Newspapers / The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, … / April 11, 1906, edition 1 / Page 8
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lit trfr rut : rfffik y ,. a ffti hi ii 4m -1' ... ' '" - j ' ' Thli ll to be at logical a ttndy, briefly related, of Kdlaon tbe man, at apace will allow. I deatre to trace the coiubl nation of atrategy, Inspiration and hu man shrewdness that have been neglect ad In an geuersi eurvey of the Inventor who baa placed America la th foremost rank of the scientific world, among auch men aa Roentgen, Koch, Haeckel. Uitb end others scarrbtag and achieving bralna of the world. Known to the entire world aa a great Inventor, there has been tendency among tbe few writers wbo bare met blm personally to flavor tbulr description of him with a literary touch tbat ta aa fictitious aa the utage picture v of Kuakespeare'e apothecary. Through all tbe Information which has been given to tbe public of Kdlaon'e personality 1 aeem to bare traced thla literary Inee curacy -an emphasis of the stooping shoulders, tbe negligee attire, the nb atr acted manner, the uulrlinmed hair, the sudden flash of genlua In the eye, tbe Inroad of njytterloue aclda on ula Clothes. Ma haa been puahed to the cen ter of the world1! etage aa a dramatic character, the wisard of that mom ln coinprebeualble chamber of uialc t the scientific eye, a laboratory. I confess that I approached r.Ulsnn wltb aomcthlug akin to the feellmj a child haa for a conjuror. Would he be no enraged at an Inter ruption of Mi communing! wltb a fluid secret In a tiny bottle before bin, and accidentally hurl exploitve rheuileali at OS, or would he he In aome pbaeant c perltnantal mood that would luiluce blm to exhibit a few harmless laboratory tricks for our amusement f Or would he wave un aside ,mj t,n& way with only a deeper reverene. for tbe mysterious secrete of bla soul. ! am not ashamed to confess t" thl wondering timidity, adult though I m It lan't anything to spprosch Imagina live Idlers like great paltilers, or great novelists, or great statesmen, but when It comet to tracing an Imagination that haa made gboatly traditions commercial com Bjonpiaie facta there la no telling what neb man may do at any moment. Kay what you will, Edison baa harnessed hta imagination to eupernsturai Irups, and driving the in lit through on. uor 0f hla braury baa sent them out again at tbe lk ftw Uterally reformed and even rH'wl- ' nwl deroous. ffi ' 4oubt r scientists and cbero M.V m k . mechanlca and matbematlclana In the ttawon worn mat by the very force of their uncompromising tralnlug conalder tb great Inventor ta a dreamer, but that lav exactly tbe amaclnr ini ., ' wl bo knowledge of exact acteuce can 7 WjMpWa. i-t't rrsej. i-i out 01 man ana yon i ,.r 7 meiuing inaiinct oi iwe, tbat " 'lJ " nnkBwn Und between man and '.. j kla asaker. The mlraclee of Edtaon't die- ' l' wftiw aiw t tbe aclMtirt deeper. tely rf-feaaonable. and a lehal hu t - ' ttrttti klm. Rttll uv whae.lt srllt tk. ' toeejittoo C .UnoM f aw intention bat i i 'apwa it to the Inventor in t most , f-toarjr taw f development ."' y; Tak, SdltWa w (rr f tfe aew tit (battery WUcb be Ut Joat cota . ' tidttML m4 f arblcfe he told me tunefe In aVUll, g waa ! npo tbe tnreulor't vattffe Mfattat Um tbe aniUe eroioUea there ,. .rt to mtwret, tot a k aabl, b fwaM not II I), fotp W:2K ISUeeW J & til 1 I hi i mi n i mm&mki'SdmiMMkiitmm MMmhb&M mu a torge battery to lead and acids. May be It la became he bad I way a been ho punctllioutily chlvalroua and Juat to her In hla laboratory, that nature haa rewarded blm by lifting her veil to him ao often. Wlrele telegraphy had been cond.led to bltn by nature 20 yeara ngo, he told me, when the Ihlgh Vnlley road me ceeafully naed It In their freight depart ment eervlce. At that time be flatbed a meiige from earth to o kite two mllea In the nlr above. Juat at that tiro he wet In tremeudona favor with Danta. Na ture, abe gave htni tin lrtc for the Incan descent Iimup. whlih obliterated for a time hla Interest In wtreleaa teletrrapby. After the lamp cm eipcrlmental lm proveroenta In automatic tclcgrnpby oper ating at high apeeda, wheu nature drew bla attention to the audible awinda pro duced by. the vibration of a etylne ha wa nalng In connection with the Inatrumentt, to thla be applied hla knowledge of oconi tlca and tbe telephone niecbaiiiee, wltb tbe reault that be produced the phono graph. And to It aeema to have been with blm all along the line. Inatead of feeUug ta wHnrda of old have done, that nature waa dangerotra, aweaouie pertef to be withstood and feared, be hat aeen Iter beautlea, approached ber with conn dence, and found that abe boida only tbe tnoat endearing prlnclplea for bonitnltf at large. ' Edleon la not a wizard, be It a