The First Edison Central Station- 8

The First Edison Central Station- 8

 The Pearl Street station, as this first large plant was called, made rapid and continuous

growth in its output of electric current. It started, as we have said, on September 4, 1882,

supplying about four hundred lights to a comparatively small number of customers.

Among those first supplied was the banking firm of Drexel, Morgan & Company, corner

of Broad and Wall streets, at the outermost limits of the system. Before the end of

December of the same year the light had so grown in favor that it was being supplied to

over two hundred and forty customers whose buildings were wired for over five thousand

lamps. By this time three more "Jumbos" had been added to the plant. The output from

this time forward increased steadily up to the spring of 1884, when the demands of the

station necessitated the installation of two additional "Jumbos" in the adjoining building,

which, with the venous improvements that had been made in the mean time, gave the

station a capacity of over eleven thousand lamps actually in service at any one time.

During the first three months of operating the Pearl Street station light was supplied to

customers with- out charge. Edison had perfect confidence in his meters, and also in the

ultimate judgment of the public as to the superiority of the incandescent electric light as

against other illuminants. He realized, however, that in the beginning of the operation of

an entirely novel plant there was ample opportunity for unexpected contingencies,

although the greatest care had been exercised to make everything as perfect as possible.

Mechanical defects or other unforeseen troubles in any part of the plant or underground

system might arise and cause temporary stoppages of operation, thus giving grounds for

uncertainty which would create a feeling of public distrust in the permanence of the

supply of light.

As to the kind of mishap that was wont to occur, Edison tells the following story: "One

afternoon, after our Pearl Street station started, a policeman rushed in and told us to send

an electrician at once up to the corner of Ann and Nassau streets--some trouble. Another

man and I went up. We found an immense crowd of men and boys there and in the

adjoining streets--a perfect jam. There was a leak in one of our junction-boxes, and on

account of the cellars extending under the street, the top soil had become insulated.

Hence, by means of this leak powerful currents were passing through this thin layer of

moist earth. When a horse went to pass over it he would get a very severe shock. When I

arrived I saw coming along the street a ragman with a dilapidated old horse, and one of

the boys told him to go over on the other side of the road--which was the place where the

current leaked. When the rag- man heard this he took that side at once. The moment the

horse struck the electrified soil he stood straight up in the air, and then reared again; and

the crowd yelled, the policeman yelled; and the horse started to run away. This continued

until the crowd got so serious that the policeman had to clear it out; and we were notified

to cut the current off. We got a gang of men, cut the current off for several junctionboxes,

and fixed the leak. One man who had seen it came to me next day and wanted me

to put in apparatus for him at a place where they sold horses. He said he could make a

fortune with it, because he could get old nags in there and make them act like

thoroughbreds."

So well had the work been planned and executed, however, that nothing happened to

hinder the continuous working of the station and the supply of light to customers. Hence

it was decided in December, 1882, to begin charging a price for the service, and,

accordingly, Edison electrolytic meters were installed on the premises of each customer

then connected. The first bill for lighting, based upon the reading of one of these meters,

amounted to $50.40, and was collected on January 18, 1883, from the Ansonia Brass and

Copper Company, 17 and 19 Cliff Street. Generally speaking, customers found that their

bills compared fairly with gas bills for corresponding months where the same amount of

light was used, and they paid promptly and cheerfully, with emphatic encomiums of the

new light. During November, 1883, a little over one year after the station was started,

bills for lighting amounting to over $9000 were collected.

An interesting story of meter experience in the first few months of operation of the Pearl

Street station is told by one of the "boys" who was then in position to know the facts;

"Mr. J. P. Morgan, whose firm was one of the first customers, expressed to Mr. Edison

some doubt as to the accuracy of the meter. The latter, firmly convinced of its

correctness, suggested a strict test by having some cards printed and hung on each fixture

at Mr. Morgan's place. On these cards was to be noted the number of lamps in the fixture,

and the time they were turned on and off each day for a month. At the end of that time the

lamp-hours were to be added together by one of the clerks and figured on a basis of a

definite amount per lamp-hour, and compared with the bill that would be rendered by the

station for the corresponding period. The results of the first month's test showed an

apparent overcharge by the Edison company. Mr. Morgan was exultant, while Mr. Edison

was still confident and suggested a continuation of the test. Another month's trial showed

somewhat similar results. Mr. Edison was a little disturbed, but insisted that there was a

mistake somewhere. He went down to Drexel, Morgan & Company's office to

investigate, and, after looking around, asked when the office was cleaned out. He was

told it was done at night by the janitor, who was sent for, and upon being interrogated as

to what light he used, said that he turned on a central fixture containing about ten lights.

It came out that he had made no record of the time these lights were in use. He was told

to do so in future, and another month's test was made. On comparison with the company's

bill, rendered on the meter-reading, the meter came within a few cents of the amount

computed from the card records, and Mr. Morgan was completely satisfied of the

accuracy of the meter."

It is a strange but not extraordinary commentary on the perversity of human nature and

the lack of correct observation, to note that even after the Pearl Street station had been in

actual operation twenty- four hours a day for nearly three months, there should still

remain an attitude of "can't be done." That such a scepticism still obtained is evidenced

by the public prints of the period. Edison's electric- light system and his broad claims

were freely discussed and animadverted upon at the very time he was demonstrating their

successful application. To show some of the feeling at the time, we reproduce the

following letter, which appeared November 29, 1882: