-
rm $8KTm ' TO&rf tndat; October a?
312
I : l
mm f J 0a3M3
Pi' V PI
11
LIT-
nbkK. fa Rail ti x,tv
Si
4.
7
3e
rl
3?
- ' ii
KM ' it? I !
0 S VIA
1
I I LI tr Jt-
I t hi - y
mi
WM&3m trirfr,: . "
l -vf . . -v- ' - s Www " !S1' i -
-ajttm5jLwA.-.. r. v ii ii ii
"- -" 1 1
- - . i
s
&HOTCXS
This is to be as logical a study, bilpflv
related, of Edison the man. as epace
will allow. I desire to trace the combi
nation of strategy, Inspiration and hu-
man snrewaness that have been neglect
ed in any general survey of the inventor
who has placed America in the foremost
ran or tne scientific world, among such
fr?,? aRoeat Koch. Haeckel, Loeb
and others searching and achieving
L luc wona. Js.nown to the entire
world as a great inventor, there has-been
a tendency among the few writers who
x- met. nim personally to flavor their
description of him with a literary touch
that is-as fictitious as the stage picture
M Shakespeare's apothecary: Through
11 the Information which has been given
to the public of Edison's personality I
eem to have traced this literary innc-cnracy-an
emphasis of the stooping
ehoulders, the negligee attire, the ab
stracted manner, the nntrlmmed hair,
the sudden flash of genius in the eye
t,iraT05. m.ysterl0- dd. on his
. een Pushed to the cen-
ZZl theWOrM'S 8tae V a dramatic
character, the wizard of that most in
comprehensible chamber of magic to the
scientific eye, a laboratory.
I confess that I approached Edison
with something akin to the feeling a
child has for a conjuror. -
Would he be so enraged at an Inter
ruption of his communings with a fluid
secret In a tiny bottle before him, and
accidentally hurl -explosive chemicals at
ns or would he be in 'some pleasant ex-
.uieuuu-mooa tnat would Induce him
to exhibit a few harmless laboratory
tricks for our amusement?
Or would he wave us aside and send us
away with only deeper reverence for the
mysterious secrets of his son!, t
ashamed to confess to this wondering
timidity, adult though I am.
It Isn't anything to approach Imagina
tive idlers like great painters, or Seat
novelists, or great statesmen, but when It
comes to tracing an imagination that has
oiade ghostly traditions,, commercial com
monplace facts there Is no telling what
luch a man may do at any moment Say
ivhat you will. Edison has harnessed his
imagination to supernatural imps, and
driving them In through one uoor of his
labratory has sent them out again at the
Other nrt litniv j
......j-icm ana even
amusing demons.
No doubt there are scientists and chem
ists, mechanics and mathematicians in the
Edison works that by the very force of
their uncompromising training consider
the great Inventor as a dreamer, but that
Is exactly the amazing wonder of him
which no knowledge of exact science can
-Take the dreamer out of -man and you
destroy the divining instlnct of life that
unseen, unknown land between man and
his maker. The miracles of Edison's dis
coveries are to the scientist desperately
teasonable, and to label his exact experi
ments as mere vnpor.ings from dreamland
nrages him. Still say. what he will the
tception of almost any new in-Antion has'
ppeared first to the Inventor 'in a- most
Isionary stage of development. I
Take Edison's own story of .the new
torage battery which he has Just com
peted, and of which he told me much In
Mail, It was based upon the Inventor's
gb esteem for the'prollflc promises there
re In nature, for as he said, he couM not
acelve that nature so generous In all
W favors had been mean enough to limit
us frequently by accident, but It Is still
one of the secrets of nature. We are
experimenting "constantly to get perfect
tone. There is nothing' now, however,
that we cannot record. We had trouble
at first with soprano voices, and late
with violin and 'cello solos. We only
put 'cello solos on the market about four
months ago. No day Is exactly like ani
other. There is a constant though mi
nute atmospheric change going on about
us, so we try .everything, no matter how
absurd It may seem at the time, In $a
effort to catch nature In a sclenttftc
trap." What I heard will not be on the
market for a year. Edison's policy; Is to
mistrust a merely .friendly aspect of
nature till he has acquired her assur
ance of its practical truth. '
We found Edison In the chemical de-
problem solved Is this: We halve the
traffic for vehicles In crowded streets
because we cut their length in two when
we do away with the horse; then w
halve It . again by greater speed, which
prevents congestion." it was clear' that
he was a bit sensitive ' about the cri.
clsm of the delay, because it revealed aa
unfair lack of confidence In a "man -who
had done things.
