  1914, 

Benson,  A.  L.:  Edison's  Dream  of  New  Music.  "Cosmopoli- 
tan/* May  1913. 

Benson,  A.  L, :  Edison  on  How  to  Live  Long.  "Hearst's  Mag- 
azine/* Feb.  1913. 

834 


BIBLIOGEAPHY 

Benson,  A.  L.:  Wonderful  New  World  Ahead  of  Us.  "Cos- 
mopolitan/7 Feb.  1911. 

Bishop,  W.  H.:  A  Night  with  Edison.  "Scribner's  Monthly/* 
Nov.  1878. 

Bulletin  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association:  The  First 
Central  Station  and  Its  History.  Sept.  1922. 

Churchill,  Arthur:  Edison  and  His  Early  Work.  "Scientific 
American  Supplement"  1526,  Apr.  1,  1905. 

Claudy,  C.  N.:  Romance  of  Invention.  "Scientific  American/* 
Mar.  19,  1921. 

Current  Literature:  Are  We  in  Danger  from  Materialism? 
Nov.  1910. 

Current  Literature:  Edison's  Views  on  Immortality  Criticized. 
Dec.  1910. 

Edison,  T.  A.:  The  Phonograph  and  Its  Future.  "North 
American  Review/'  May-June  1878. 

Edison  Monthly,  The,  pomm* 

Electrical  Review,,  Jan.  12,  1909;  pp.  60-63. 

On  "old  Pearl  Street" 

Electrical  Review  and  Western  Electrician:  Edison  and  the 
Invention  of  the  Electric  Incandescent  Lamp.  Oct.  9,  1915. 

Electrical  World:  Celebration  of  Edison  Day  at  Panama- 
Pacific  International  Exposition  and  at  Laboratories  at  West 
Orange,  N.  J.  Oct.  30,  1915. 

Fox,  E.  M.:  Edison's  Inventions.  "Scribner's  Monthly/'  June, 
July,  Oct.  1879. 

Frank  Leslie's  Illustrated  Newspaper,  1878-1880,  passim. 

Grau,  Robert:  Actors  by  Proxy.  "The  Independent/'  July 
17,  1913. 

Hammer,  W.  J.:  Transmitting  Sound  by  Phonograph  and  Tel* 
ephone  104-  Miles,  through  48  Physical  Changes.  'The  Electri- 
cal Experimenter/1  Sept.  1917. 

Hammer,  W.  J.:  William  Wallace  and  His  Contributions  to 
the  Electrical  Industries.  "The  Electrical  Engineer/'  Feb.  1,  8, 
15,  22,  189$. 

lies,  George:  Thomas  Alva  Edison.  "The  Chautauquan/'  Feb. 
1908.  (Sixth  article  in  a  series,  "Some  Great  American  Scien- 
tists/* by  various  authors.) 


BIBLIOGEAPHY 

Independent*  The:  The  Most  Useful  Americans.  May  I,  1913. 

Inglis,  William:  Edison  and  the  New  Education.  "Harper's 
Weekly/*  Nov.  4,  1911. 

Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute:  Award  of  the  Franklin 
Medal,  July  1915. 

Larned,  E.  S.:  The  Edison  Concrete  House.  "Scientific  Amer- 
ican/' Apr.  18,  1908. 

Lescarboura,  A.  (X:  Edison's  Views  on  Life  and  Death.  "Sci- 
entific American/'  Oct.  30,  1920. 

Maclaurin,  E.  C.:  Edison's  Service  for  Science.  "Science/* 
June  4,  1915. 

Marcosson,  I,  F.:  The  Coming  of  the  Talking  Picture.  "Mun- 
sey's  Magazine/'  Mar.  1918. 

Martin,  T.  C.:  Edison's  Pioneer  Electric  Railway  Work.  "Sci- 
entific American,"  Nov.  18,  1911. 

Millard,  Bailey:  Pictures  That  Talk.  "Technical  World/' 
Mar.  1913. 

Millard,  Bailey:  Thomas  Alva  Edison.  "Technical  World/1 
Oct.  1914.  (Sixth  article  in  a  series,  "Our  Twelve  Great  Scien- 
tists/') 

Nation,  The:  Notes  from  the  Capital.  Oct.  28,  1915. 

Outlook,  The:  Academic  Honors  for  a  Wizard.  Nov.  1,  I91& 

Outlook,  The:  Edison's  Laboratory  Tests  for  Human  Nature. 
Mar.  9,  1918. 

Phillips,  W.  P.:  Edison,  Bogardus  and  Carbolic  Acid.  "Elec- 
trical Review  and  Western  Electrician,"  Nov.  14,  1914. 

Plush,  S.  M. :  Edison's  Carbon  Telephone  Transmitter  and 
the  Speaking  Phonograph.  "Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute," 
Apr.  1878. 

Price,  C.  W.:  Thomas  Alva  Edison.  "Cosmopolitan,"  May 
1902.  (In  a  series,  "Captains  of  Industry/') 

Scribner's  Monthly:  Edison's  Electro-motograph.  May  1879. 

Strother,  French:  The  Modern  Profession  of  Inventing.  "The 
World's  Work/'  June  1905, 

Talbot,  F.  A.:  The  Work  of  Thomas  Alva  Edison.  "The 
World's  Work"  (London),  Oct.  1911. 

Taussig,  F.  W.:  Dyer  and  Martin's  Life  of  Edison.  "The 
Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,"  Aug.  1912. 

