The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1878-12-18
MISCELLANY.
EDISON NOT WORRIED By THE ENG
LISH DIRECTORS TO HIS ELECTRIC
LIGHT PATENT.


LIsH DIRECTORS TO HIS ELECTRIC
LIGHT PATENT.
It was announced yesterday by dispatch
rom London that Mr. J. II. Russell had filed
on Tuesday objections to the grant of pat
ent to Edison for his improvements on the
electric light. The ground OF the objections
was that Mr.. Edison was not the true and
first inventor of the light ; and the LonG9n
Times said that several rivals are in the
field who assert that they are before Edison
with his alleged invention" Yesterday re-
porter of the World called upon Edison to
ask him the meaning of this despatch. Edi-
son was in his Office engaged on some manu-
script, and no amount of calling or shaking
could arouse him until he had finished. Then
be looked up and extending very electrical
ly discolored palm, exclaimed :" Halo I"
I" What is this asked the reporter
"about J. II. Russell and his objection to
your patent ? )"
He looked puzzled for moment. Then he
said. " don't know Russell or anything
about his objections. | suppose he has taken
advantage of some technical flaw. The Eng
ish have beautiful system of patent law, in
vented, | think, by King Canute or some 9TH
er ancient ruler who understood the needs of
our times.'
Then you don't anticipate any difficulty
in obtaining the reward of your own expert
ments and Improvements independent of what
any other person has done y"
Tn, no
himself up to theoretical demonstration Of
his work on the electric light.
tell you what it is,' said he " I've got
this thing down fine nov and Pm getting it
down finer every day. AT the beginning
there We're two problems to be solved. One
was the practcabiity of the subdivision of
the electric light, and the other was its econ
omical adoption for household aud general
purposes. Now, I've got my lamp and I've
got my subdivision. That is entirely settled.
1t was necessary to subdivide the current
without any hitch and I've done it. I'm cal
culating at present on the cost of the light
Now just within day or two I've found a
way to concentrate the light so that I've made
an immense saving. And this is entirely in
dependent of the amount of current supplied.
I've laid over the whole deck on that"
"Give me your calculation ON the light"
the reporter said.
My eighty-horse power engine will give
4S0 lights intended at first to have them
of fifteen candle power each, bat now l can
have each ono equal to twenty candles with
out extra cost. The engine will be running
every hour in the twenty four, but slowly
when the lamps ale not lighted-it's an auto
matte cut of engine, you know-and then
when one lamp after another is lighted, the
old engine goes faster and faster until, buzz !
she's off at her highest rate of speed And
mark you, there is to be no waste of my cur
rent, for the engine is so arranged that it will
supply just the amount of current called for
by each lamp, and when all the lights are
turned out the current stops of itself. Oh,
it's all plain enough and simple enough. Then
each one of these lights is going to cost $40
year, and a gas burner giving about the
same light costs about SIS year. That's
what IN working on now--the economy of
the thing for if the electric light isn't cheap
it's Of no value"
"Have you perfected any device for
measuring the amount of electricity consum-
ed by each burner?o
.sOh, yes I've that all fixed. I've got
meter that tells how much current is used up
just as gasometer tells how much gas is con-
sumed. But Pm not going to be 10 hurry
about this thing. I'm going to get my sys-
tenn perfect, and then the gas people will
please take back seat
"Just now," suggested the reporter, "you
are louDging here doing nothing. Ifyou don't
want to work at the light, why don't you put
hand to some other of your uncompleted in
ventions?"
my business is thinking" said Edison !;
!" and I'm thinking pow. Still Pm business.
1t takes a great deal of money to run this
shop, and l must devote myself to those
things that promise to pay in the near future.
So you see there are many things that are to
certain extent speculative that ! must drop
for the time being"
"What's become of the megaphons-the
wonderful instrument for deaf people ?'
"I've got man working on that now. -
I've got to use electricity. There's no other
way of doing anything with IL. I'll have the
ear .trumpet connected with small electrical
machine that the nearer holds in his lap. Tie
megapbone is good thing, for there's an aw-
full demand for IT,"
aud the eropbone and the phonometcr