"I don't . usually talk much. I pWfe,
i yruuuce, ana wnen I do so my wo
wilKhold good. Why, I've been exr-r!.
menting and perfecting this, Just at I
have any Invention intended for the rcar.
ket. Mind you, an Inventor can make a
beautiful . thing- to. show much .quicker'
than he can perfect a thing that vust
wort. We're very commercial roi
here," he added, with a shrewd glint of
nor.mn t,i- ii . I Dride and K.itlfDf i m h...
ism .u.xrui. ui ma lauuruiury. oonierning J " --w.J.v.UiV,i1 m iijh uiue eve, bj
In a copper dish was steaming over a he stamped his two feet squarely on tbs
Dine name on a work-bench In front of sruunu m emphatic assurance of ttla
mm. ana ne lay rar down In his chair iact.
apparently watching ? it. " Some young
men in shirt sleeves were quietly occu
pied In the same room, mixing and meas
uring chemicals.
There is a theory, probably suDDorted
by data, that there are times when to
approach Edison when In one of these
seemingly abstract silences is n breach
Once Edison has transformed a dream
into a tangible reality he is all business,
for he added: "What we wanted this
battery to do it is now doing in tha
New York streets that Is, a minimum
space, reduced weight, a 40-mlle run with
a truck capacity of one ton and one
that a New Yorker has to. work hard for,
it is the dignity of power .n restraint
There Is no word that exactly measures
the difference between the wave that laps
tne shore and the ware that Is in the mid
ocean. One tells of the shallows at
glance, the other of the unfathomable pos-
ei Din ties.
Inn .
"fc, "u!b Edison is an Inexhaustible
working baftery himself. "Well, when I
get one of these spells I general! v go Into
things pretty thoroughly, and although 1
was sure that a storage battery ' could be
made (because I didn't think that Naiure
could be so mean as to confine herself to
a storage battery to lead and acids. Mav.
.:f Decause ne had always been so
punctiliously chivalrous and Just to her
in his laboratory, that nature has rewarded
him by lifting her veil to him so often.
Afe rtelEgraphy had been confided
to him by nature 20 years ago, he told
me when the Lehigh Valley road suc
cessfully used It In their freight' depart
ment service. At that time he flashed a
message from earth to a kite two miles
In the air above. Just at that time he
i tr emenaous favor with Dame Na
ture, she gave him an idea for the incan
uZe amP' Wh,Ch ob!1terated for a
After ,3'ntfrest ln wfeless telegraphy.
After the lamp came experimental im
provements In automatic telegraphy oper
IJa? "? mature' d?ew
rtn rr lu e auaibie sounds pro
duced by the vjbration of a stylus he was
? vnnect,on wlta the instruments,
U Je "PPlle'.Ws knowledge of acous
tics and the telephone mechanics, with
sraprUAndhat "e Prduced the Phon-
hi f, 8? " Seems to have beei
with him 1 along the line. Instead of
feeling as wizards of old have donethat
rbTwTth f drger0DS' -esomrsVct:
ner Lr St0d aDd feared' he bas seen
her beauties, approached her with confl
dence, and found that she holds only the
antlargeei:dearlDg tor humanity
Edison Is .not a wizard, he Is a sturdy
sunny souled, hard headed son of Ohio'
the great Buckeye State.
He has what all great Americans of
the present day reveal especially, the
temperament of youth. He may some
times, because it has been forced upon
mm- Iau IDTO an outward semblance- of
the fictional scientist, the man of ab
straction and silent mystery, but get him
among old friends, and he will tell better
stories and listen to old ones as generous
ly and with as keen ' a pleasure as or
dinary hearty human beings.
Because Edison is a prophet, chosen to
advance the power of his fellow men over
mnuerlng exactitudes, scarcely warrants
that we picture him with any theatrical
exaggerations. However, this dramatic
flavor has been so liberally mixed with
the solid commercial results of the Edi
son factory at( Orange, N. J., that it is
as a pretty tinsel veil adorning the busi
ness aspect of everything there. Liter
ally, perhaps. It Is inevitable, because
the main force, the impelling power, the
indefinite magic of definite outcomes and
Incomes at th Edison works, takes
source in the prophetic Imagination of
Thomas A. Edison, the inventor of Its
marvels. '
It Is a place of magical things, achieved
by Imaginative prescience.
In spite of the many clever assistants
I met at the works, in spite of their
exact reasoning, their; scientific experi
ence and even thCir experimental cau
tion, tafee. Edison away and there would
be no more wonderwork forthcoming
there.