Upton,  F.  R,:  Edison's  Electric  Light.  "'Scribner's  Monthly/' 
Feb.  1880. 

336 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

T.  H.:  Tie  Future  of  Electricity.  "Collier's/'  Dec.  2, 
1916. 

Based  on  an  interview  -with  Edison. 

Wade,  H.  T.:  The  Transophone  and  the  Telescribe.  "Scien- 
tific American/*  Sept.  12,  1914. 

Walsh,  G.  E.:  With  Edison  in  His  Laboratory.  "The  Inde- 
pendent/' Sept.  4,  1913. 

Warren,  W.  P.:  Edison  on  Invention  and  Inventors.  "Cen- 
tury," July  1 911. 

Waters,  Theodore:  Edison's  Revolution  in  Iron  Mining.  "He- 
ctare's/' Nov-  18§7- 

White,  F.  M.:  Edison  and  the  Incandescent  Light.  "The  Out- 
look/' Feb.  26,  1910. 

Williams,  C.  W.:  Edison  Solves  Submarine's  Problem.  "Tech- 
nical World/'  Feb.  1915. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Acheson,  E.  G.,  114  and  noU,  128 
note 

Adams,  M.  F.  ("Milt")*  Edison's 
telegrapher  friend,  30,  42,  44, 
46,  48-49,  52 

Addicks,  J.  B.,  32  and  ?io£<? 

Alkaline  (nickel-iron)  storage  cell, 
Edison's  first  campaign  for, 
206-211;  for  radio  sets,  218; 
genera*  construction  of,  213— 
215 ;  in  submarine  service,  216- 
218;  second  campaign  for, 
212-213 

Andrews,  W.  S.,  114 

(Appendix,  305-330 

Appleton   (Wis.)s  station  at,  169 

Arc-lamp,   defects   of,    106-107 

Aspdin,  Joseph,  invents  Portland 
cement,  202 

Association  of  Edison  Illuminat- 
ing companies,  182? 

'Automatic  telegraphy,  abandoned 
in  the  United  States,  64;  Edi- 
son's improvements  in,  63-64; 
Edison  visits  England  for 
trial  of,  64, 

Bamboo,  Baron  Redesdale  on  uses 
of,  in  the  Orient,  134-135; 
first  carbonizing  of,  132-133; 
furnishes  successful  filament, 
188 

Barker,  G.  F.,  103 

Batchelor,  Charles,  110,  113-114; 
aids  Edison  in  carbonizing 
sewing-thread,  125-127;  takes 
"dark  box"  to  Paris  exposi- 
tion of  1881,  252 

iBell,  A.  G.,  contest  of,  with 
JSlisha  Gray,  74;  telephone  of, 
improved  by  Edison,  74-77; 
uses  "AhoyP  as  telephone 
call-word,  261-262 


Bell  telephone  interests,  warfare 
of,  with  Western  Union  com- 
pany, 75-77 

Bennett,  J.  G.5  129,  151*  172;  fur- 
nishes money  for  Edison's  ex~ 
perlments  in  flying,  249 

iBergmann,  Sigmund,  manufac- 
tares  Edison  equipment,  156, 
278 

Bernhardt,  Sarah,  visits  Menlo., 
152-153 

Bibliography,   331-337 

Bishop,  W.  H.,  266,  271 

"Black  Friday,"  cause  of,  56-57 j 
scenes  during,  57-58 

"Black    Maria,"    the,    191 

Boehm,  L.  K.,  114 

Bogardus,  "Hank,"  30-31 

Botts,  J.  M.,  28 

Boutwell,  G.  S.,  57 

Brauner,  J.  C.,  visits  South  Amer- 
ica for  fiber,  135-136 

British  electric-lighting  act,  159- 
160 

Brockton  (Mass.)»  station  at^ 
170 

Brush,  C.  F.,  106,  208 

"Bugs,"  finding  the,  63 

Bunnells,   the,   35 

CaUahan,  E.  A.,  52,  56 

Carbon,  Edison  experiments  with, 
for  incandescent  lamp,  109, 
120,  122 

Carbonizing,  materials  used  for, 
127,  132 

Carbon  transmitter  (microphone), 
75-77 

Carbutt,  John,  189 

Carnegie,  Andrew,  2& 

Centennial  Exposition  (1876), 
Wallace's  dynamo  and  arc- 
lamps  at,  105 


INDEX 


Central-station  lighting,  Edison 
originates,  150-151 

Chamberlain,  Joseph,  276 

Chandler,  C.  F.,  110 

Chemical  experimenting,  an  avoca- 
tion of  Edison,  262 

Childs,  G.  W.,  276 

Chinnock,  C.  K,  puts  Pearl-street 
station  on  commercial  basis, 
299 

Cincinnati,  Edison  first  appears 
at,  42;  Western  Union  office 
in,  in  1863-1864  (as  described 
by  George  Kennan),  34-41 

Civic  Forum  (New  York)  presents 
to  Edison  its  medal  for  public 
service,  178 

Clarke,  C.  L.,   114 

Commercial  value  of  Edison's  in- 
ventions, 311-312 

Concentrating  plants,  Edison's 
early,  194 

Concrete  house,  the  Edison,  253- 
256  and  note 

Conkling,  Roscoe,  and  the  phono- 
graph recital,  88 

Connery,  T.  B.,  and  A.  E.  Orr, 
anecdote  regarding,  128-129 

Cooke  and  Wheatstone,  under- 
ground telegraph-line  used  by, 
163 

Coolidge,  W.  D.,  develops  duc- 
tility of  tungsten,  139  note 

Cutting,  R.  L.   ("Bob"),  152,  156 

Baft,  Leo,  248 

Daniels,  Josephus,  invites  Edison 
to  head  "a  department  of 
invention  and  development,** 
229-230 

