The First Edison Central Station- 6
To a man less thorough and empirical in method than Edison, it would have been
sufficient to have made his plans clear to associates or subordinates and hold them
responsible for accurate results. No such vicarious treatment would suit him, ready as he
has always been to share the work where he could give his trust. In fact he realized, as no
one else did at this stage, the tremendous import of this novel and comprehensive scheme
for giving the world light; and he would not let go, even if busy to the breaking-point.
Though plunged in a veritable maelstrom of new and important business interests, and
though applying for no fewer than eighty-nine patents in 1881, all of which were granted,
he superintended on the spot all this laying of underground conductors for the first
district. Nor did he merely stand around and give orders. Day and night he actually
worked in the trenches with the laborers, amid the dirt and paving-stones and hurry-burly
of traffic, helping to lay the tubes, filling up junction-boxes, and taking part in all the
infinite detail. He wanted to know for himself how things went, why for some occult
reason a little change was necessary, what improvement could be made in the material.
His hours of work were not regulated by the clock, but lasted until he felt the need of a
little rest. Then he would go off to the station building in Pearl Street, throw an overcoat
on a pile of tubes, lie down and sleep for a few hours, rising to resume work with the first
gang. There was a small bedroom on the third floor of the station available for him, but
going to bed meant delay and consumed time. It is no wonder that such impatience, such
an enthusiasm, drove the work forward at a headlong pace.
Edison says of this period: "When we put down the tubes in the lower part of New York,
in the streets, we kept a big stock of them in the cellar of the station at Pearl Street. As I
was on all the time, I would take a nap of an hour or so in the daytime-- any time--and I
used to sleep on those tubes in the cellar. I had two Germans who were testing there, and
both of them died of diphtheria, caught in the cellar, which was cold and damp. It never
affected me."
It is worth pausing just a moment to glance at this man taking a fitful rest on a pile of iron
pipe in a dingy building. His name is on the tip of the world's tongue. Distinguished
scientists from every part of Europe seek him eagerly. He has just been decorated and
awarded high honors by the French Government. He is the inventor of wonderful new
apparatus, and the exploiter of novel and successful arts. The magic of his achievements
and the rumors of what is being done have caused a wild drop in gas securities, and a
sensational rise in his own electric-light stock from $100 to $3500 a share. Yet these
things do not at all affect his slumber or his democratic simplicity, for in that, as in
everything else, he is attending strictly to business, "doing the thing that is next to him."
Part of the rush and feverish haste was due to the approach of frost, which, as usual in
New York, suspended operations in the earth; but the laying of the conductors was
resumed promptly in the spring of 1882; and meantime other work had been advanced.
During the fall and winter months two more "Jumbo" dynamos were built and sent to
London, after which the construction of six for New York was swiftly taken in hand. In
the month of May three of these machines, each with a capacity of twelve hundred
incandescent lamps, were delivered at Pearl Street and assembled on the second floor. On
July 5th--owing to the better opportunity for ceaseless toil given by a public holiday--the
construction of the operative part of the station was so far completed that the first of the
dynamos was operated under steam; so that three days later the satisfactory experiment
was made of throwing its flood of electrical energy into a bank of one thousand lamps on
an upper floor. Other tests followed in due course. All was excitement. The fieldregulating
apparatus and the electrical-pressure indicator--first of its kind--were also
tested, and in turn found satisfactory. Another vital test was made at this time-- namely,
of the strength of the iron structure itself on which the plant was erected. This was done
by two structural experts; and not till he got their report as to ample factors of safety was
Edison reassured as to this detail.
A remark of Edison, familiar to all who have worked with him, when it is reported to him
that something new goes all right and is satisfactory from all points of view, is: "Well,
boys, now let's find the bugs," and the hunt for the phylloxera begins with fiendish,
remorseless zest. Before starting the plant for regular commercial service, he began
personally a series of practical experiments and tests to ascertain in advance what
difficulties would actually arise in practice, so that he could provide remedies or
preventives. He had several cots placed in the adjoining building, and he and a few of his
most strenuous assistants worked day and night, leaving the work only for hurried meals
and a snatch of sleep. These crucial tests, aiming virtually to break the plant down if
possible within predetermined conditions, lasted several weeks, and while most valuable
in the information they afforded, did not hinder anything, for meantime customers'
premises throughout the district were being wired and supplied with lamps and meters.
On Monday, September 4, 1882, at 3 o'clock, P.M., Edison realized the consummation of
his broad and original scheme. The Pearl Street station was officially started by admitting
steam to the engine of one of the "Jumbos," current was generated, turned into the
network of underground conductors, and was transformed into light by the incandescent
lamps that had thus far been installed. This date and event may properly be regarded as
historical, for they mark the practical beginning of a new art, which in the intervening
years has grown prodigiously, and is still increasing by leaps and bounds.
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