The Development Of The Edison Storage Battery - 6

The Development Of The Edison Storage Battery - 6

 The difficulty of obtaining good electrical contact in the positive element was indeed

Edison's chief trouble for many years. After a great amount of work and experimentation

he decided upon a certain form of graphite, which seemed to be suitable for the purpose,

and then proceeded to the commercial manufacture of the battery at a special factory in

Glen Ridge, New Jersey, installed for the purpose. There was no lack of buyers, but, on

the contrary, the factory was unable to turn out batteries enough. The newspapers had

previously published articles showing the unusual capacity and performance of the

battery, and public interest had thus been greatly awakened.

Notwithstanding the establishment of a regular routine of manufacture and sale, Edison

did not cease to experiment for improvement. Although the graphite apparently did the

work desired of it, he was not altogether satisfied with its performance and made

extended trials of other substances, but at that time found nothing that on the whole

served the purpose better. Continuous tests of the commercial cells were carried on at the

laboratory, as well as more practical and heavy tests in automobiles, which were

constantly kept running around the adjoining country over all kinds of roads. All these

tests were very closely watched by Edison, who demanded rigorously that the various

trials of the battery should be carried on with all strenuousness so as to get the utmost

results and develop any possible weakness. So insistent was he on this, that if any

automobile should run several days without bursting a tire or breaking some part of the

machine, he would accuse the chauffeur of picking out easy roads.

After these tests had been going on for some time, and some thousands of cells had been

sold and were giving satisfactory results to the purchasers, the test sheets and experience

gathered from various sources pointed to the fact that occasionally a cell here and there

would show up as being short in capacity. Inasmuch as the factory processes were very

exact and carefully guarded, and every cell was made as uniform as human skill and care

could provide, there thus arose a serious problem. Edison concentrated his powers on the

investigation of this trouble, and found that the chief cause lay in the graphite. Some

other minor matters also attracted his attention. What to do, was the important question

that confronted him. To shut down the factory meant great loss and apparent failure. He

realized this fully, but he also knew that to go on would simply be to increase the number

of defective batteries in circulation, which would ultimately result in a permanent closure

and real failure. Hence he took the course which one would expect of Edison's common

sense and directness of action. He was not satisfied that the battery was a complete

success, so he shut down and went to experimenting once more.

"And then," says one of the laboratory men, "we started on another series of recordbreaking

experiments that lasted over five years. I might almost say heart-breaking, too,

for of all the elusive, disappointing things one ever hunted for that was the worst. But

secrets have to be long-winded and roost high if they want to get away when the `Old

Man' goes hunting for them. He doesn't get mad when he misses them, but just keeps on

smiling and firing, and usually brings them into camp. That's what he did on the battery,

for after a whole lot of work he perfected the nickel-flake idea and process, besides

making the great improvement of using tubes instead of flat pockets for the positive. He

also added a minor improvement here and there, and now we have a finer battery than we

ever expected."

In the interim, while the experimentation of these last five years was in progress, many

customers who had purchased batteries of the original type came knocking at the door

with orders in their hands for additional outfits wherewith to equip more wagons and

trucks. Edison expressed his regrets, but said he was not satisfied with the old cells and

was engaged in improving them. To which the customers replied that THEY were

entirely satisfied and ready and willing to pay for more batteries of the same kind; but

Edison could not be moved from his determination, although considerable pressure was

at times brought to bear to sway his decision.