"Dark  box,"  Edison  makes,  for  ob- 
serving electro-magnetic  waves, 
251-252;  taken  by  Batchelor 
to  Paris  exposition  of  1881, 
252 

Davenport,  Thomas,  experiments 
with  electric  traction,  242 

Davy,  Sir  Humphry,  produces 
electric  light,  104 


"Dead-beat"  galvanometer,  Edi- 
son, 256-257 

DeLong9  G.  W.,  visits  Menlo,  151 

Dick,  A,  B.,  buys  rights  in  mimeo- 
graph, 71 

Dickson,  W.  K.  L.,  aids  Edison  in 
work  on  kinetograph  (mo- 
tion-picture camera),  190 

Dodge,  M.  A.  ("Gail  Hamilton"), 
88 

Draper,   Henry,  110 

Draper,  J.  W.,  265 

Duncan,   "Dick,"   35,   38 

Duplexing  and  diplexing,  as  in- 
vented by  Edison,  65-67 

Dynamo-electric  machines  for  arc- 
lighting,  142-143 

Eaton,  S.  B.,  153,  168,  177-178 

Eckert,  T.  T.,  69  and  note 

"Ediphone,"  business  phonograph, 
95 

Edison  chronology,  an,  307-810 

Edison  dynamo,  142-145;  direct 
coupling  for,  145-146 

"Edison  effect,"  the,  253 

Edison  Electric  Illuminating  com- 
pany of  New  York,  growth 
of  service  of  (New  York 
Edison  company,  successor), 
in  forty  years  (1882-1922), 
176;  incorporated,  150. 

Edison  Electric  Light  company 
formed,  112 

Edison  General  Electric  company, 
formed,  155,  180-181;  stock  of, 
reaches  high  figure,  19&-200. 
See  Villard,  Henry. 

Edison,  Mina  (MUler),  181-182, 
292-293 

Edison,  Nancy  (Elliott),  3-4,  S~ 
10,  12,  16 

Edison  (N.  J.),  concentrating 
works  at,  195-199 

Edison  Pioneers,  62,   182,  270 

Edison,  Samuel,  becomes  a  captain 
of  Mackenzie's  insurgents,  4; 
fees  to  the  United  States,  4; 
marries  Nancy  Elliott,  3-4; 


342 


INDEX 


removes  to  Port  Huron; 
(Mich.)  ,  7;  settles  in  Milan 
(Ohio),  4 

"Edison  system,"  the,  account  ofs 
142  et  seq.;  defense  of  Edi- 
son's patent-rights  in,  179-180 

Edison,   T.    A.: 

accident  of,  with  induction-coil, 
50;  accompanies  scientific  ex- 
pedition to  "Wyoming,  103; 
aids  W.  S.  Sims  in  producing 
Sims-Edison  torpedo,  233;  and 
business,  298-302;  and  "Paul 
Pry,"  16-17;  appointed  plant 
manager  of  Gold  Indicator 
company,  56;  approaches  radio- 
telegraphy,  249-253;  arrives 
in  Boston,  47 ;  as  a  small  child, 
6;  a  school  in  himself,  303;  at- 
tempts to  meet  demand  for 
news,  11-12;  attends  Prince 
of  Wales'  reception  at  Sarnia, 
19;  attends  school  at  Port 
Huron,  8;  becomes  chairman, 
later  president,  Naval  Con- 
sulting Board,  231,  262;  be- 
comes interested  in  electricity, 
14;  becomes  newsboy  on  Grand 
Trunk,  10;  becomes  operator 
in  Port  Huron  telegraph  of- 
fice, 22;  begins  studies  in 
chemistry,  9-10;  born,  5;  builds 
helicopter,  248-249;  builds  new- 
dynamo,  142-145;  builds  work- 
ing model  of  first  patented 
invention,  51;  builds  works  at 
Silver  Lake  (N.  J.),  212;  buys 
Faraday's  works,  49;  "caught" 
in  inventing  press  report,  28; 
conducts  experiments  on  al- 
kaline storage  battery,  211; 
conducts  first  experiments  in 
incandescence,  109;  constructs 
electric  railway  line  and  builds 
locomotive,  243-247 ;  constructs 
roach  destroyer,  48;  deafness 
of,  how  caused,  16;  described 
as  rapid  sender,  42-43;  de- 
tects difficulty  in  Laws  trans- 


