Edison, His Life and Inventions

F >> Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin >> Edison, His Life and Inventions


Undaunted by the dicta of contemporaneous science, Mr. Edison attacked
the dynamo problem with his accustomed vigor and thoroughness. He chose
the drum form for his armature, and experimented with different kinds
of iron. Cores were made of cast iron, others of forged iron; and still
others of sheets of iron of various thicknesses separated from each
other by paper or paint. These cores were then allowed to run in an
excited field, and after a given time their temperature was measured and
noted. By such practical methods Edison found that the thin, laminated
cores of sheet iron gave the least heat, and had the least amount of
wasteful eddy currents. His experiments and ideas on magnetism at that
period were far in advance of the time. His work and tests regarding
magnetism were repeated later on by Hopkinson and Kapp, who then
elucidated the whole theory mathematically by means of formulae and
constants. Before this, however, Edison had attained these results by
pioneer work, founded on his original reasoning, and utilized them in
the construction of his dynamo, thus revolutionizing the art of building
such machines.

After thorough investigation of the magnetic qualities of different
kinds of iron, Edison began to make a study of winding the cores,
first determining the electromotive force generated per turn of wire at
various speeds in fields of different intensities. He also considered
various forms and shapes for the armature, and by methodical and
systematic research obtained the data and best conditions upon which
he could build his generator. In the field magnets of his dynamo he
constructed the cores and yoke of forged iron having a very large
cross-section, which was a new thing in those days. Great attention was
also paid to all the joints, which were smoothed down so as to make a
perfect magnetic contact. The Edison dynamo, with its large masses of
iron, was a vivid contrast to the then existing types with their meagre
quantities of the ferric element. Edison also made tests on his field
magnets by slowly raising the strength of the exciting current, so that
he obtained figures similar to those shown by a magnetic curve, and in
this way found where saturation commenced, and where it was useless to
expend more current on the field. If he had asked Upton at the time to
formulate the results of his work in this direction, for publication, he
would have anticipated the historic work on magnetism that was executed
by the two other investigators; Hopkinson and Kapp, later on.

The laboratory note-books of the period bear abundant evidence of the
systematic and searching nature of these experiments and investigations,
in the hundreds of pages of notes, sketches, calculations, and tables
made at the time by Edison, Upton, Batchelor, Jehl, and by others who
from time to time were intrusted with special experiments to
elucidate some particular point. Mr. Jehl says: "The experiments on
armature-winding were also very interesting. Edison had a number of
small wooden cores made, at both ends of which we inserted little brass
nails, and we wound the wooden cores with twine as if it were wire on an
armature. In this way we studied armature-winding, and had matches where
each of us had a core, while bets were made as to who would be the first
to finish properly and correctly a certain kind of winding. Care had
to be taken that the wound core corresponded to the direction of the
current, supposing it were placed in a field and revolved. After Edison
had decided this question, Upton made drawings and tables from which the
real armatures were wound and connected to the commutator. To a
student of to-day all this seems simple, but in those days the art
of constructing dynamos was about as dark as air navigation is at
present.... Edison also improved the armature by dividing it and the
commutator into a far greater number of sections than up to that time
had been the practice. He was also the first to use mica in insulating
the commutator sections from each other."

In the mean time, during the progress of the investigations on the
dynamo, word had gone out to the world that Edison expected to invent a
generator of greater efficiency than any that existed at the time. Again
he was assailed and ridiculed by the technical press, for had not the
foremost electricians and physicists of Europe and America worked for
years on the production of dynamos and arc lamps as they then existed?
Even though this young man at Menlo Park had done some wonderful things
for telegraphy and telephony; even if he had recorded and reproduced
human speech, he had his limitations, and could not upset the settled
dictum of science that the internal resistance must equal the external
resistance.

Such was the trend of public opinion at the time, but "after Mr. Kruesi
had finished the first practical dynamo, and after Mr. Upton had tested
it thoroughly and verified his figures and results several times--for he
also was surprised--Edison was able to tell the world that he had made
a generator giving an efficiency of 90 per cent." Ninety per cent. as
against 40 per cent. was a mighty hit, and the world would not believe
it. Criticism and argument were again at their height, while Upton,
as Edison's duellist, was kept busy replying to private and public
challenges of the fact.... "The tremendous progress of the world in
the last quarter of a century, owing to the revolution caused by the
all-conquering march of 'Heavy Current Engineering,' is the outcome of
Edison's work at Menlo Park that raised the efficiency of the dynamo
from 40 per cent. to 90 per cent."

