Memories Of Menlo Park - 7

Memories Of Menlo Park - 7

Next to those who worked with Edison at the laboratory and were with him constantly at

Menlo Park were the visitors, some of whom were his business associates, some of them

scientific men, and some of them hero-worshippers and curiosity-hunters. Foremost in

the first category was Mr. E. H. Johnson, who was in reality Edison's most intimate

friend, and was required for constant consultation; but whose intense activity, remarkable

grasp of electrical principles, and unusual powers of exposition, led to his frequent

detachment for long trips, including those which resulted in the introduction of the

telephone, phonograph, and electric light in England and on the Continent. A less

frequent visitor was Mr. S. Bergmann, who had all he needed to occupy his time in

experimenting and manufacturing, and whose contemporaneous Wooster Street letterheads

advertised Edison's inventions as being made there, Among the scientists were

Prof. George F. Barker, of Philadelphia, a big, good-natured philosopher, whose valuable

advice Edison esteemed highly. In sharp contrast to him was the earnest, serious

Rowland, of Johns Hopkins University, afterward the leading American physicist of his

day. Profs. C. F. Brackett and C. F. Young, of Princeton University, were often received,

always interested in what Edison was doing, and proud that one of their own students,

Mr. Upton, was taking such a prominent part in the development of the work.

Soon after the success of the lighting experiments and the installation at Menlo Park

became known, Edison was besieged by persons from all parts of the world anxious to

secure rights and concessions for their respective countries. Among these was Mr. Louis

Rau, of Paris, who organized the French Edison Company, the pioneer Edison lighting

corporation in Europe, and who, with the aid of Mr. Batchelor, established lamp-works

and a machine-shop at Ivry sur-Seine, near Paris, in 1882. It was there that Mr. Nikola

Tesla made his entree into the field of light and power, and began his own career as an

inventor; and there also Mr. Etienne Fodor, general manager of the Hungarian General

Electric Company at Budapest, received his early training. It was he who erected at

Athens the first European Edison station on the now universal three-wire system. Another

visitor from Europe, a little later, was Mr. Emil Rathenau, the present director of the great

Allgemeine Elektricitaets Gesellschaft of Germany. He secured the rights for the empire,

and organized the Berlin Edison system, now one of the largest in the world. Through his

extraordinary energy and enterprise the business made enormous strides, and Mr.

Rathenau has become one of the most conspicuous industrial figures in his native

country. From Italy came Professor Colombo, later a cabinet minister, with his friend

Signor Buzzi, of Milan. The rights were secured for the peninsula; Colombo and his

friends organized the Italian Edison Company, and erected at Milan the first central

station in that country. Mr. John W. Lieb, Jr., now a vice-president of the New York

Edison Company, was sent over by Mr. Edison to steer the enterprise technically, and

spent ten years in building it up, with such brilliant success that he was later decorated as

Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy by King Victor. Another young American

enlisted into European service was Mr. E. G. Acheson, the inventor of carborundum, who

built a number of plants in Italy and France before he returned home. Mr. Lieb has since

become President of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Association of

Edison Illuminating Companies, while Doctor Acheson has been President of the

American Electrochemical Society.