mitter, 55-56;  devises  rat 
paralyzer,  48;  dress  of,  272— 
273;  dubbed  <ethe  Wizard,"  87  5 
during  scenes  of  "Black  Fri- 
day," 57-58;  ejected  from 
railway  car,  16;  employed  as 
railway  night  operator  at 
Adrian  (Mich.),  25;  ends, 
through  an  experiment,  his 
second  stay  in  Louisville,  46; 
establishes  "laboratory  on 
wheels,"  12-13;  establishes 
shops  in  Newark  (N.  J.)>  61, 
72;  exhibits  "loud-speaking 
telephone,"  82;  experience  of, 
as  locomotive  engineer,  17-18; 
experience  of,  with  Lefferts' 
check,  59-60;  experiments  of, 
with  nitro-glycerin,  50;  ex- 
plains origin  of  phonograph, 
91-92;  finds  avocation  in 
chemical  experiments,  262; 
first  invention  of,  23-24;  first 
laboratory  of,  9,  16;  first 
patented  invention  of,  51-52; 
first  use  of  term  "filament" 
for  incandescent  burner,  at- 
tributed to,  261;  forms  phono- 
graph company  of  his  own,  95 ; 
Franklin  medal  of  Franklin 
Institute  awarded  to,  289; 
general  reading  of,  8,  282; 
gives  exhibition  of  tin-foil 
phonograph  in  Washington 
(D.  C.)»  88;  gives  first  radio 
talk,  286-287;  gives  two  years 
to  special  work  on  inventions 
and  plans  for  use  in  warfare, 
232-241;  good  "copy,"  287- 
289;  gospel  of  work,  302; 
great  reader,  44;  haunts 
second-hand  book-shops,  49 ; 
helps  C.  L.  Sholes  with  type- 
writing-macMne,  71-72;  hunts 
second-hand  book  bargains, 
44;  improves  Little's  auto- 
matic telegraph  system,  63-64; 
indebtedness  to  others,  297- 
298;  in  the  Grand  Trunk 


048 


INDEX 


machine-shops,  17 ;  insistence 
on.  high  standards,  302 ;  known 
as  "Victor  Hugo  Edison,"  45; 
learns  train  telegraphy,  20-21 ; 
leaves  Boston,  52;  leaves  Can- 
ada in  a  hurry,  24;  made 
commander  of  Legion  of 
Honor,  201,  276-277;  made 
officer  of  Legion  of  Honor, 
157;  manners,  279-280;  manu- 
factures phenol,  226-227; 
marches  in  ''preparedness 
parade,"  231-232;  marries 
Mary  G.  Stilwell,  72;  marries 
Mina  Miller,  181-182;  methods 
of  work,  268-271,  279-282,  283- 
286;  modesty,  275-277;  not  a 
"pure  scientist,"  283-284,  293- 
297;  notes  "Edison  effect," 
253;  not  interested  in  mere 
money-making  for  its  own 
sake,  302;  obtains  post  of 
night  operator  at  Stratford 
Junction  (Qnt.)»  23;  opens 
first  bank  account,  60;  opens 
telegraph  office  in  Port  Huron, 
22;  overcomes  handicap  of 
deafness  in  work  with  phono- 
graph, 101-102;  penmanship 
of,  43-44;  personal  characteris- 
tics of,  265-304;  physical  ap- 
pearance of,  265-268;  plans 
New  Village  plant,  204;  plays 
practical  joke  on  sentries  at 
Fort  Gratiot,  18-19;  popular 
opinions  of,  303-304;  prepares 
manual  on  isolated  electric 
plant,  263;  produces  the  in- 
candescent lamp,  103-141 ;  pro- 
moted from  the  "plugs,"  43; 
provides  component  parts  of 
"Edison  system,"  142  et  seq.; 
publishes  "The  Weekly  Her- 
ald,** 13-14;  purchases  resi- 
dence in  Llewellyn  Park  (N. 
J.),  182;  rapid  reader  of 
print,  44;  receives  academic 
degrees,  293;  receives  medal  of 
Civic  Forum  (New  York)  for 


public  service,  178;  relieved 
of  press  wire  in  Boston,  51; 
religious  views  of,  290-291 ;  re- 
moves from  Menlo  Park  to 
West  Orange  (N.  J.),  182;  re- 
moves from  Newark  to  Menlo 
Park  (N.  J.),  72-73;  requires 
little  sleep,  116;  saves  Mac- 
kenzie child,  20;  sells  holdings 
in  Edison  Electric  Light  com- 
pany, 155;  sense  of  humor, 
277-279;  sets  out  to  subdivide 
electric  current,  108;  sets  tip 
telegraph  line,  14;  shows  tin- 
foil phonograph  in  "Scienti- 
fic American"  office,  85-87; 
sketches  first  phonograph  for 
Kruesi,  84;  starts  two  stores 
in  Port  Huron,  10;  studies 
gas  lighting,  111;  studies  of, 
in  harmonic  telegraphy,  73-* 
74;  suggests  shell  for  making 
enemy  ships  visible,  233;  tel- 
egrapher days  of,  25—52;  turns 
tables  on  practical  jokers,  47- 
48;  undertakes  to  collaborate 
with  G.  P.  Lathrop  on  story, 
264;  visits  England  for  Auto- 
matic Telegraph  company,  64; 
visits  Paris  Exposition  of  1889, 
200;  visits  Schenectady  works 
of  General  Electric  company, 
296;  visits  William  Wallace  at 
Ansonia,  110;  wanderings  of, 
as  telegrapher,  27;  wholesale 
reading  of,  in  Detroit  public 
library,  17;  works  on  du- 
plex and  quadruples  teleg- 
raphy, 64-68;  works  to  be- 
come expert  telegrapher,  43; 
writes  theatrical  scripts,  43. 
See  also  Inventions  of  Edi- 
son. 

lEiffel,  Alexandre,  200 

Electrical  exposition,  first  inter- 
national, at  Paris,  157 

Electric  pen,  the  Edison,  25$ 

Electric  railway  line  built  by 
3Edison  at  Menlo,  248-247 


INDEX 


Electric  traction,  later  develop- 
ments in,  248 

Electrolytic  meter,  146-147 

Electro-magnetic  waves,  Edison 
observes,  in  1875,  251-253; 
produced  and  detected  by 
Hertz,  252 

