Inventing A Complete System Of Lighting - 6
Mr. Insull supplements this pen-picture by another, bearing upon the hustle and bustle of
the moment: "After a short conversation Johnson hurried me off to meet his family, and
later in the evening, about eight o'clock, he and I returned to Edison's office; and I found
myself launched without further ceremony into Edison's business affairs. Johnson had
already explained to me that he was sailing the next morning, March 2d, on the S.S.
Arizona, and that Mr. Edison wanted to spend the evening discussing matters in
connection with his European affairs. It was assumed, inasmuch as I had just arrived from
London, that I would be able to give more or less information on this subject. As Johnson
was to sail the next morning at five o'clock, Edison explained that it would be necessary
for him to have an understanding of European matters. Edison started out by drawing
from his desk a check-book and stating how much money he had in the bank; and he
wanted to know what European telephone securities were most salable, as he wished to
raise the necessary funds to put on their feet the incandescent lamp factory, the Electric
Tube works, and the necessary shops to build dynamos. All through the interview I was
tremendously impressed with Edison's wonderful resourcefulness and grasp, and his
immediate appreciation of any suggestion of consequence bearing on the subject under
discussion.
"He spoke with very great enthusiasm of the work before him--namely, the development
of his electric- lighting system; and his one idea seemed to be to raise all the money he
could with the object of pouring it into the manufacturing side of the lighting business. I
remember how extraordinarily I was impressed with him on this account, as I had just
come from a circle of people in London who not only questioned the possibility of the
success of Edison's invention, but often expressed doubt as to whether the work he had
done could be called an invention at all. After discussing affairs with Johnson--who was
receiving his final instructions from Edison--far into the night, and going down to the
steamer to see Johnson aboard, I finished my first night's business with Edison
somewhere between four and five in the morning, feeling thoroughly imbued with the
idea that I had met one of the great master minds of the world. You must allow for my
youthful enthusiasm, but you must also bear in mind Edison's peculiar gift of magnetism,
which has enabled him during his career to attach so many men to him. I fell a victim to
the spell at the first interview."
Events moved rapidly in those days. The next morning, Tuesday, Edison took his new
fidus Achates with him to a conference with John Roach, the famous old ship-builder,
and at it agreed to take the AEtna Iron works, where Roach had laid the foundations of
his fame and fortune. These works were not in use at the time. They were situated on
Goerck Street, New York, north of Grand Street, on the east side of the city, and there,
very soon after, was established the first Edison dynamo-manufacturing establishment,
known for many years as the Edison Machine Works. The same night Insull made his
first visit to Menlo Park. Up to that time he had seen very little incandescent lighting, for
the simple reason that there was very little to see. Johnson had had a few Edison lamps in
London, lit up from primary batteries, as a demonstration; and in the summer of 1880
Swan had had a few series lamps burning in London. In New York a small gas-engine
plant was being started at the Edison offices on Fifth Avenue. But out at Menlo Park
there was the first actual electric-lighting central station, supplying distributed
incandescent lamps and some electric motors by means of underground conductors
imbedded in asphaltum and surrounded by a wooden box. Mr. Insull says: "The system
employed was naturally the two-wire, as at that time the three-wire had not been thought
of. The lamps were partly of the horseshoe filament paper-carbon type, and partly
bamboo-filament lamps, and were of an efficiency of 95 to 100 watts per 16 c.p. I can
never forget the impression that this first view of the electric-lighting industry produced
on me. Menlo Park must always be looked upon as the birthplace of the electric light and
power industry. At that time it was the only place where could be seen an electric light
and power multiple arc distribution system, the operation of which seemed as successful
to my youthful mind as the operation of one of the large metropolitan systems to-day. I
well remember about ten o'clock that night going down to the Menlo Park depot and
getting the station agent, who was also the telegraph operator, to send some cable
messages for me to my London friends, announcing that I had seen Edison's incandescent
lighting system in actual operation, and that so far as I could tell it was an accomplished
fact. A few weeks afterward I received a letter from one of my London friends, who was
a doubting Thomas, upbraiding me for coming so soon under the spell of the `Yankee
inventor.' "
It was to confront and deal with just this element of doubt in London and in Europe
generally, that the dispatch of Johnson to England and of Batchelor to France was
intended. Throughout the Edison staff there was a mingled feeling of pride in the work,
resentment at the doubts expressed about it, and keen desire to show how excellent it
was. Batchelor left for Paris in July, 1881--on his second trip to Europe that year--and the
exhibit was made which brought such an instantaneous recognition of the incalculable
value of Edison's lighting inventions, as evidenced by the awards and rewards
immediately bestowed upon him. He was made an officer of the Legion of Honor, and
Prof. George F. Barker cabled as follows from Paris, announcing the decision of the
expert jury which passed upon the exhibits: "Accept my congratulations. You have
distanced all competitors and obtained a diploma of honor, the highest award given in the
Exposition. No person in any class in which you were an exhibitor received a like
reward."
No comments:
Post a Comment