The Laboratory At Orange And The Staff - 8

The Laboratory At Orange And The Staff - 8

 Leaving the main building with its corps of busy experimenters, and coming out into the

spacious yard, one notes the four long single-story brick structures mentioned above. The

one nearest the Valley Road is called the galvanometer-room, and was originally

intended by Edison to be used for the most delicate and minute electrical measurements.

In order to provide rigid resting-places for the numerous and elaborate instruments he had

purchased for this purpose, the building was equipped along three- quarters of its length

with solid pillars, or tables, of brick set deep in the earth. These were built up to a height

of about two and a half feet, and each was surmounted with a single heavy slab of black

marble. A cement floor was laid, and every precaution was taken to render the building

free from all magnetic influences, so that it would be suitable for electrical work of the

utmost accuracy and precision. Hence, iron and steel were entirely eliminated in its construction,

copper being used for fixtures for steam and water piping, and, indeed, for all

other purposes where metal was employed.

This room was for many years the headquarters of Edison's able assistant, Dr. A. E.

Kennelly, now professor of electrical engineering in Harvard University to whose

energetic and capable management were intrusted many scientific investigations during

his long sojourn at the laboratory. Unfortunately, however, for the continued success of

Edison's elaborate plans, he had not been many years established in the laboratory before

a trolley road through West Orange was projected and built, the line passing in front of

the plant and within seventy-five feet of the galvanometer- room, thus making it

practically impossible to use it for the delicate purposes for which it was originally

intended.

For some time past it has been used for photography and some special experiments on

motion pictures as well as for demonstrations connected with physical research; but some

reminders of its old-time glory still remain in evidence. In lofty and capacious glassenclosed

cabinets, in company with numerous models of Edison's inventions, repose

many of the costly and elaborate instruments rendered useless by the ubiquitous trolley.

Instruments are all about, on walls, tables, and shelves, the photometer is covered up;

induction coils of various capacities, with other electrical paraphernalia, lie around,

almost as if the experimenter were absent for a few days but would soon return and

resume his work.

In numbering the group of buildings, the galva- nometer-room is No. 1, while the other

single-story structures are numbered respectively 2, 3, and 4. On passing out of No. 1 and

proceeding to the succeeding building is noticed, between the two, a garage of ample

dimensions and a smaller structure, at the door of which stands a concrete-mixer. In this

small building Edison has made some of his most important experiments in the process of

working out his plans for the poured house. It is in this little place that there was

developed the remarkable mixture which is to play so vital a part in the successful

construction of these everlasting homes for living millions.

Drawing near to building No. 2, olfactory evidence presents itself of the immediate

vicinity of a chemical laboratory. This is confirmed as one enters the door and finds that

the entire building is devoted to chemistry. Long rows of shelves and cabinets filled with

chemicals line the room; a profusion of retorts, alembics, filters, and other chemical

apparatus on numerous tables and stands, greet the eye, while a corps of experimenters

may be seen busy in the preparation of various combinations, some of which are boiling

or otherwise cooking under their dexterous manipulation.

It would not require many visits to discover that in this room, also, Edison has a favorite

nook. Down at the far end in a corner are a plain little table and chair, and here he is often

to be found deeply immersed in a study of the many experiments that are being

conducted. Not infrequently he is actively engaged in the manipulation of some

compound of special intricacy, whose results might be illuminative of obscure facts not

patent to others than himself. Here, too, is a select little library of chemical literature.

The next building, No. 3, has a double mission-- the farther half being partitioned off for

a pattern- making shop, while the other half is used as a store- room for chemicals in

quantity and for chemical apparatus and utensils. A grimly humorous incident, as related

by one of the laboratory staff, attaches to No. 3. It seems that some time ago one of the

helpers in the chemical department, an excitable foreigner, became dissatisfied with his

wages, and after making an unsuccessful application for an increase, rushed in

desperation to Edison, and said "Eef I not get more money I go to take ze cyanide

potassia." Edison gave him one quick, searching glance and, detecting a bluff, replied in

an offhand manner: "There's a five-pound bottle in No. 3," and turned to his work again.

The foreigner did not go to get the cyanide, but gave up his job.