Electro-motograph,  77-78 

"Etherlc  force,"  Edison's  name  for 
electro-magnetic  waves,  251- 
253 

Fall  River  (Mass.),  station  at,  170 

Familiar  glimpses,  322-330 

Faraday,  Michael,  Edison  buys 
works  of,  49;  principle  of 
magneto-machine  discovered 
by,  104 

Farmer,  M.  G,  exhibits  model  of 
electric  locomotive,  243;  tech- 
nical assistant  to  William 
Wallace,  105;  uses  platinum 
and  iridium  in  lamps,  108 

"Feeder-and-main"  method,  148- 
150 

Fiber,  hunt  for,  for  lamp  filaments, 
133-138 

Fictitious  inventions  attributed  to 
Edison,  262-263 

Field,  S.  D.,  interests  of,  consoli- 
dated with  Edison's,  247;  sells 
patents  to  Westinghouse  com- 
pany, 248 

Finley,  J.  H.,  293 

First  invention,  Edison's,  23-24 

Fisk,  "Jim,"  helps  to  bring  on 
"Black  Friday,'*  56~>57 

Fixtures,  primitive,  for  electric 
lighting,  147 

"Floating  weight'*  for  phonograph, 
94 

Fluorescent  lamp,  Edison  con- 
structs, 257-258 

Fluoroscope  of  Edison,  258 

Focht,  Willoughby,  2055 

Force,  Martin,  114 

Ford,  Henry,  270 

Fort  Myers  (Ma.),  winter  resi- 
dence of  Edison,  at,  262,  270 


Fox,  Marshall,  writes  story  for 
"New  York  Herald'"  about 
Edison's  Incandescent  lighting, 
129 

Fritz,  John,  198 

Gem  lamp,  the,  13S-139 

Gilliland,  E.  T.,  works  with  Edison 
on  "wireless"  system  of  train 
telegraphy,  249 

Goebel,  Henry,  claims  of,  ISO 

Goerck  street  (New  York),  Edi- 
son Machine  works  on,  155 

Goodwin,  Hannibal,  190 

Gould,  Jay,  278,  294;  buys  Edi- 
son's interest  in  the  quadra- 
plex,  69;  described  by  Edison, 
69-70;  helps  to  bring  on 
"Black  Friday,"  56-57;  re- 
pudiates contract  with  Auto- 
matic Telegraph  company,  69, 
298 

Gounod,  C.  F.,  200 

Gray,  Elisha,  develops  harmonic 
system  of  telegraphy,  73-74; 
legal  contest  of,  with  A.  G. 
Bell,  74 

Green,  Norvin,  150,  153 

Hammer,  W.  J".,  chief  engineer 
of  Holburn  Viaduct  (London) 
station,  158-160;  collection  of 
lamps  assembled  by,  140;  dem- 
onstrates phonograph  com- 
bined with  microphone  and 
electro-motograph,  9G-97  and 
note;  joins  Menlo  group,  114; 
represents  Edison  at  Paris 
Exposition  of  1889,  200  and 
note 

Hanington,  C.  F.,  hunts  for  fiber 
in  South  America,  136 

Harding,  W.  G.,  290 

Harrison  (N".  J.),  lamp-factory 
removed  from  Menlo  to,  156 

Helicopter,  Edison  builds  a,  248- 
249 

Helmholtz;,  Hermann  von,  278t  296 

Henry,  Joseph,  Edison  unveils 
bust  of,  271,  273,  S04 


INDEX 


Hertz,  Heinrich,  produces  and  de- 
tects electro-magnetic  waves, 
252 

High  vacua,  Edison's  study  of, 
125 

**Hill-and-daIe"  phonograph  rec- 
ord, 100 

Holburn  Viaduct  (London)  cen- 
tral station,  158-160 

IHopkinson,  John,  143;  invents 
'*three-wire  system"  indepen- 
dently of  Edison,  170 

Hutchison,  M.  R.,  230 

Incandescent  lamp,  defense  of 
Edison's  patent-rights  in,  179- 
180;  difficulties  faced  hy  Edi- 
son in  producing,  119-120; 
early  experiments  with,  107- 
108;  formal  public  exhibition 
of,  at  Menlo  Park,  130 

Incandescent  lighting,  extension 
of,  in  United  States,  176-177; 
opposition  to,  by  arc-lighting 
and  gas  companies,  173-176; 
some  facts  about  early  intro- 
duction of,  168-173 

Inventions  of  Edison: 
alkaline  storage  battery,  206- 
218;  apparatus  for  analyzing 
sound  waves,  74?;  automatic 
"sixing"  device,  23-24;  car- 
bon transmitter  (microphone), 
with  induction-coil,  for  Bell 
telephone,  75-77;  concrete 
(poured)  house,  253-256  and 
note;  devices  communicated 
to  United  States  authorities 
for  use  in  warfare,  233-240; 
direct-telegraphy  instrument, 
52;  duplex  and  quadruplex 
telegraphy,  64*-68;  "Edison 
system,"  with  component 
parts,  142-150;  Edison  Uni- 
versal printer,  59;  electric 
locomotive,  248;  electric  pen, 
256;  electro-motograph*  77- 
78  j  "floating  weight,"  94; 
tfluoroscope,  258;  "gold  print- 