Mr. Upton sums it all up very precisely in his remarks upon this period:
"What has now been made clear by accurate nomenclature was then very
foggy in the text-books. Mr. Edison had completely grasped the effect
of subdivision of circuits, and the influence of wires leading to such
subdivisions, when it was most difficult to express what he knew in
technical language. I remember distinctly when Mr. Edison gave me the
problem of placing a motor in circuit in multiple arc with a fixed
resistance; and I had to work out the problem entirely, as I could
find no prior solution. There was nothing I could find bearing upon
the counter electromotive force of the armature, and the effect of the
resistance of the armature on the work given out by the armature. It was
a wonderful experience to have problems given me out of the intuitions
of a great mind, based on enormous experience in practical work, and
applying to new lines of progress. One of the main impressions left upon
me after knowing Mr. Edison for many years is the marvellous accuracy of
his guesses. He will see the general nature of a result long before it
can be reached by mathematical calculation. His greatness was always to
be clearly seen when difficulties arose. They always made him cheerful,
and started him thinking; and very soon would come a line of suggestions
which would not end until the difficulty was met and overcome, or found
insurmountable. I have often felt that Mr. Edison got himself purposely
into trouble by premature publications and otherwise, so that he would
have a full incentive to get himself out of the trouble."

This chapter may well end with a statement from Mr. Jehl, shrewd and
observant, as a participator in all the early work of the development of
the Edison lighting system: "Those who were gathered around him in the
old Menlo Park laboratory enjoyed his confidence, and he theirs. Nor was
this confidence ever abused. He was respected with a respect which only
great men can obtain, and he never showed by any word or act that he was
their employer in a sense that would hurt the feelings, as is often the
case in the ordinary course of business life. He conversed, argued, and
disputed with us all as if he were a colleague on the same footing. It
was his winning ways and manners that attached us all so loyally to his
side, and made us ever ready with a boundless devotion to execute any
request or desire." Thus does a great magnet, run through a heap of sand
and filings, exert its lines of force and attract irresistibly to itself
the iron and steel particles that are its affinity, and having sifted
them out, leaving the useless dust behind, hold them to itself with
responsive tenacity.



CHAPTER XIII

A WORLD-HUNT FOR FILAMENT MATERIAL

IN writing about the old experimenting days at Menlo Park, Mr. F. R.
Upton says: "Edison's day is twenty-four hours long, for he has always
worked whenever there was anything to do, whether day or night, and
carried a force of night workers, so that his experiments could go on
continually. If he wanted material, he always made it a principle to
have it at once, and never hesitated to use special messengers to get
it. I remember in the early days of the electric light he wanted a
mercury pump for exhausting the lamps. He sent me to Princeton to get
it. I got back to Metuchen late in the day, and had to carry the pump
over to the laboratory on my back that evening, set it up, and work all
night and the next day getting results."

This characteristic principle of obtaining desired material in the
quickest and most positive way manifested itself in the search that
Edison instituted for the best kind of bamboo for lamp filaments,
immediately after the discovery related in a preceding chapter. It is
doubtful whether, in the annals of scientific research and experiment,
there is anything quite analogous to the story of this search and the
various expeditions that went out from the Edison laboratory in 1880 and
subsequent years, to scour the earth for a material so apparently simple
as a homogeneous strip of bamboo, or other similar fibre. Prolonged
and exhaustive experiment, microscopic examination, and an intimate
knowledge of the nature of wood and plant fibres, however, had led
Edison to the conclusion that bamboo or similar fibrous filaments were
more suitable than anything else then known for commercial incandescent
lamps, and he wanted the most perfect for that purpose. Hence, the
quickest way was to search the tropics until the proper material was
found.

