Edison, His Life and Inventions

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


Thus the modern Edison phonograph made its modest debut in 1888, in what
was then called the "Improved" form to distinguish it from the original
style of machine he invented in 1877, in which the record was made on a
sheet of tin-foil held in place upon a metallic cylinder. The "Improved"
form is the general type so well known for many years and sold at the
present day--viz., the spring or electric motor-driven machine with the
cylindrical wax record--in fact, the regulation Edison phonograph.

It did not take a long time to find a market for the products of the
newly established factory, for a world-wide public interest in the
machine had been created by the appearance of newspaper articles from
time to time, announcing the approaching completion by Edison of his
improved phonograph. The original (tin-foil) machine had been sufficient
to illustrate the fact that the human voice and other sounds could
be recorded and reproduced, but such a type of machine had sharp
limitations in general use; hence the coming into being of a type that
any ordinary person could handle was sufficient of itself to insure a
market. Thus the demand for the new machines and wax records grew apace
as the corporations organized to handle the business extended their
lines. An examination of the newspaper files of the years 1888, 1889,
and 1890 will reveal the great excitement caused by the bringing out of
the new phonograph, and how frequently and successfully it was employed
in public entertainments, either for the whole or part of an evening.
In this and other ways it became popularized to a still further extent.
This led to the demand for a nickel-in-the-slot machine, which, when
established, became immensely popular over the whole country. In its
earlier forms the "Improved" phonograph was not capable of such
general non-expert handling as is the machine of the present day, and
consequently there was a constant endeavor on Edison's part to
simplify the construction of the machine and its manner of operation.
Experimentation was incessantly going on with this in view, and in the
processes of evolution changes were made here and there that resulted in
a still greater measure of perfection.

In various ways there was a continual slow and steady growth of the
industry thus created, necessitating the erection of many additional
buildings as the years passed by. During part of the last decade there
was a lull, caused mostly from the failure of corporate interests to
carry out their contract relations with Edison, and he was thereby
compelled to resort to legal proceedings, at the end of which he
bought in the outstanding contracts and assumed command of the business
personally.

Being thus freed from many irksome restrictions that had hung heavily
upon him, Edison now proceeded to push the phonograph business under a
broader policy than that which obtained under his previous contractual
relations. With the ever-increasing simplification and efficiency of the
machine and a broadening of its application, the results of this policy
were manifested in a still more rapid growth of the business that
necessitated further additions to the manufacturing plant. And thus
matters went on until the early part of the present decade, when the
factory facilities were becoming so rapidly outgrown as to render
radical changes necessary. It was in these circumstances that Edison's
sagacity and breadth of business capacity came to the front. With
characteristic boldness and foresight he planned the erection of the
series of magnificent concrete buildings that now stand adjacent to
and around the laboratory, and in which the manufacturing plant is at
present housed.

There was no narrowness in his views in designing these buildings, but,
on the contrary, great faith in the future, for his plans included
not only the phonograph industry, but provided also for the coming
development of motion pictures and of the primary and storage battery
enterprises.

In the aggregate there are twelve structures (including the
administration building), of which six are of imposing dimensions,
running from 200 feet long by 50 feet wide to 440 feet in length by
115 feet in width, all these larger buildings, except one, being five
stories in height. They are constructed entirely of reinforced concrete
with Edison cement, including walls, floors, and stairways, thus
eliminating fire hazard to the utmost extent, and insuring a high degree
of protection, cleanliness, and sanitation. As fully three-fourths of
the area of their exterior framework consists of windows, an abundance
of daylight is secured. These many advantages, combined with lofty
ceilings on every floor, provide ideal conditions for the thousands of
working people engaged in this immense plant.

In addition to these twelve concrete structures there are a few smaller
brick and wooden buildings on the grounds, in which some special
operations are conducted. These, however, are few in number, and at
some future time will be concentrated in one or more additional concrete
buildings. It will afford a clearer idea of the extent of the industries
clustered immediately around the laboratory when it is stated that the
combined floor space which is occupied by them in all these buildings is
equivalent in the aggregate to over fourteen acres.