er" (with  F.  L.  Pope),  58; 
improvements  in  Little's  auto- 
matic telegraph  system,  63-64; 
incandescent  electric  lamp, 
103  et  seq.;  kinetograph 
(motion-picture  camera),  185- 
191 ;  kinetophone  (talking 
motion-picture),  219-223;  ki- 
netoscope,  191;  "long  kiln," 
205-206;  "loud-speaking  tele- 
phone," 78-79;  magnetic  ore 
(separator,  194;  megaphone, 
259;  method  of  copying  orig- 
inal phonograph  record,  94- 
95;  mimeograph,  71;  miner's 
electric  safety-lamp,  261 ;  odor- 
scope,  258-259;  oil-circulating 
system,  205;  phonograph  and 
improvements  therein,  84  et 
seq.;  phonomotor  (voice-en- 
gine), 260;  pyro-magnetic  mo- 
tor, 259-260;  system  of  call- 
boxes  for  district-messenger 
service,  71;  system  of  teleg- 
raphy between  "condensing 
surfaces,"  250-251;  tasimeter, 
83;  telescribe,  223-224;  "third- 
rail  system,"  247;  "three-wire 
system,"  170-171;  transo- 
phone,  224-226;  "unison  stop," 
158-59 ;  vote-recorder  (first 
patented  invention),  51-52; 
weighing  device  for  raw  ma- 
terials of  Portland  cement, 
205;  "wireless"  system  of 
train  telegraphy  (with  E.  T. 
Gilliland),  249-250 
Isolated  electric  lighting,  150-157$ 
Edison  prepares  manual  of, 
263 

"Jeannette"  expedition,  Edison 
prepares  dynamo  for,  15 1-* 
152 

Jehl,  Francis,  114,  145 

Jenkin,  Fleeming,  exhibits  tin- 
foil phonograph  before  Royal 
Society,  89 

Johnson,    E,    H*    114;    general 


346 


INDEX 


manager  of  Holbu.ru  Viaduct 

(London)  central  station,  158- 

160,  165-166 
Johnson,  R.  U.»  42-43 
"Jumbo"  type  of  Edison  dynamo, 

157-158,  165-166,  176-177 

Kerasan,  George,  makes  Edison's 
acquaintance  by  telegraph,  32- 
33;  pictures  Western  Union 
office  in  Cincinnati  in  1863- 
1864,  34-41;  receives  ninety 
telegrams  in  fifty  minutes,  37- 
38;  sketch  of  life  and  work  of, 
31-32 

Kennelly,  A.  E.,  291 

Kinetograph  (motion-picture  cam- 
era), invention  of,  185,  188- 
191 

Kanetophone  (talking  motion- 
picture),  Edison  introduces, 
219-223 

Kinetoscope,  191 

Kruesi,  John,  at  Edison  Tube 
company's  plant,  156;  builds 
first  practical  Edison  dy- 
namo, 145;  constructs  model 
of  first  phonograph,  84-85; 
enters  Edison's  service,  62 

"Laboratory  on  wheels,"  Edison 
establishes,  12-13;  is  ejected 
from,  16 

Lawrence  (Mass.)?  station  at, 
170 

Lawson,  J.  W.,  114 

Laws,  S,  S*,  gold-reporting  tele- 
graph of,  54-55 

"Leads,"  Edison  uses  platinum 
for,  123 

Lefferts,  Marshall,  and  Edison, 
58-60 

Lchigh  Valley  railroad,  "wire- 
less" system  of  Bdison  and 
GHliland  used  on,  250 

Lieb,  J.  W.,  114 

Light  without  heat,  Edison  on, 
141 

{Little's  automatic  telegraph  sys- 


tem improved  by  Edison,  63- 

64 

Lodge,  Sir  Oliver,  296 
"Long  kiln,"  205-206 

Lowrey,  G.  P.,  112 

Mackenzie,  J.  U.,  instructs  Edison 
in  train  telegraphy,  20-21 

Maclaurin,  R.  C.5  178,  283-284r 

Magnetic  ore-milling  process,  195- 
198 

Mains,  laying  of,  for  Pearl-street 
station,  162-164 

Mallory,  W.  S.,  199-200,  203,  206, 
271-272 

Marey,  E.  J.,  devises  photochron- 
ograph,  187-188 

Maxwell,  J.  C.,  outlines  type  of 
electro-magnetic  wave  used 
in  radio,  252 

McGowan,  Frank,  South  Ameri- 
can adventures  of,  in  fiber- 
hunt,  136-137;  strange  dis- 
appearance of,  137 

Meadowcroft,  W.  HL,  6  note,  22 
note,  194 

Megaphone,  259 

Menlo  Park  (N.  J.),  73,  112-113, 
130,  148,  274,  281,  292,  801; 
Edison's  electric  railway  line 
at,  243-24<7;  Edison's  quitting 
of,  182;  "Hello!"  as  telephone 
call-word,  said  to  have  been 
first  used  at,  261-262;  memo- 
rial dedicated  at,  182-183;  re- 
moval to,  72-73 

Mesaba  ore  discovered,  198 

Milan,  (Ohio),  commercial  decline 
of,  7;  Edison  born  in,  5;  in 
its  flourishing  period,  5; 
Samuel  Edison  establishes  a 
shingle  factory  in,  5 

Mimeograph,  71 

Moore,  W.  H.,  seeks  fiber  in 
China  and  Japan,  133-134 

Morgan,  J.  P.,  112 

Morse,  S.  F.  B.,  underground 
telegraph  line  of,  163;  "wire- 
less" messages  sent  by,  240 


