The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-04-19
PHONOGRAPH EDISON.
A Biographical sketch Of This Wonderful
Inventor.

A Biographical sketch or This wonderful
/ Inventor.
The New Jersey correspondent of the
Cincinnati Commercial says: ed
sons ancestors came from Holland in the
last century. When he was years old
his parents moved to Port Huron, Mich.
and about this time the boy left home to
earn his own living. He had never been
to school more than few weeks, but he
was enterprising and initiative, and he
picked up great deal and very fast.
He became q newsboy in Detroit, and
when the war broke out, at IA, he be.
came a newsboy on the railway. Stimu-
lated by the eagerness of the public for
news, he conceived the idea of whetting
their appetites for his papers, so he
erected large bulletin boards at the prin-
cipal stations, and telegraphed the news
headings of his papers in advance of the
train. The result was largely Increased
sale, and his plan was initiated by 9TH
ers. This interested him in the tele-
graph, and he determined to make one
himself. He strung wire mile long
between his house and a neighbours, and
constructed rude instruments of iron,
tin and wood; but he was too poor to
buy battery and could not make one.
So he obtained some cats one Sunday
when he had leisure, enough, he though
to guarantee current, and he fastened a
wire to their legs and then mussed up
their backs and waited for the result.
The machine did not respond, and he
blamed the rude instrument for his fail
ure. This incident, says his associate
of many years, Mr.. Edward II. johnson,
who relates it, is perfectly characters
tic of the man. He will to-day under
take elaborate experiments and conduct
them with great care and marvellous pa
tience and perseverance,, although his
reason points to their utter futility. It
is this trait, however, which has led him
into lines of original discovery and OBJ
servation uninterrupted by others.
"While newsboy Edison started q
newspaper, editing, printing and selling
it himself. He had a small press on the
train, and on this he printed the little
sheet, and he showed 30 much spirit That
he attained a circulation of $50 sub
scribers. A son of Robert Stephenson,
coming to inspect the Grand Trunk road,
sent back to England 200 copies of Edi-
sons Herald-'the only newspaper in
the world printed on railroad train
"The boy soon learned telegraphing,
and rapidly attained proficiency, and oc-
cupied difficult and responsible positions.
While at Cincinnati, when he was only
20, he invented the important process of
transmitting two messages over one
wire simultaneously. Two years later
he invented the duplex and printing
telegraph, which is at the basis of the
Gold and Stock Exchange reporting in
strument-the familiar ticker When
he was at Boston he played an ingenious
trick which cost him his place. 1t was
the rule for each night operator to tele-
graph to headquarters, every half hour,
the number IS and the name of the
Office, to demonstrate that he was wide
awake. Edison contrived machine
which would, at regular intervals of
half an hour, salute the central Office
without waking him up if he chose to
sleep. He sold them to other operators
and was discovered and dismissed from
the service in disgrace
"It was about this time that invent
ing became passion with him. He
would work all night and experiment
with wires and batteries all day. This
caused much confusion, for which he
was occasionally reprimanded.
Edison is tremendous worker
Work is dissipation with him-his only
bad habit. For the last ten years he
has averaged eighteen hours day at
his desk. His home is within fifteen
rods, but, when he is in the crisis of an
invention, he does not go home for days,
either to eat or sleep. He never went
to school but a month in his life, but
has taken out 157 inventions and fled
seventy-seven caveats, and is only 81.
Twenty-Five men are employed in his
laboratory merely to materialize his
ideas. He is worth $3.50, 900, and now
has an income of nearly that every year.
He dresses plainly, hates sham, doesn't
like TO have fuss made over him, is
afoat in politics, an atheist in religion,
and doesn't believe in guess-work about
anything"