The Young Telegraph Operator - 3

The Young Telegraph Operator - 3

Another episode of this period is curious in its revelation of the tenacity with which

Edison has always held to some of his oldest possessions with a sense of personal

attachment. "While working at Stratford Junction," he says, "I was told by one of the

freight conductors that in the freight-house at Goodrich there were several boxes of old

broken-up batteries. I went there and found over eighty cells of the well-known Grove

nitric-acid battery. The operator there, who was also agent, when asked by me if I could

have the electrodes of each cell, made of sheet platinum, gave his permission readily,

thinking they were of tin. I removed them all, amounting to several ounces. Platinum

even in those days was very expensive, costing several dollars an ounce, and I owned

only three small strips. I was overjoyed at this acquisition, and those very strips and the

reworked scrap are used to this day in my laboratory over forty years later."

It was at Stratford that Edison's inventiveness was first displayed. The hours of work of a

night operator are usually from 7 P.M. to 7 A.M., and to insure attention while on duty it

is often provided that the operator every hour, from 9 P.M. until relieved by the day

operator, shall send in the signal "6" to the train dispatcher's office. Edison revelled in the

opportunity for study and experiment given him by his long hours of freedom in the

daytime, but needed sleep, just as any healthy youth does. Confronted by the necessity of

sending in this watchman's signal as evidence that he was awake and on duty, he

constructed a small wheel with notches on the rim, and attached it to the clock in such a

manner that the night-watchman could start it when the line was quiet, and at each hour

the wheel revolved and sent in accurately the dots required for "sixing." The invention

was a success, the device being, indeed, similar to that of the modern district messenger

box; but it was soon noticed that, in spite of the regularity of the report, "Sf" could not be

raised even if a train message were sent immediately after. Detection and a reprimand

came in due course, but were not taken very seriously.

A serious occurrence that might have resulted in accident drove him soon after from

Canada, although the youth could hardly be held to blame for it. Edison says: "This night

job just suited me, as I could have the whole day to myself. I had the faculty of sleeping

in a chair any time for a few minutes at a time. I taught the night-yardman my call, so I

could get half an hour's sleep now and then between trains, and in case the station was

called the watchman would awaken me. One night I got an order to hold a freight train,

and I replied that I would. I rushed out to find the signalman, but before I could find him

and get the signal set, the train ran past. I ran to the telegraph office, and reported that I

could not hold her. The reply was: `Hell!' The train dispatcher, on the strength of my

message that I would hold the train, had permitted another to leave the last station in the

opposite direction. There was a lower station near the junction where the day operator

slept. I started for it on foot. The night was dark, and I fell into a culvert and was knocked

senseless." Owing to the vigilance of the two engineers on the locomotives, who saw

each other approaching on the straight single track, nothing more dreadful happened than

a summons to the thoughtless operator to appear before the general manager at Toronto.

On reaching the manager's office, his trial for neglect of duty was fortunately interrupted

by the call of two Englishmen; and while their conversation proceeded, Edison slipped

quietly out of the room, hurried to the Grand Trunk freight depot, found a conductor he

knew taking out a freight train for Sarnia, and was not happy until the ferry-boat from

Sarnia had landed him once more on the Michigan shore. The Grand Trunk still owes Mr.

Edison the wages due him at the time he thus withdrew from its service, but the claim has

never been pressed.