aturdy, tauoy aouled, hard beaded eon of Ohio the great Buckeye State. lie baa what all great Americana at that teent day, meal cepacia lift - tbe 1! him, fall Into an outward aemblanca of the fictional scientist, the man of ab et ract Ion and alien t myatery, but get him among old friend, and he will tell better atoil. and llnton to old onea aa f eneroua ly ninl with na keen a pleaaure aa or dinary hearty human bclnge. Ilecntiae Kdlaon la a prophet, choaen to advance the power of hit fellow men over hindering exactltudet, ecarcely warranta that we picture him with any theatrical cxaggeratlone. However, thla draamtlo flavor haa been eo liberally mixed with tbe olld commercial reatlltt f.'th:Edlv eon factory at Orange, N. 3., tbat It M na t pretty tlnael veil adorning the bual naa aspect of everything there. IJter ally, perbapa, It la Inevitable, becaota the main force, the Impelling power, the Indefinite magic, of definite outcome and In cornea at the Kdlaon worka, taken eource In tbe prophetic imagination of Tbomae A. Kdlaon, the Inventor of Ita marvel. It It a place of magical tblnga, achleted by Imaginative preaclence. In aptte of tbe many clam aaatatanU I met at the worka, In eplte of their vxact reaaonlng, their aclentlflo exptrl nc and orea their tsperlmeatal can tloa, take Bdlaoa away and there would be no mora wonderwork fortbconalng there. Kdlaon hltnaelf etpreated tbt Idea thla way: "No man of a mathematical habit of mlud ever Invented anything that amounted to uaco. urn baan't the lm agination to do I. I don't know anything alwtot tiratheroetlcwtan't vn dottropot- tloqlMit I KP9, ara an ut goon uiaiue- ttatteUuul $Kha4M4'iifl tulgbt hff -!c If . wmMr- added, "but I can't hire men wltb logi cal Imagination." Kdlaou will be exactly 69 yeara old next February; be la ttlll a young man, In aplte of the preaaure at which ha haa played bla .life. In tbe laboratory bulldlngt, where all I experimental labor It dona excluatvely, there art only a little over a hundred men employed) Inflth adjoining factory, where the phonograph and ln mOTlng picture machlnea are made, there are ore j 3,600 employee la the aeaaon. If la In tbe laboratory tbat the epell Kdtten't Imagination ta over all. and yet the accrete are open to any technical ob aervtr, oecaute there la really no aclen tlflc queatlon about them. Edleon would hot fearletaly auawer, alnce It le not the natural evolntlon of eiperlneatal change I that counta, ao much aa It la the char acter and a certain audacity of Imagina tion in the mind Of th Inventor who It conducting them. Edlton worka wltb no apparent axectt tlv ayatetn. ton may hnnt almoat any where for Mm In tbe tarlout depart maata of bit laboratory at any time. - No one know how manfaecrett are fer menting In bla brain, nor tbe eeauence of taelf deralopmeot. Odd cornera, eacloaed worka la tbe plain brick building of na laboratory, were ahowo to me aa places where he anatched a Uttle alaep when to abaerbw to t itome. , , I i Hla bead- mechanic, Fred Ott, probably tb man who ta tloaer -to th magic of Edlton't AcbleremeoU tha- any other 4acbnlcal man, apob of tb period when the phonograph, wae-eyoWing. ' "We nYr left tbla oom, tOgkt of, 4ay," tot w till It was done ho aald. "Our meal were tent in and wa slept bare." '"Afraid the whole. thing would go ap In atnoker" I naked. "No. We were tnre enough, but w wanted to get through to do It." Now Fred Ott voiced, tbe germ that Edleon had Introduced right there. To do itl t To naif the dreant together eo that It would never fall apart again. Tea, and to keep It, up to date; to Inoculate It with the vtrua of - newly applied dlecoverte, year to and year vat, toUbat ft ehoold be not merely Sit t atlll Ufa, bnt progrraalve energy, alive every mlnot. Ediaon hlmalf carried hit the weight of conatantly Impending fallnree to a trinm pbant practical valu., B' aa tanackme a jbultdog onea he get a hold of in Men, and you eaa't acold bla or 'eoax- blm to let go. Before he reiche or a thing . h - "nnella around" thoroughly tee If-If worth while, ahd,' whenever be fall to get tb Intended reeult, he does not blame tn ral eaneee or baa workmanihlp he jt aayat "It lan't aatnr tbat' wroogi It'i me. I'll keep at It till I know more." Thor Is aa asperlmenttof, room la th laboratory devoted to the Improvement of ta phonograph. ' A. -'F. V Wang, man, wbo bears a otrlklng ermblaac ta Edleo blmaelf, ie nttr f monle ber. He baa nrprtee to hw. If h wlabea, that, are not yet . th market. 