347 


INDEX 


Motion-picture  camera.  See  Ki- 
netograptu 

Motion-pictures,  educational  pos- 
sibilities of,  192-193  and  note 

Multiple-circuit  system  explained, 
118-119 

Muybridge,  Eadweard,  pioneer 
work  of,  in  rapid  photography, 
187-188 

Kational  Electric  Light  Associa- 
tion, 164,  174,  176 

Naval  Consulting  Board  of  the 
United  States,  organization 
and  services  of,  231-232 

Nernst  lamp,  140 

Kew  Village  (N.  J.),  Edison  es- 
tablishes Portland  cement 
works  at,  202,  227 

Nichols,  E.  L-,  115 

0ates»  Michael,  and  the  Seidlitas 
powders,  9;  caught  by  sen- 
tries and  released,  1&-19; 
helps  Edison  peddle  garden- 
truck,  10 

Odorscope,  258-259 

Ore-milling,  magnetic,  at  Edison 
(N.  J.),  195-199,  227 

Ore  separator,  magnetic,  195-196 

Otta  J,  F.9  enters  Edison's  ser- 
vice, 62-63 

Page,  C.  G.,  builds  electric  motor, 
243 

Page  patent  for  retractile  spring, 
77-78,  294 

Paraffin  paper  introduced  by  Edi- 
son, 261 

Paris  Exposition  of  1889,  Edison 
exhibit  at,  200;  visited  by 
Edison  and  Mrs.  Edison,  200 

Pasteur,  Louis,  200,  296 

"Paul  Pry,"  Edison's  second 
newspaper,  16 

Ptearl-street  central  station,  160- 
163;  current  turned  on  from, 
166,  168;  tablet  marking, 
169, 

JPhcnaHstoscope,  186 


Phenol  (carbolic  acid)*  Edison 
manufactures,  for  disc  rec- 
ords, 226-227 

Phillips,  W.  P.,  30,  31  note,  50~51S 
67-68 

Phonograph,  applications  of,  to 
everyday  use,  97-98;  disc 
records  for  cabinet,  100;  Edi- 
son's method  for  copying  orig- 
inal records  of,  94-95;  "float- 
ing weight"  for,  94;  forty- 
fifth  anniversary  (1922)  of 
invention  of,  102;  imperfec- 
tions of  primitive,  92-93;  im- 
provement of  disc  type  of, 
219;  later  revival  and  develop- 
ment of,  184-185;  nickel-in- 
the-slot  type  of,  96;  origin 
of,  90-92;  patent  on,  is- 
sued without  a  reference,  89- 
90;  spring  motor  for,  96;  story 
of  first  model  of,  8-1-85;  tin* 
foil,  shown  in  "Scientific  Amei?* 
ican"  office,  85-87 

Phonograph  records,  "vacuous  de* 
posit9'  process  for  copying^ 
94-95 

Pioneers,  Edison.  See  Edison  Pi* 
oneers. 

Playfair,  Lyon  (Baron  Playfair)f 
123 

Portland  cement,  general  method 
of  manufacturing,  204-205 ; 
invented  by  Aspdin,  202; 
manufacture  of,  undertaken 
by  Edison,  199 

Poured  bouse,  the.  See  Concrete 
house,  the  Edison. 

Preece,  W.  H.  (Sir  Wffliam),  and 
subdivision,  123 

Prentice,  G.  D.,  45 

Prescott,  G.  B,,  68  note 

Primary  battery,  Bdison-Lalaiwle*, 
257 

Primary  cell,  construction  and  ac-» 
tion  of,  207-208 

Prince  of  Wales  (Albert  Edward); 
Sarnia  (Ont.)  reception  of, 
attended  by  Edisony  10 


INDEX 


Pullman,  G.  M.,  makes  equipment 
for  Edison,  13 

Quadruples  telegraphy,  principles 
of,  65-67;  saving  in  line  con- 
struction effected  by  (in  the 
United  States  to  1910),  68 

Questionnaire,  part  of  an  Edison, 
312-316 

Radio-telegraphy,  Edison  ap- 
proaches, 24,9-253 

Bedpath's  Lyceum  Bureau,  early 
phonograph  displayed  through, 
89 

Befractory  metals,  Edison  exper- 
iments with,  for  incandescent 
lamp,  109-110,  120-122;  later 
successfully  used,  139-140 

Behrig,  Esaias,  202 

Bemenyi,  Eduard,  154 

Bicalton,  James,  sent  to  Far  East 
in  fiber-hunt,  137  and  noie-138 

Boach,  John,  Edison  takes  over 
2Etna  works  from,  155 

Boentgen  rays,  Edison's  experi- 
ments with,  257-258 

Boentgen,  W.  1C,  discovers  Boent- 
gen rays,  257 

Boosevelt,  Hilborne,  112-11S  note 

Sawyer-Man  lamp,  108,  140 

Saylor,    D.    O.,   202 

Schenectady      (N.     Y.),     Edison 

Machine  works  removed  to,  155 
Schurz,  Carl,  88  and  note 
Scott,    Leora,    phonautograph    of, 