It would be instructive, but scarcely within the scope of the narrative,
to conduct the reader through this extensive plant and see its many
interesting operations in detail. It must suffice, however, to note
its complete and ample equipment with modern machinery of every kind
applicable to the work; its numerous (and some of them wonderfully
ingenious) methods, processes, machines, and tools specially designed
or invented for the manufacture of special parts and supplemental
appliances for the phonograph or other Edison products; and also to
note the interesting variety of trades represented in the different
departments, in which are included chemists, electricians, electrical
mechanicians, machinists, mechanics, pattern-makers, carpenters,
cabinet-makers, varnishers, japanners, tool-makers, lapidaries,
wax experts, photographic developers and printers, opticians,
electroplaters, furnacemen, and others, together with factory
experimenters and a host of general employees, who by careful training
have become specialists and experts in numerous branches of these
industries.

Edison's plans for this manufacturing plant were sufficiently well
outlined to provide ample capacity for the natural growth of the
business; and although that capacity (so far as phonographs is
concerned) has actually reached an output of over 6000 complete
phonographs PER WEEK, and upward of 130,000 molded records PER DAY--with
a pay-roll embracing over 3500 employees, including office force--and
amounting to about $45,000 per week--the limits of production have not
yet been reached.

The constant outpouring of products in such large quantities bespeaks
the unremitting activities of an extensive and busy selling organization
to provide for their marketing and distribution. This important
department (the National Phonograph Company), in all its branches, from
president to office-boy, includes about two hundred employees on its
office pay-roll, and makes its headquarters in the administration
building, which is one of the large concrete structures above referred
to. The policy of the company is to dispose of its wares through regular
trade channels rather than to deal direct with the public, trusting
to local activity as stimulated by a liberal policy of national
advertising. Thus, there has been gradually built up a very extensive
business until at the present time an enormous output of phonographs
and records is distributed to retail customers in the United States and
Canada through the medium of about one hundred and fifty jobbers and
over thirteen thousand dealers. The Edison phonograph industry thus
organized is helped by frequent conventions of this large commercial
force.

Besides this, the National Phonograph Company maintains a special staff
for carrying on the business with foreign countries. While the aggregate
transactions of this department are not as extensive as those for
the United States and Canada, they are of considerable volume, as the
foreign office distributes in bulk a very large number of phonographs
and records to selling companies and agencies in Europe, Asia,
Australia, Japan, and, indeed, to all the countries of the civilized
world. [19] Like England's drumbeat, the voice of the Edison phonograph
is heard around the world in undying strains throughout the twenty-four
hours.

[Footnote 19: It may be of interest to the reader to note
some parts of the globe to which shipments of phonographs
and records are made:

Samoan Islands Falkland Islands Siam Corea Crete Island
Paraguay Chile Canary Islands Egypt British East Africa Cape
Colony Portuguese East Africa Liberia Java Straits
Settlements Madagascar Fanning Islands New Zealand French
Indo-China Morocco Ecuador Brazil Madeira South Africa
Azores Manchuria Ceylon Sierra Leone]

In addition to the main manufacturing plant at Orange, another important
adjunct must not be forgotten, and that is, the Recording Department
in New York City, where the master records are made under the
superintendence of experts who have studied the intricacies of the art
with Edison himself. This department occupies an upper story in a lofty
building, and in its various rooms may be seen and heard many prominent
musicians, vocalists, speakers, and vaudeville artists studiously and
busily engaged in making the original records, which are afterward sent
to Orange, and which, if approved by the expert committee, are passed on
to the proper department for reproduction in large quantities.

When we consider the subject of motion pictures we find a similarity in
general business methods, for while the projecting machines and copies
of picture films are made in quantity at the Orange works (just as
phonographs and duplicate records are so made), the original picture,
or film, like the master record, is made elsewhere. There is this
difference, however: that, from the particular nature of the work,
practically ALL master records are made at one convenient place, while
the essential interest in SOME motion pictures lies in the fact that
they are taken in various parts of the world, often under exceptional
circumstances. The "silent drama," however, calls also for many
representations which employ conventional acting, staging, and the
varied appliances of stagecraft. Hence, Edison saw early the necessity
of providing a place especially devised and arranged for the production
of dramatic performances in pantomime.

It is a far cry from the crude structure of early days--the "Black
Maria" of 1891, swung around on its pivot in the Orange laboratory
yard--to the well-appointed Edison theatres, or pantomime studios, in
New York City. The largest of these is located in the suburban Borough
of the Bronx, and consists of a three-story-and-basement building of
reinforced concrete, in which are the offices, dressing-rooms, wardrobe
and property-rooms, library and developing department. Contiguous to
this building, and connected with it, is the theatre proper, a large and
lofty structure whose sides and roof are of glass, and whose floor space
is sufficiently ample for six different sets of scenery at one time,
with plenty of room left for a profusion of accessories, such as tables,
chairs, pianos, bunch-lights, search-lights, cameras, and a host of
varied paraphernalia pertaining to stage effects.

The second Edison theatre, or studio, is located not far from the
shopping district in New York City. In all essential features, except
size and capacity, it is a duplicate of the one in the Bronx, of which
it is a supplement.

To a visitor coming on the floor of such a theatre for the first time
there is a sense of confusion in beholding the heterogeneous "sets"
of scenery and the motley assemblage of characters represented in the
various plays in the process of "taking," or rehearsal. While each set
constitutes virtually a separate stage, they are all on the same floor,
without wings or proscenium-arches, and separated only by a few feet.
Thus, for instance, a Japanese house interior may be seen cheek by jowl
with an ordinary prison cell, flanked by a mining-camp, which in turn
stands next to a drawing-room set, and in each a set of appropriate
characters in pantomimic motion. The action is incessant, for in any
dramatic representation intended for the motion-picture film every
second counts.

The production of several completed plays per week necessitates the
employment of a considerable staff of people of miscellaneous trades and
abilities. At each of these two studios there is employed a number
of stage-directors, scene-painters, carpenters, property-men,
photographers, costumers, electricians, clerks, and general assistants,
besides a capable stock company of actors and actresses, whose generous
numbers are frequently augmented by the addition of a special star,
or by a number of extra performers, such as Rough Riders or other
specialists. It may be, occasionally, that the exigencies of the
occasion require the work of a performing horse, dog, or other animal.
No matter what the object required may be, whether animate or inanimate,
if it is necessary for the play it is found and pressed into service.

These two studios, while separated from the main plant, are under the
same general management, and their original negative films are forwarded
as made to the Orange works, where the large copying department is
located in one of the concrete buildings. Here, after the film has been
passed upon by a committee, a considerable number of positive copies are
made by ingenious processes, and after each one is separately tested, or
"run off," in one or other of the three motion-picture theatres in the
building, they are shipped out to film exchanges in every part of the
country. How extensive this business has become may be appreciated when
it is stated that at the Orange plant there are produced at this time
over eight million feet of motion-picture film per year. And Edison's
company is only one of many producers.

Another of the industries at the Orange works is the manufacture of
projecting kinetoscopes, by means of which the motion pictures are
shown. While this of itself is also a business of considerable magnitude
in its aggregate yearly transactions, it calls for no special comment
in regard to commercial production, except to note that a corps of
experimenters is constantly employed refining and perfecting details
of the machine. Its basic features of operation as conceived by Edison
remain unchanged.

On coming to consider the Edison battery enterprises, we must perforce
extend the territorial view to include a special chemical-manufacturing
plant, which is in reality a branch of the laboratory and the Orange
works, although actually situated about three miles away.