Edison himself expressed the idea this
way: "No man of a mathematical habit
of mind ever invented anything that
amounted to much, tic hasnV the im
agination to do it,' I don't know anything
about mathematics can't even do propor
tion but I can hire all the good mathe
maticians I BMd." And he might have
added, "but I can't hire men with logi
cal imagination." 0
Edison will be exactly 59 years old next'
February, he is still a young man, in
spite of the pressure at which he ha
played his life. -
In the laboratory buildings, where all
experimental labor Is done exclusively
there are only n little over a hundred
men employed; In the adjoining factorv
where the phonograph and the moving
picture machines are made, there are over
2,500 employes In the season.
It is in the laboratorv that th
Edison's imagination is' over aK Ve
the secrets are open to any technical oh
server, because there Is really no scien
tiflc question about them'. Edison . W
not fearlessly answer, since It L noT th
rr:Lrun-a?XnS
acter and a certain audacity of ill
where for him in the varion? y
t. of his laboratory
one knows how many secret
anting in his brain nV:Ue fer-
their develonmon Be1ence of
we
W6rks in the plain brick bulTdSgsoTT
laboratory. wer dialogs of the
where he snatched 1 7 , tV
absorbed to go home. P hea to
His head mechanic, Fred n't
the man who is closer to th ' probabIy
Edison's achievements that taagle ot
technical man. spoke of th? a?r othep
the phonograph was evo v ng When
left th,8 room, mm or da'y.
till it was done" i,.
were sent in n , " nr meals
"AfMM il e slept bere-"
Afraid the whole thing would
in smoke?" I asketL WouId So up
"No. We were n . .
wanted to get throughlt0" lt''' '
Now FrM n - - ao Kv ,
h. s:.
to keep it UP S date torlDV
tne virus of newlv' ,?Tlate !t 'wltl
vear in and Z L t M dlsco
not merelyT bi Vst Tn
Progressive energy alito ' but a
Edison himslf caSed all th miDate
constantly ImPendin! faI L WeISht 0f
Phant praet, n faI1"es to a trlum-
scold him or coax him yU can't
ne reaches for a th, 'Gt go' fiefore
around" thorou-hlv tn " he "smeI1s
while, and. whetver hri. f rtl,
ntenaed result, he dor,, " to et the
ral Mns 7 ne des not blam
yj UtU-
Edison is the sort mt ... J,.'"! important question 1
could ride a scheme till it a-" , . uw.w JUSI e:
Vi i vi j . . ' I "-i"" mai Datrerv. So I tad
uuu ""u iose neart of nltimoi, n MmnUt J ...
that wouldn't dron. n. . Ke :To7v '.
T. . . m' ne KeDS rlSflt ou Z tse battery could be made there
iccuug.uw way oy uttle things tin tW "uum e use for it." and he nn,,svi vrith
grow big enough for him to see, because ? wnIms!caI smile. "Of course, the que
what he believes, 'generally will be X , educInS weight disposed of 'tha
Kaison has the habit' of mental rnnMn- rnmwZ. Knew tnat some Dew
tration of clearneW p. taLnce.n- mbiuatl?a oC. chemistry eliminating lead
s talklngyou know that it Is"ln 1 fo7a loti iiffS
sharn or TT punct"ates with ,tnere came just a nibble, "just a
sharp, or loud, or softer tone f nttle bit of somethini?- thn th.
voice. He Is colloquial in his language he: Feredi?d for a loaS time I got -roth-has
no ttoIi nr,A 6 ' "e lne. Still T bonf . ,.i...j .
., luuuucu Beurpnops n no.!- . : " u. ii l Lie uy ti
affectations of technical for " .7 T.oaf1D u al0. but no result. V iAi
doesn't hear you at once he pounces on
you with a virile "what?" tnat permits
no misunderstanding on either side
He is only slightly deaf, and the tail
about his necessity to watch-the 11DS of
another to understand him is fictional
nonsense.
never to be forgiven. I had heard about cnare at "ttle more than one-half it
tnis, and so Induced Mr. Wangeman to ,-uolB io jceep a horse vehicle runnier
advance with me. - now.. - I ve done it, and next snrins on? c
He may have heard us aDDroach his factory here will be maklner them." v
chair, and he may not, but he did not 1 Then ne returned to the impatience of" '
turnaround. Mr. Wangeman is a scien- ' the public again: "They cannot exrect i
tist of the physically Independent tvne. me to finh Ji, ."peci
so he told him what he wanted. a bit oT.C 'J " Wera "
I was nem more Impressed with the mntirB -"..V-J eyen a 10C
nnnconc T ,oi i i. . " "aa -uuuury StreaKS. and that la f
.j .j v 4i . v. uau ituu UUOUL CIS meiO- I nlaf . ' ' b
dramatic mannerisms, his wizard dignity 7. steam' not a complicated chemical
and his resemblance to Shskesnenrn action like a battery. That's whv it hut l
apothecaries than when he jumped from tnken time to make sure." And he was- I
his chair and we met cordially. I have BUre- There was no mistake in the shake t
met much more assumption of greatness of his head, the nervous clasp of-"tha I
In celebrities of equal fame, hut with hands stretrhoH , . i
fewer practical achievements. - It. Confident that I . T w ?Z
Edison Is not a dandified man. he Is not at liberty to recall thZ dr ' t '
stoop-shouldered, he Is not slow or non! , fF, t0 reca11 the dream stage of ;
derous. or technically mysterious. His T-v' f V, -invention. .