89 
Segredor  goes  to  Cuba  for  fiber, 

136 

Series  system  explained,  118 
Sewing-thread,  carbonizing  of,  by 

Edison    and    Batchelor,    125- 

127 
Shaw,    Bernard,    account   by,    of 

service  with  Edison  Telephone 

company,      80-82 ;      describes 

*%ud-speakmg  telephone,**  80 
Siemens,  Werner  von,  278 


Silver  Lake  (N.  J.)s  Edison  builds 
works  at,  212 

Sims,  G.  C,  builds  engines  for 
Edison,  166  and  note 

Sims,  W.  S-,  and  Edison  produce 
Sims-Edison  torpedo,  233 

"Sixty-nve,"  headquarters  at,  153; 
school  at,  157 

Sprague,  F.  J.,  114,  248 

"Squirted*'  process  for  tantalum 
filaments,  139 

Stager,  Anson,  36  and  note^  37 

Staite,  W.  E.,  107 

Starr,  J.  W.,  and  E.  A.  King,  in- 
candescent lamp  of,  107 

Stearns,  J.  B.5  work  of,  in  duplex 
telegraphy,  65  and  note 

Steinmetz,  C.  P.,  283-284,  296-297 

Storage  battery,  action  of,  208- 
209;  defects  of  lead-sulphuric 
acid,  210;  Edison's  alkaline 
(nickel-iron),  210-218;  Faure 
type  of,  209;  Plants  type  of, 
208-209 

Stratford  Junction  (Ont),  Edison 
becomes  night  -operator  at,  23 

Subdivision  of  electric  current, 
meaning  of,  108 

Snnbury  (Penna.),  station  at,  170 

Swan,  J.  W.  (Sir  Joseph),  107-108 

Talking  motion-picture.  S&e  Ki- 
netophone. 

Tantalum  lamp,  139 

Telegraph  offices  in  the  'sixties,  29 

Telegraph  operators,  old-time  rov- 
ing, 29-31 

Telegraph,  the,  in  Edison's  oper- 
ator days,  27-28 

Telegraphy  between  "condensing 
surfaces,"  Edison  experiments 
with,  250-251 

Telephone,  loud-speaking,  78-79 

Telescribe  (for  automatic  record 
of  telephone  talk),  223-224* 

Thaumatrope,  186 

"Third-rail"  system,  Edison  de- 
vises, 247 

Thomson,  Elihu,  106;  meter  of,  14$ 


349 


INDEX 


Thomson,  Frank,  245-246 
Thomson,      Sir     William      (Lord 

Kelvin),  149,  252,  296 
Thomson,  W.  H.,  290 
"Three-high   rolls,"  196-197 
"Three-wire  system,"  principle  of, 

explained,   170-171 
Train   telegraphy,   "wireless,"   de- 
vised by  Edison  and  Gilliland, 

249-250 
Transophone  (attachment  for  office 

phonograph),  224-226 
Tungsten  lamp,  139-140 
Tyndall,  John,  296;  opinion  of 

incandescent-lighting  problem, 

124 

Universal  printer,  the,  59 
Upton,  F.  R.,  Edison's  associate, 

68,    113,    143-144,    145,    291; 

writes   first   authoritative   ac- 

-count     of    Edison's     electric 

light,  131-132 

"Vacuous    deposit"    process    for 
copying    original    phonograph 
records,  94-95 
Vail,  J.  H.,  292 
Van  de  Poele,  C.  J".,  248 
Van  Home,  Sir  William,  25 
Villard,  Henry,  112,  278;  consults 
Edison  on  electrifying  moun- 
tain division  of  Northern  Pa- 
cific,   247;    finances    Edison's 
experiments   in   electric  trac- 
tion, 246;  forms  Edison  Gen- 
eral  Electric   company,   180- 
181  and  note 

Vote-recorder  (Edison's  first  pat- 
ented invention),  51-52 

Wallace,  William,  claims  invention 
of  carbon  pencil  for  arc-lamp, 
106;  frst  American  maker  of 
arc-lamp  carbons,  106;  first 
American  manufacturer  to  use 


dynamo  in  electro-plating,  105 1 
invents  first  American  arc- 
lamp,  105;  originates  series 
arc-lighting,  106;  priority  of, 
instances,  110  note 

"Wall  Street"  methods,  Edison's 
opinion  of,  299-300 

Ward,  J.  C.,  legend  regarding, 
21  note 

Watson,  J.  J.  W,,  107 

"Weekly  Herald,  The,"  published 
by  Edison,  13-14 

Weir,  L.  C.,  as  an  expert  operator, 
35-37 

Western  Union  company,  warfare 
of,  with  Bell  interests,  75-77 

Westinghouse,  George,  exponent  of 
alternating  current,  289 

Weston,  Edward,  106 

West  Orange  (1ST.  J.)>  laboratory 
at,  182,  184;  plant  at,  partly 
destroyed  by  fire,  228 ;  removal 
of  Edison  to,  182;  works  at, 
182,  184,  227-228,  801 

Wheeler,  S.   S.,  164 

White,    Canvass,   202-203 

Williams,  Charles,  Edison  works 
in  shop  of  (Boston),  51 

Wires,  overhead,  nuisance  of,  16&- 
164 

"Wizard,  the,"  title  given  to 
Edison,  87,  287,  295 

Woolever,   Adam,   202 

Works  at  West  Orange  (N.  J.) 
burned,  228 

Wright,  C.  D.,  attorney  for 
Edison's  first  patent,  51 

Wyoming,  Edison  accompanies 
scientific  expedition  to,  103 


"X-rays."    Bee     Roentgen 
Eoentgen,  W.  1C 


rays; 


Zoetrope,  186 

Zodgyroscope  of  Muybridge,  187 


850 


i^ 


115079