The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1878-04-24
GENIUssUrERIoB TO NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..

At Philadelphia on Wednesday evening.
DIR. Cleland, of Chicago, Thomas A. Edison's
co-laoorer and intimate friend, delivered a
lecture, in which he reviewed the life and la
bors of that we'll known electrician and invar !.
tor. The lecturer was listened to attentivelv
py his large audience and when he concluded
MS remarks, the photograph, Mr.. Edison,s
latest and probably most interesting invention
was exhibited and explained and its ability -
reproduce words and sounds practically and
generally speaking successfully demonstrat.
cd.
Mr. Edison, said the speaker, Ii an Arneri.
can, and about 81 years old. His life had bee,y
full Of adventure. Deprived of the benefits
OF school, he applied himself to study at lis
own home, and at the age of eleven was pref
y well versed in chemistry. physics, engineer.
ing, history and other branches of knowledue.
Then he became newsboy ON the Grand
trunk Railroad, between Detroit and Port
Huron and while attending to his duties in
that capacity was constantly reading and in.
vestigating, aud at odd hours in the Detroit
ffee Press office, then owned by Mr.. Story.
now proprietor of the Chicago Times. be
learned to set type He erected ease in
the baggage car of his train, and with small
supply oil type which he had gathered toreth-
OF did the composition for little paper wh;cb
he published and which soon attained a c;rz
cuiation OF 5oo copies. Edison subsequently,
ixed up sort of laboratory in tue smoking
car, and laid the foundation for the iustIv
earned reputation which he has TODAY of be.
ing one of the best chemists in the country
About this time Edison, at the risk of his life
saved the child of a telegraph operator nam.
cd Mchinsey from being run over by an en-
gine. Mckinsey wanted to reward the boy.
out being poor he could only repay him by
teaching him telegraphy In six months Ed
ison was an expert operator, and now has no
superior in the business. He got position
IN Camden as station operator OH the Grand
Trunk road and there at the age of Ia, stud
led out his first inventions, which was an ap-
paratus by which the night Waterman, while
Edison slept, could send over the wires the
halfhourly "all right" report as cleverly as
Edison could do it himself. He made some
OF these machines for his brother operators
along the line, and they worked very well un
til the officers of the road discovered that
nearly all the telegraphers were asleep at
night, and the telegraphing was being done
by machinery when the apparatus was dis
continued, as was also the services of the gc-
MUS who invented 1t.
Edison then came TO the United States, and
here invented 4 register Which would take a
message at good speed aud pass to another
register, which would deliver it very much
slower than the first. Next he went to Menu
phis, and from there to indianapolis and then
to Boston. There he invented the gold and
stock telegraph printer, and at his home at
Menulo Park. New Jersey, he has turned out
many other valuable inventions, including the
duplex, the quadruplex, the telephone and
the phonograph He has secured patents in
the United States for liz of his inventions, is
now applying for thirty additional patents,
and has been granted rs many more by for
eign countries.