Both the primary and the storage battery employ certain chemical
products as essential parts of their elements, and indeed owe their very
existence to the peculiar preparation and quality of such products, as
exemplified by Edison's years of experimentation and research. Hence the
establishment of his own chemical works at Silver Lake, where, under his
personal supervision, the manufacture of these products is carried on
in charge of specially trained experts. At the present writing the
plant covers about seven acres of ground; but there is ample room for
expansion, as Edison, with wise forethought, secured over forty acres of
land, so as to be prepared for developments.

Not only is the Silver Lake works used for the manufacture of the
chemical substances employed in the batteries, but it is the plant at
which the Edison primary battery is wholly assembled and made up for
distribution to customers. This in itself is a business of no small
magnitude, having grown steadily on its merits year by year until it
has now arrived at a point where its sales run into the hundreds of
thousands of cells per annum, furnished largely to the steam railroads
of the country for their signal service.

As to the storage battery, the plant at Silver Lake is responsible only
for the production of the chemical compounds, nickel-hydrate and iron
oxide, which enter into its construction. All the mechanical parts,
the nickel plating, the manufacture of nickel flake, the assembling and
testing, are carried on at the Orange works in two of the large concrete
buildings above referred to. A visit to this part of the plant reveals
an amazing fertility of resourcefulness and ingenuity in the devising
of the special machines and appliances employed in constructing the
mechanical parts of these cells, for it is practically impossible to
fashion them by means of machinery and tools to be found in the open
market, notwithstanding the immense variety that may be there obtained.

Since Edison completed his final series of investigations on his
storage battery and brought it to its present state of perfection, the
commercial values have increased by leaps and bounds. The battery, as
it was originally put out some years ago, made for itself an enviable
reputation; but with its improved form there has come a vast increase
of business. Although the largest of the concrete buildings where
its manufacture is carried on is over four hundred feet long and four
stories in height, it has already become necessary to plan extensions
and enlargements of the plant in order to provide for the production of
batteries to fill the present demands. It was not until the summer
of 1909 that Edison was willing to pronounce the final verdict of
satisfaction with regard to this improved form of storage battery; but
subsequent commercial results have justified his judgment, and it is
not too much to predict that in all probability the business will assume
gigantic proportions within a very few years. At the present time (1910)
the Edison storage-battery enterprise is in its early stages of growth,
and its status may be compared with that of the electric-light system
about the year 1881.

There is one more industry, though of comparatively small extent,
that is included in the activities of the Orange works, namely,
the manufacture and sale of the Bates numbering machine. This is a
well-known article of commerce, used in mercantile establishments for
the stamping of consecutive, duplicate, and manifold numbers on
checks and other documents. It is not an invention of Edison, but the
organization owning it, together with the patent rights, were acquired
by him some years ago, and he has since continued and enlarged the
business both in scope and volume, besides, of course, improving and
perfecting the apparatus itself. These machines are known everywhere
throughout the country, and while the annual sales are of comparatively
moderate amount in comparison with the totals of the other Edison
industries at Orange, they represent in the aggregate a comfortable and
encouraging business.

In this brief outline review of the flourishing and extensive commercial
enterprises centred around the Orange laboratory, the facts, it is
believed, contain a complete refutation of the idea that an inventor
cannot be a business man. They also bear abundant evidence of the
compatibility of these two widely divergent gifts existing, even to a
high degree, in the same person. A striking example of the correctness
of this proposition is afforded in the present case, when it is borne in
mind that these various industries above described (whose annual sales
run into many millions of dollars) owe not only their very creation
(except the Bates machine) and existence to Edison's inventive
originality and commercial initiative, but also their continued growth
and prosperity to his incessant activities in dealing with their
multifarious business problems. In publishing a portrait of Edison this
year, one of the popular magazines placed under it this caption: "Were
the Age called upon to pay Thomas A. Edison all it owes to him, the Age
would have to make an assignment." The present chapter will have
thrown some light on the idiosyncrasies of Edison as financier and as
manufacturer, and will have shown that while the claim thus suggested
may be quite good, it will certainly never be pressed or collected.