1 1 beard on t them and pledg of eecrecy. - ."We know () thing definite about " ewind," h ld.. "! ivada rtaaon at Uma 4 4naMw P MAKING-&TEW"J2BCai2X na frequently by accident, but It la atlll on of the aecreta of nature. We are experimenting conatantly to get perfect tone. There la nothing now, however, that we cannot record. We had trouble at artt with aoprano volcee, and late with violin and 'cello aoloa. W only put 'cello aoloa on tb market about four month ago. No day la exactly like an other. There ta a conatant though mi nute atmospheric change -going on about us, to we try everything, no matter bow abaurd It may aeem at th time, in an effort to catch nature In "a clentlfie trP." What I heard will not be on the market for a year. Bdison'a policy la to mletruet a merely friendly aspect of nature till be haa acquired her aseur ance of its practical truth. We found Edlton In the chemical de partment of hla laboratory- Something In a copper dish fwi teamtng vr a blue flame on a work-bench In front of blm, and he lay far down In ht chair apparently watching It. Some young men In thlrt aleeves were quietly occu pied In the tame room.' mixing and meas uring chemical. There Is a theory, probably eupported by data, that there are time when to approach Edison when In on of these seemingly abstract alienees Is a breach never to be forgiven. I had heard about this, and so Induced 'Mr. Wangeman to advance with me. He may hv heard us approach bis chair, and be may not, bnt he did not turn around. Mr. Wangeman Is a eclen t)at of the phyalcally Independent type, so he told him what he wanted. I waa never , more Impressed with the nonsense I had read about hla melo dramatic mannerisms, bis wisard dignity and his resemblance to bbakespearean apothecaries than when he Jumped from bis chair and we met cordially. I have met much more assumption of greatness In celebrltle of equal fame, but with fewer pmeWjOTntti. - , . Edleon la not a dandified man, be is not atoop-ahouldered, he la not slow or pori derons, or technically mysterious. His hair la only lust turned, grsy, and though bis trousers were not cressed. nor nis shoes patent leather, he had that Inde acrlbable dignity one finde In a Westerner that a Newtorker hss to work hard for. It Is the dignity of power .n restraint. There Is ho word tbat exactly measures tbe difference between the wave that Japa the shore and th w that la In. the mid ocean. One tetie'of the shallows at a glance, the other of the unfathomable pos sibilities. Edleon Is th sort, of Westerner who could ride schem tfll It dropped under him end never lose heart of ultimately Coding one that wouldn't, drop. He baa waiting courage, and no matter how cir cumstances blind blm, be keeps right on feeling hi way by little things till they grow big enough for him to see, becaus what be believes, generally will be. Edison b th habit of mental concen tration of clearneaa, exactness. When be la talking you know tbat It I in per spective because b punctnat with harp, of loud, or oftr. ton of tb vole. He 1 .colloquial In ha language, he haa a wall rounded sentences, no pretty affectation of technteal form, and If b doMU't bear you at one he pounces on you with a vtrii "whatr that permit no mlsundsrstandlng on ltbr M. He ts only slightly deaf, and the talk bout hi ncelty to wtch tb Jlp of another to understand Mm la.actkwei nonsense. - . t asked kin what be was doing about the new storag battery. H tooted his bead lmptl.thv, whU. tb tolrnnt .mil. of a patlwt man eontradlctod th first lmpr!ou, and b began to talk. .,1 e.unw. out West don't seem to eatck on," h bo" plf. "JW "o- . . ha, alt aM the ;ca tnoo oiwri" " United tat now hay seem to tbhik I bavin't dono'iftrn show Va 'Mit aprtagrWn b on tb. market' th.n. I'm building new factory out here to make 'em In, hot I didn't wnt to put ,T ,h. m..b.t Hll I knew they would do the work." H Pusd. startn; tralgbt, ahead. ad,l .waited, for. as I .thought, b wst adjusting ttf task clear, a he hbltuMjr baa don In hi experiment. 1 have proven thayt my storage battery doe th twrkj they r being 'wed in Jw Tori on trucks today, but I limited f rnt mt to mak tb thing Uaperimentai. . I've been testing over SO,(XX) of m ngBI nwre i ww and tbey'r aH right nwj ny can do th work sad It mean a solution of tb crowded traffic problem ' la all great dtiee." Another pan cam, nd he re tftwad the ta with toor vigor. t "Fcopkt eem to forget that ron can't nmk n battwry that warranted to work right ts ro caa a dynamo, A battery it thing of chsmlcal acUoa, tt la not a bit of solid machinery,. I wasn't goln to put ot a ivttcry that t -couldn't guarantee, that Wasn't nomPMrcIaily pracUeai, iTh ' , . '''' svi - . n e4 problem solved ta thla: W halve thai traffic for vehiclea in crowded atreeta ' becaus we cut their length In two when.; we do away with the horse; then wy, halve It sgaln by greater speed, which prevents congestion." It waa clear that' he waa a bit sensitive about tbe crttl clam of the delay, because It revealed aa I unfair lack of confidence In a man wh)i had done things. "I don't usually talk