hair Is only just-turned gray, and though ... u Know n happens sometimes when
his trousers were not creased, nor his things get slow around here that tlpr
shoes patent leather, he had that inde- from ennui." he said THt, I
scrlbable dignity one finds In a Westerner regret In his voice, which bp . n iU. -
t--.v.i.ij. sure inat TVntnro hoM ihc co.
nffV Tand; tnat it wasn't her fault. 'If
me, i said to myself."
wrong.' And so it was, focIt last I get
it, negative and nnoit4 .
unt after that so delicate and mysterious
is cnemical action thot
akfer and make everything unreliable. We
I asked him what h- . . -1" some. trouble with them after
the new storage batterr w. T?. 1 T.m nt In New York. , ConWa t
. ne tossed his "uersiana It, till we found out that, la-
'"finises or bad
it Isn't nature
I'll keen -..r""8 wrong; lfn
v . tf- . tuDatu
neafl lmn.ntipnti vm. .
. v' vruue ine tolerant
smile of a patient man contradicted the
first impression, and he b.-gan. to talk,
c, Jh ..e,1WS out;West don't seem to
caus th0' k6 began crls- "Jnst be
LfniL balter,eS are DOt a11 0ver the
haven't a '8 D0W they to think I
navent done it. I'll show 'em next
Snhg:n' be on the market then.
Im building a new., factory out here to
make 'em in, but I didn't want to pTt
em on the market till t tr, p?:
j .u. vv cut: v wnn m
uo tne work." He paused, staring straight
a'6ad: and 1 ta"ed,. for, as 'thoSSr!. !
wus aajusang to, make clear Wf h
I have nroven thot . A.
, .UBin distilled water, the drlr-
s ore onT t0 find had 0Qe to drus
-ases of ndwfthased carbonic water, tho
tion o? t7hICU partlir destroyed the ac
Xt the jest. There is no knowJas
Tn n ri, nufl W,tn "- I've no -doubt I
I?s RS,e lt to lts Present size, but
U.Vh a" enough now for all porposes.:-
I sTLestherffraPh; at ,CaSt' ta aple-
he was adjusting to, make clear
in hla exper
my storage
are being used In
workmanship; he just"
keep at It
says:
me.
There Is , "t' " 1111 I know ,
oratory deed T
oi the phonograph. A n ,nlprovement
man, who bears a BZ' Wange
to Edison himself "rILlns 8eremblance
monies here. He ha- maSter of cere.
be wishes, tU30
?t I heard one ot tJ" tQ
Pledge of secr f oft them under
definite about sound W nothing
hare prove- tn.i m Z"!""'uls-
aod aB r" " '"""tor,,
the work nrt . Z Tey can do
crowZk -53- of the
cities." Another pause caml an"d
newed the talk with more vVr he re"
People seem to forget th
make a battery that i Zl 4 yoa c'
right as you Sn a 4 t0 WOrk
a thing of chemical ayctar'lt altery 18
thins ilh& Phoo&raph is a useful :
Dleafure u h t S ,wonderfl to see hft
mntlc lit HS gIven: " i3the pom- na'sf
proving hXX, We are experimenting ia-
tC Sf 'it-poverlns new tbla a!i tba
Sutcels-hhe n 3U8t thft cret of EdIS-n ,
of SScTerV Hir,eaCj1?8 the finaI
lurlnir him i Hi8 lmPatlon Is always
pects Tm ,Di, fayPatbs that no one
patent, Jl addjtion to his better-kr.,
deve?onm!lt e- ,n CODIectIon with i
telegSV,0116 e,ectric lamp, th,
chSSrP - elePhone' tQe ore-milling Ea
tlons TnM Bt!age batterles, his Id-ch- -eSie
L de "l0te "orders, lypewrit 1a,
mSinesP m8;iTCal enina' a
SltSSn'. T01 of Preserving fr r.t,
trtc locornmta,nU!actnre' drawing, i
the !SSS?V JJ-Plcture mach. -s.
hard-headed h. aclty a Poe ac
- PENDENS!.. y'
i
X