CHAPTER XXVII

THE VALUE OF EDISON'S INVENTIONS TO THE WORLD

IF the world were to take an account of stock, so to speak, and proceed
in orderly fashion to marshal its tangible assets in relation to
dollars and cents, the natural resources of our globe, from centre to
circumference, would head the list. Next would come inventors, whose
value to the world as an asset could be readily estimated from an
increase of its wealth resulting from the actual transformations of
these resources into items of convenience and comfort through the
exercise of their inventive ingenuity.

Inventors of practical devices may be broadly divided into two
classes--first, those who may be said to have made two blades of grass
grow where only one grew before; and, second, great inventors, who have
made grass grow plentifully on hitherto unproductive ground. The vast
majority of practical inventors belong to and remain in the first of
these divisions, but there have been, and probably always will be, a
less number who, by reason of their greater achievements, are entitled
to be included in both classes. Of these latter, Thomas Alva Edison is
one, but in the pages of history he stands conspicuously pre-eminent--a
commanding towering figure, even among giants.

The activities of Edison have been of such great range, and his
conquests in the domains of practical arts so extensive and varied, that
it is somewhat difficult to estimate with any satisfactory degree of
accuracy the money value of his inventions to the world of to-day, even
after making due allowance for the work of other great inventors and
the propulsive effect of large amounts of capital thrown into the
enterprises which took root, wholly or in part, through the productions
of his genius and energies. This difficulty will be apparent, for
instance, when we consider his telegraph and telephone inventions. These
were absorbed in enterprises already existing, and were the means of
assisting their rapid growth and expansion, particularly the telephone
industry. Again, in considering the fact that Edison was one of the
first in the field to design and perfect a practical and operative
electric railway, the main features of which are used in all electric
roads of to-day, we are confronted with the problem as to what
proportion of their colossal investment and earnings should be ascribed
to him.

Difficulties are multiplied when we pause for a moment to think of
Edison's influence on collateral branches of business. In the public
mind he is credited with the invention of the incandescent electric
light, the phonograph, and other widely known devices; but how few
realize his actual influence on other trades that are not generally
thought of in connection with these things. For instance, let us note
what a prominent engine builder, the late Gardiner C. Sims, has said:
"Watt, Corliss, and Porter brought forward steam-engines to a high
state of proficiency, yet it remained for Mr. Edison to force better
proportions, workmanship, designs, use of metals, regulation, the
solving of the complex problems of high speed and endurance, and the
successful development of the shaft governor. Mr. Edison is preeminent
in the realm of engineering."

The phenomenal growth of the copper industry was due to a rapid and
ever-increasing demand, owing to the exploitation of the telephone,
electric light, electric motor, and electric railway industries. Without
these there might never have been the romance of "Coppers" and the rise
and fall of countless fortunes. And although one cannot estimate in
definite figures the extent of Edison's influence in the enormous
increase of copper production, it is to be remembered that his basic
inventions constitute a most important factor in the demand for the
metal. Besides, one must also give him the credit, as already noted,
for having recognized the necessity for a pure quality of copper for
electric conductors, and for his persistence in having compelled the
manufacturers of that period to introduce new and additional methods
of refinement so as to bring about that result, which is now a sine qua
non.

Still considering his influence on other staples and collateral trades,
let us enumerate briefly and in a general manner some of the more
important and additional ones that have been not merely stimulated, but
in many cases the business and sales have been directly increased and
new arts established through the inventions of this one man--namely,
iron, steel, brass, zinc, nickel, platinum ($5 per ounce in 1878, now
$26 an ounce), rubber, oils, wax, bitumen, various chemical compounds,
belting, boilers, injectors, structural steel, iron tubing, glass,
silk, cotton, porcelain, fine woods, slate, marble, electrical measuring
instruments, miscellaneous machinery, coal, wire, paper, building
materials, sapphires, and many others.