much. I prefer to produce, and when I do so my work" will hold good. Why, I've been experi menting and. perfecting this. Just ss I have sny Invention Intended for the mar, ket Mind you, an Inventor can make beautiful thing to abow much quicker than be can perfect a thing that most work. We'je very commercial round, here." he added, wltb a shrewd glint of ' pride end satisfaction in his blue eye, aa be stamped his two feet squarely on th ground In emphatic assurance of thj fsct. ;" t. Once Edison has transformed a dream Into tangible reality he la all business, for he added: "What we wanted thl battery to do It Is now doing in tbw New York street tbat Is, a minimum space, reduced weight, a 40-mlIe run with a truck capacity of one ton and on charge at a little more than one-half tt costs to keep a horse vehicle running now. I've done It, end next spring our factory here will be making them." Then he returned to the Impatience of the public again: "They cannot expect me to finish a Job like thla a if It wr a bit of machinery. Why, even a loco motive haa contrary streaks, and that la plain steam, not a complicated chemical action like a battery. That's why tt ha taken time to make sure." And be was sure. There was no mistake In th shak of hta head, the nervous clasp of th bands stretched at arms' length behind tt Confident that It was done, be felt at liberty to recall tbe dream stage of thla. hla latest Invention. "You know, It bappena sometimes when things get slow around here that I suffer' from ennui' he said, with a semi-conuo ' regret In his voice, which set u all laugh-,' tng, becaus Edison Is an laagthaosttbl working barter himself. "Well, when I get one of these spells I gsnersily go tat things pretty thoroughly, and although 1 waa sure that n storage battery could be made (because I didn't think that NaCur could be so mean as to confine herself to a lead battery), the important question In my mind was to know Just exactly what was required of tbat battery. So I had' a complete census of vehicles taken ta New York, a report of tbe congeatlon and the average speed. 1 aaw at once that If a storage battery codld be made thr would be use for It," and he paused with , a whimsical smile. "Of course, the quea tlon of reducing weight disposed of th' lead battery. I knew that soms new combination of chemistry eliminating lead must be found. Bo I began experiment, Ing, for a long time wltb no result. Then: oue day there came Juat a nibble, Just f little bit' of something; then tbat disap peared, and for a long time 1 got noth ing. Still I kept at It, little by little, coaxing it along, but no remit. I felt perfectly sura that Nature held the se cret, and tbat it waan't ber fault 'It's me,' I said to myself, 'not Natur that' wrong.' Aad so it was, for at last I got It, negatlvs and positive, without lsad,:. But after that ao delicate and mystsrlou la chemical action that conditions would ' alter and make everything unreliable, W had soms trouble with them after w ' Drat put them out in New York. Couldn't ; understand it, till w found out that, ! stead of 'using distilled water, tb drive St era. unable ta find any, had gone to drug , stores and purchased carbonic .water, tail J gases of which partly destroyed the so- tlon of the rest. There ts no knowing what I can do with It. I'vs a doubt 1 en red ace tt t half it present site, hut It's smsll -enough now for all pnrpo." ' TTh phonograph, at least,' la compleiV -J suggested. u ' "Oh, flo! Th phonograph la flMfoti thing, and it's wonderful to what' pleasnr It has given i it ta the poor man'a' music, bnt we are experimenting. -1uk'; :. , proving, discovering new things all tb time In it" . v' ' , And that' Is Juat th secret of Edlssn's -access; be sever reaches th nnal word of discovery. Ht imagination I alway . luring him Into bypath that no on u-C pacta, - in addition to bis beti'er-kaowa ' , patent granted tn connection with th ' development of th electric lamp, th " telegraph, telephone, th Me-mllllng nut, . cblnery and storage batteries, hla laven- " tlona includ xot recorders, typewriters, ' , electric pens, vocal , engines, addressing . machines, method Of preserving frultt ' ca at -iron manufacture, wire drawing, else-1 trio locomotives, moving -picture machines, ' th making of plate glass, compressed., air apparatus aad many other. , . AU thl show clearly that fcf ts not a muck the remit of wisard' magi a ' '. It la s plain," eeeael ess gnla for work, th Imaginative audacity of pest and , hard-beaded buslnea. , which ombla t maks tb man SdlsosL 7, !;'! a.fieSSfisstaV tt I f .. .
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
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April 11, 1906, edition 1
8
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