Other Early Stations--The Meter - 2

Other Early Stations--The Meter - 2

Edison's lighting work furnished an excellent basis-- in fact, the only one--for the

development of the alternating current now so generally employed in central- station

work in America; and in the McGraw Electrical Directory of April, 1909, no fewer than

4164 stations out of 5780 reported its use. When the alternating current was introduced

for practical purposes it was not needed for arc lighting, the circuit for which, from a

single dynamo, would often be twenty or thirty miles in length, its current having a

pressure of not less than five or six thousand volts. For some years it was not found

feasible to operate motors on alternating-current circuits, and that reason was often urged

against it seriously. It could not be used for electroplating or deposition, nor could it

charge storage batteries, all of which are easily within the ability of the direct current. But

when it came to be a question of lighting a scattered suburb, a group of dwellings on the

outskirts, a remote country residence or a farm-house, the alternating current, in all

elements save its danger, was and is ideal. Its thin wires can be carried cheaply over vast

areas, and at each local point of consumption the transformer of size exactly proportioned

to its local task takes the high-voltage transmission current and lowers its potential at a

ratio of 20 or 40 to 1, for use in distribution and consumption circuits. This evolution has

been quite distinct, with its own inventors like Gaulard and Gibbs and Stanley, but came

subsequent to the work of supplying small, dense areas of population; the art thus

growing from within, and using each new gain as a means for further achievement.

Nor was the effect of such great advances as those made by Edison limited to the

electrical field. Every department of mechanics was stimulated and benefited to an

extraordinary degree. Copper for the circuits was more highly refined than ever before to

secure the best conductivity, and purity was insisted on in every kind of insulation.

Edison was intolerant of sham and shoddy, and nothing would satisfy him that could not

stand cross-examination by microscope, test-tube, and galvanometer. It was, perhaps, the

steam-engine on which the deepest imprint for good was made, referred to already in the

remarks of Mr. F. J. Sprague in the preceding chapter, but best illustrated in the

perfection of the modern high- speed engine of the Armington & Sims type. Unless he

could secure an engine of smoother running and more exactly governed and regulated

than those avail- able for his dynamo and lamp, Edison realized that he would find it

almost impossible to give a steady light. He did not want his customers to count the

heart-beats of the engine in the flicker of the lamp. Not a single engine was even within

gunshot of the standard thus set up, but the emergency called forth its man in Gardiner C.

Sims, a talented draughtsman and designer who had been engaged in locomotive

construction and in the engineering department of the United States Navy. He may be

quoted as to what happened: "The deep interest, financial and moral, and friendly backing

I received from Mr. Edison, together with valuable suggestions, enabled me to bring out

the engine; as I was quite alone in the world--poor--I had found a friend who knew what

he wanted and explained it clearly. Mr. Edison was a leader far ahead of the time. He

compelled the design of the successful engine.

"Our first engine compelled the inventing and making of a suitable engine indicator to

indicate it--the Tabor. He obtained the desired speed and load with a friction brake; also

regulator of speed; but waited for an indicator to verify it. Then again there was no

known way to lubricate an engine for continuous running, and Mr. Edison informed me

that as a marine engine started before the ship left New York and continued running until

it reached its home port, so an engine for his purposes must produce light at all times.

That was a poser to me, for a five-hours' run was about all that had been required up to

that time.

"A day or two later Mr. Edison inquired: `How far is it from here to Lawrence; it is a

long walk, isn't it?' `Yes, rather.' He said: `Of course you will understand I meant without

oil.' To say I was deeply perplexed does not express my feelings. We were at the machine

works, Goerck Street. I started for the oil-room, when, about entering, I saw a small

funnel lying on the floor. It had been stepped on and flattened. I took it up, and it had

solved the engine- oiling problem--and my walk to Lawrence like a tramp actor's was off!

The eccentric strap had a round glass oil-cup with a brass base that screwed into the strap.

I took it off, and making a sketch, went to Dave Cunningham, having the funnel in my

hand to illustrate what I wanted made. I requested him to make a sheet-brass oil-cup and

solder it to the base I had. He did so. I then had a standard made to hold another oil-cup,

so as to see and regulate the drop-feed. On this combination I obtained a patent which is

now universally used."