The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-12-25
Mr.. Edison Actively Preparing FOI
Really Practical Tests.
New York sun.

'HaVe you heard the news, MI.
Edison?n said workman OH Tues
day night as the great light maker
was going the rounds in the Menlo
Park shop.
"What about-the pump"
eyes. 1t made me jump three feet. "
81 jumped three and "A half" said
the electrician. Then, turning to the
visitor, he explained that the cause of
the eXuberance was telegram just
received, that announced that the big
pump, the delay in constructing which
had SO hindered work in the shops,
would be shipped on Wednesday from
Philadelphia.
The big pump will not supply the
only lack in the machinery necessary
for that grand illumination that has
That 1550-horse-power dynamo ma
world, is not finished yet. Its bed has
been put in place, and other parts will
be received in about ten days. 1t will
take another ten days to get things in
working order.
Wire for nearly eight miles of mains
has been laid, and 800 lamps will all
be put up as soon AS they can be made.
II can make carload of lamps day,
as soon as we get under way" said
the inventor. ...
Edison is cool and philosophical
through all the veXations delays that
he experiences at every turn. ~
worked two years, night and day, on
the quadrupleX telegraph invention"
he said. at worked perfectly in the
laboratory experiments, but when we
came to apply it in New York and
Boston it wouldn't work for a long
time. A simple thing like the tele-
phone took me two years, and then it
was spung on the public at half-cock.
The result has been repeated changes
and improvements in their construc-
ton. The light is a different thing.
1t is going to be all that it should he
commercially from the start. l don't
want to leave any room for improve
ments.n
On a line of temporary wooden posts
near the railroad track about forty
lamps of sixteen-candle power are
burning with a bright, steady glow
every night. A dozen more are up
nearer the works, and in Mr.. Edison Is
HOUSE elSnleSu VI ups
are on the chandeliers.
"Step to the door and keep your eye
on the row of light" said Mr.. Edison.
"All ready"
The inventor turned small wheel.
The place was in darkness in a twink
ling. He gave the wheel reverse
turn, and the fifty lights popped up at
the same instant. ..
"These lamps out there are all sorts
of odds and ends put up by the boys"
Mr.. Edison explained, "and we are
not trying to make an exhibition
with them. When we get all the
lamps up we will give really practical
tests"
Mr.. Edison's residence has been
lighted by electricity since election
night. There are eighteen burners in
the different rooms, seven being in one
room. Each lamp is provided with a
key, or thumb-screw, like that Oh an
ordinary gas-burner, by which the
light may be turned on and off. Be
hind the door is key by which all
the lights may be turned on and off at
once, and this time-saving arrange
ment is preferred by the members of
the household to the sing e-burner
keys. The light is clear, soft and
steady, and its diminished volume
takes away that intensity and white
ness that makes the big lights now in
use so unpleasant.
The probable boundaries of the two
districts in New York where the light
will be first Introduced were recently
given in the Sun. The company has
not yet obtained the right of way, and
Mr.. Edison says it will be late in the
winter before work is commenced.
There will be ultimately twenty-eight
districts in the city from which light
and power will be supplied.
Mr.. William II. Vanderbilt has
had the wires put i'm his new house in
anticipation of the time when the
company established its plant in his
neighbOrhOOd.
Much of Mr.. EdisOn's time these
days is taken up in giving testimony
i'm old patent cases before commission
that sits in a room over the MenlO
Park office. The commission sits until
after dark, and was taking Testimony
on Tuesday night by the light Of two
kerOsine lamps. These sessions make
it necessary for Mr.. Edison to work at
night, and he gets to bed in the early
morning hours. In answer to a wish
tors suggestion that he was Overbur-
dened with work, he said, oh, no;
/ never felt better in my life. / never
sleep more than two or three hours in
twenty-fOur. IdOn't feel well IL do"
THE private residence at Houngs-
town, Ohio, Of Mrs. George Tod was