Inventing A Complete System Of Lighting - 8

  Inventing A Complete System Of Lighting - 8

 As the plant continued in operation, various details and ideas of improvement emerged,

and Mr. Hammer says: "Up to the time of the construction of this plant it had been

customary to place a single-pole switch on one wire and a safety fuse on the other; and

the practice of putting fuses on both sides of a lighting circuit was first used here. Some

of the first, if not the very first, of the insulated fixtures were used in this plant, and many

of the fixtures were equipped with ball insulating joints, enabling the chandeliers--or

`electroliers'--to be turned around, as was common with the gas chandeliers. This

particular device was invented by Mr. John B. Verity, whose firm built many of the

fixtures for the Edison Company, and constructed the notable electroliers shown at the

Crystal Palace Exposition of 1882."

We have made a swift survey of developments from the time when the system of lighting

was ready for use, and when the staff scattered to introduce it. It will be readily

understood that Edison did not sit with folded hands or drop into complacent satisfaction

the moment he had reached the practical stage of commercial exploitation. He was

not willing to say "Let us rest and be thankful," as was one of England's great Liberal

leaders after a long period of reform. On the contrary, he was never more active than

immediately after the work we have summed up at the beginning of this chapter. While

he had been pursuing his investigations of the generator in conjunction with the

experiments on the incandescent lamp, he gave much thought to the question of

distribution of the current over large areas, revolving in his mind various plans for the

accomplishment of this purpose, and keeping his mathematicians very busy working on

the various schemes that suggested themselves from time to time. The idea of a complete

system had been in his mind in broad outline for a long time, but did not crystallize into

commercial form until the incandescent lamp was an accomplished fact. Thus in January,

1880, his first patent application for a "System of Electrical Distribution" was signed. It

was filed in the Patent Office a few days later, but was not issued as a patent until August

30, 1887. It covered, fundamentally, multiple arc distribution, how broadly will be

understood from the following extracts from the New York Electrical Review of

September 10, 1887: "It would appear as if the entire field of multiple distribution were

now in the hands of the owners of this patent.... The patent is about as broad as a patent

can be, being regardless of specific devices, and laying a powerful grasp on the

fundamental idea of multiple distribution from a number of generators throughout a

metallic circuit."

Mr. Edison made a number of other applications for patents on electrical distribution

during the year 1880. Among these was the one covering the celebrated "Feeder"

invention, which has been of very great commercial importance in the art, its object being

to obviate the "drop" in pressure, rendering lights dim in those portions of an electriclight

system that were remote from the central station.[10]

[10] For further explanation of "Feeder" patent, see Appendix.

From these two patents alone, which were absolutely basic and fundamental in effect, and

both of which were, and still are, put into actual use wherever central-station lighting is

practiced, the reader will see that Mr. Edison's patient and thorough study, aided by his

keen foresight and unerring judgment, had enabled him to grasp in advance with a master

hand the chief and underlying principles of a true system-- that system which has since

been put into practical use all over the world, and whose elements do not need the touch

or change of more modern scientific knowledge.

These patents were not by any means all that he applied for in the year 1880, which it

will be remembered was the year in which he was perfecting the incandescent electric

lamp and methods, to put into the market for competition with gas. It was an

extraordinarily busy year for Mr. Edison and his whole force, which from time to time

was increased in number. Improvement upon improvement was the order of the day. That

which was considered good to-day was superseded by something better and more

serviceable to-morrow. Device after device, relating to some part of the entire system,

was designed, built, and tried, only to be rejected ruthlessly as being unsuitable; but the

pursuit was not abandoned. It was renewed over and over again in innumerable ways

until success had been attained.