Edison's Method In Inventing - 10

Edison's Method In Inventing - 10

 The other instance referred to occurred shortly after the Edison Machine Works was

moved up to Schenectady, in 1886. One day, when he was at the works, Edison sat down

and wrote on a sheet of paper fifteen separate predictions of the growth and future of the

electrical business. Notwithstanding the fact that the industry was then in an immature

state, and that the great boom did not set in until a few years afterward, twelve of these

predictions have been fully verified by the enormous growth and development in all

branches of the art.

What the explanation of this gift, power, or intuition may be, is perhaps better left to the

psychologist to speculate upon. If one were to ask Edison, he would probably say, "Hard

work, not too much sleep, and free use of the imagination." Whether or not it would be

possible for the average mortal to arrive at such perfection of "guessing" by faithfully

following this formula, even reinforced by the Edison recipe for stimulating a slow

imagination with pastry, is open for demonstration.

Somewhat allied to this curious faculty is another no less remarkable, and that is, the

ability to point out instantly an error in a mass of reported experimental results. While

many instances could be definitely named, a typical one, related by Mr. J. D. Flack,

formerly master mechanic at the lamp factory, may be quoted: "During the many years of

lamp experimentation, batches of lamps were sent to the photometer department for test,

and Edison would examine the tabulated test sheets. He ran over every item of the

tabulations rapidly, and, apparently without any calculation whatever, would check off

errors as fast as he came to them, saying: `You have made a mistake; try this one over.' In

every case the second test proved that he was right. This wonderful aptitude for infallibly

locating an error without an instant's hesitation for mental calculation, has always

appealed to me very forcibly."

The ability to detect errors quickly in a series of experiments is one of the things that has

enabled Edison to accomplish such a vast amount of work as the records show. Examples

of the minuteness of detail into which his researches extend have already been

mentioned, and as there are always a number of such investigations in progress at the

laboratory, this ability stands Edison in good stead, for he is thus enabled to follow, and,

if necessary, correct each one step by step. In this he is aided by the great powers of a

mind that is able to free itself from absorbed concentration on the details of one problem,

and instantly to shift over and become deeply and intelligently concentrated in another

and entirely different one. For instance, he may have been busy for hours on chemical

experiments, and be called upon suddenly to determine some mechanical questions. The

complete and easy transition is the constant wonder of his associates, for there is no

confusion of ideas resulting from these quick changes, no hesitation or apparent effort,

but a plunge into the midst of the new subject, and an instant acquaint- ance with all its

details, as if he had been studying it for hours.