The first emissary chosen for this purpose was the late William H.
Moore, of Rahway, New Jersey, who left New York in the summer of 1880,
bound for China and Japan, these being the countries preeminently noted
for the production of abundant species of bamboo. On arrival in the
East he quickly left the cities behind and proceeded into the interior,
extending his search far into the more remote country districts,
collecting specimens on his way, and devoting much time to the study of
the bamboo, and in roughly testing the relative value of its fibre in
canes of one, two, three, four, and five year growths. Great bales of
samples were sent to Edison, and after careful tests a certain variety
and growth of Japanese bamboo was determined to be the most satisfactory
material for filaments that had been found. Mr. Moore, who was
continuing his searches in that country, was instructed to arrange for
the cultivation and shipment of regular supplies of this particular
species. Arrangements to this end were accordingly made with a Japanese
farmer, who began to make immediate shipments, and who subsequently
displayed so much ingenuity in fertilizing and cross-fertilizing that
the homogeneity of the product was constantly improved. The use of this
bamboo for Edison lamp filaments was continued for many years.

Although Mr. Moore did not meet with the exciting adventures of some
subsequent explorers, he encountered numerous difficulties and novel
experiences in his many months of travel through the hinterland of Japan
and China. The attitude toward foreigners thirty years ago was not as
friendly as it has since become, but Edison, as usual, had made a happy
choice of messengers, as Mr. Moore's good nature and diplomacy attested.
These qualities, together with his persistence and perseverance and
faculty of intelligent discrimination in the matter of fibres, helped to
make his mission successful, and gave to him the honor of being the
one who found the bamboo which was adopted for use as filaments in
commercial Edison lamps.

Although Edison had satisfied himself that bamboo furnished the most
desirable material thus far discovered for incandescent-lamp filaments,
he felt that in some part of the world there might be found a natural
product of the same general character that would furnish a still more
perfect and homogeneous material. In his study of this subject, and
during the prosecution of vigorous and searching inquiries in various
directions, he learned that Mr. John C. Brauner, then residing in
Brooklyn, New York, had an expert knowledge of indigenous plants of the
particular kind desired. During the course of a geological survey which
he had made for the Brazilian Government, Mr. Brauner had examined
closely the various species of palms which grow plentifully in that
country, and of them there was one whose fibres he thought would be just
what Edison wanted.

Accordingly, Mr. Brauner was sent for and dispatched to Brazil in
December, 1880, to search for and send samples of this and such other
palms, fibres, grasses, and canes as, in his judgment, would be suitable
for the experiments then being carried on at Menlo Park. Landing at
Para, he crossed over into the Amazonian province, and thence proceeded
through the heart of the country, making his way by canoe on the rivers
and their tributaries, and by foot into the forests and marshes of
a vast and almost untrodden wilderness. In this manner Mr. Brauner
traversed about two thousand miles of the comparatively unknown interior
of Southern Brazil, and procured a large variety of fibrous specimens,
which he shipped to Edison a few months later. When these fibres arrived
in the United States they were carefully tested and a few of them found
suitable but not superior to the Japanese bamboo, which was then being
exclusively used in the manufacture of commercial Edison lamps.

Later on Edison sent out an expedition to explore the wilds of Cuba and
Jamaica. A two months' investigation of the latter island revealed a
variety of bamboo growths, of which a great number of specimens were
obtained and shipped to Menlo Park; but on careful test they were found
inferior to the Japanese bamboo, and hence rejected. The exploration of
the glades and swamps of Florida by three men extended over a period
of five months in a minute search for fibrous woods of the palmetto
species. A great variety was found, and over five hundred boxes of
specimens were shipped to the laboratory from time to time, but none of
them tested out with entirely satisfactory results.

The use of Japanese bamboo for carbon filaments was therefore continued
in the manufacture of lamps, although an incessant search was maintained
for a still more perfect material. The spirit of progress, so pervasive
in Edison's character, led him, however, to renew his investigations
further afield by sending out two other men to examine the bamboo and
similar growths of those parts of South America not covered by Mr.
Brauner. These two men were Frank McGowan and C. F. Hanington, both
of whom had been for nearly seven years in the employ of the Edison
Electric Light Company in New York. The former was a stocky, rugged
Irishman, possessing the native shrewdness and buoyancy of his race,
coupled with undaunted courage and determination; and the latter was
a veteran of the Civil War, with some knowledge of forest and field,
acquired as a sportsman. They left New York in September, 1887, arriving
in due time at Para, proceeding thence twenty-three hundred miles up the
Amazon River to Iquitos. Nothing of an eventful nature occurred during
this trip, but on arrival at Iquitos the two men separated; Mr. McGowan
to explore on foot and by canoe in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, while
Mr. Hanington returned by the Amazon River to Para. Thence Hanington
went by steamer to Montevideo, and by similar conveyance up the River
de la Plata and through Uruguay, Argentine, and Paraguay to the
southernmost part of Brazil, collecting a large number of specimens of
palms and grasses.

The adventures of Mr. McGowan, after leaving Iquitos, would fill a book
if related in detail. The object of the present narrative and the space
at the authors' disposal, however, do not permit of more than a brief
mention of his experiences. His first objective point was Quito, about
five hundred miles away, which he proposed to reach on foot and by means
of canoeing on the Napo River through a wild and comparatively unknown
country teeming with tribes of hostile natives. The dangers of the
expedition were pictured to him in glowing colors, but spurning
prophecies of dire disaster, he engaged some native Indians and a canoe
and started on his explorations, reaching Quito in eighty-seven days,
after a thorough search of the country on both sides of the Napo River.
From Quito he went to Guayaquil, from there by steamer to Buenaventura,
and thence by rail, twelve miles, to Cordova. From this point he set out
on foot to explore the Cauca Valley and the Cordilleras.

Mr. McGowan found in these regions a great variety of bamboo, small and
large, some species growing seventy-five to one hundred feet in height,
and from six to nine inches in diameter. He collected a large number
of specimens, which were subsequently sent to Orange for Edison's
examination. After about fifteen months of exploration attended by much
hardship and privation, deserted sometimes by treacherous guides, twice
laid low by fevers, occasionally in peril from Indian attacks, wild
animals and poisonous serpents, tormented by insect pests, endangered
by floods, one hundred and nineteen days without meat, ninety-eight days
without taking off his clothes, Mr. McGowan returned to America, broken
in health but having faithfully fulfilled the commission intrusted to
him. The Evening Sun, New York, obtained an interview with him at that
time, and in its issue of May 2, 1889, gave more than a page to a brief
story of his interesting adventures, and then commented editorially upon
them, as follows:


"A ROMANCE OF SCIENCE"


"The narrative given elsewhere in the Evening Sun of the wanderings of
Edison's missionary of science, Mr. Frank McGowan, furnishes a new proof
that the romances of real life surpass any that the imagination can
frame.

"In pursuit of a substance that should meet the requirements of the
Edison incandescent lamp, Mr. McGowan penetrated the wilderness of the
Amazon, and for a year defied its fevers, beasts, reptiles, and deadly
insects in his quest of a material so precious that jealous Nature has
hidden it in her most secret fastnesses.

"No hero of mythology or fable ever dared such dragons to rescue some
captive goddess as did this dauntless champion of civilization. Theseus,
or Siegfried, or any knight of the fairy books might envy the victories
of Edison's irresistible lieutenant.

"As a sample story of adventure, Mr. McGowan's narrative is a marvel fit
to be classed with the historic journeyings of the greatest travellers.
But it gains immensely in interest when we consider that it succeeded in
its scientific purpose. The mysterious bamboo was discovered, and large
quantities of it were procured and brought to the Wizard's laboratory,
there to suffer another wondrous change and then to light up our
pleasure-haunts and our homes with a gentle radiance."


A further, though rather sad, interest attaches to the McGowan story,
for only a short time had elapsed after his return to America when he
disappeared suddenly and mysteriously, and in spite of long-continued
and strenuous efforts to obtain some light on the subject, no clew
or trace of him was ever found. He was a favorite among the Edison
"oldtimers," and his memory is still cherished, for when some of the
"boys" happen to get together, as they occasionally do, some one is
almost sure to "wonder what became of poor 'Mac.'" He was last seen at
Mouquin's famous old French restaurant on Fulton Street, New York, where
he lunched with one of the authors of this book and the late Luther
Stieringer. He sat with them for two or three hours discussing his
wonderful trip, and telling some fascinating stories of adventure. Then
the party separated at the Ann Street door of the restaurant, after
making plans to secure the narrative in more detailed form for
subsequent use--and McGowan has not been seen from that hour to this.
The trail of the explorer was more instantly lost in New York than in
the vast recesses of the Amazon swamps.

The next and last explorer whom Edison sent out in search of
natural fibres was Mr. James Ricalton, of Maplewood, New Jersey, a
school-principal, a well-known traveller, and an ardent student of
natural science. Mr. Ricalton's own story of his memorable expedition is
so interesting as to be worthy of repetition here:

"A village schoolmaster is not unaccustomed to door-rappings; for the
steps of belligerent mothers are often thitherward bent seeking redress
for conjured wrongs to their darling boobies.

"It was a bewildering moment, therefore, to the Maplewood teacher when,
in answering a rap at the door one afternoon, he found, instead of an
irate mother, a messenger from the laboratory of the world's greatest
inventor bearing a letter requesting an audience a few hours later.

"Being the teacher to whom reference is made, I am now quite willing to
confess that for the remainder of that afternoon, less than a problem
in Euclid would have been sufficient to disqualify me for the remaining
scholastic duties of the hour. I felt it, of course, to be no small
honor for a humble teacher to be called to the sanctum of Thomas A.
Edison. The letter, however, gave no intimation of the nature of the
object for which I had been invited to appear before Mr. Edison....

"When I was presented to Mr. Edison his way of setting forth the
mission he had designated for me was characteristic of how a great mind
conceives vast undertakings and commands great things in few words. At
this time Mr. Edison had discovered that the fibre of a certain bamboo
afforded a very desirable carbon for the electric lamp, and the variety
of bamboo used was a product of Japan. It was his belief that in other
parts of the world other and superior varieties might be found, and to
that end he had dispatched explorers to bamboo regions in the valleys
of the great South American rivers, where specimens were found of
extraordinary quality; but the locality in which these specimens were
found was lost in the limitless reaches of those great river-bottoms.
The great necessity for more durable carbons became a desideratum so
urgent that the tireless inventor decided to commission another explorer
to search the tropical jungles of the Orient.

"This brings me then to the first meeting of Edison, when he set forth
substantially as follows, as I remember it twenty years ago, the purpose
for which he had called me from my scholastic duties. With a quizzical
gleam in his eye, he said: 'I want a man to ransack all the tropical
jungles of the East to find a better fibre for my lamp; I expect it to
be found in the palm or bamboo family. How would you like that job?'
Suiting my reply to his love of brevity and dispatch, I said, 'That
would suit me.' 'Can you go to-morrow?' was his next question. 'Well,
Mr. Edison, I must first of all get a leave of absence from my Board of
Education, and assist the board to secure a substitute for the time of
my absence. How long will it take, Mr. Edison?' 'How can I tell? Maybe
six months, and maybe five years; no matter how long, find it.' He
continued: 'I sent a man to South America to find what I want; he found
it; but lost the place where he found it, so he might as well never have
found it at all.' Hereat I was enjoined to proceed forthwith to court
the Board of Education for a leave of absence, which I did successfully,
the board considering that a call so important and honorary was entitled
to their unqualified favor, which they generously granted.

"I reported to Mr. Edison on the following day, when he instructed me to
come to the laboratory at once to learn all the details of drawing and
carbonizing fibres, which it would be necessary to do in the Oriental
jungles. This I did, and, in the mean time, a set of suitable tools for
this purpose had been ordered to be made in the laboratory. As soon as
I learned my new trade, which I accomplished in a few days, Mr. Edison
directed me to the library of the laboratory to occupy a few days in
studying the geography of the Orient and, particularly, in drawing maps
of the tributaries of the Ganges, the Irrawaddy, and the Brahmaputra
rivers, and other regions which I expected to explore.

"It was while thus engaged that Mr. Edison came to me one day and said:
'If you will go up to the house' (his palatial home not far away) 'and
look behind the sofa in the library you will find a joint of bamboo, a
specimen of that found in South America; bring it down and make a study
of it; if you find something equal to that I will be satisfied.' At the
home I was guided to the library by an Irish servant-woman, to whom I
communicated my knowledge of the definite locality of the sample joint.
She plunged her arm, bare and herculean, behind the aforementioned sofa,
and holding aloft a section of wood, called out in a mood of discovery:
'Is that it?' Replying in the affirmative, she added, under an impulse
of innocent divination that whatever her wizard master laid hands upon
could result in nothing short of an invention, 'Sure, sor, and what's he
going to invint out o' that?'