Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-09-11
EDIsOS's ELEC4RIC LIGHT
The New York Times Building
Illuminated by Electricity.
New York Timo,. 4.

w" AVtA Aiuoai o.
Edison's central station, at No. 257
Pearl street, was yesterday one of the
busiest places down town, and Mr.. Edi-
son was by far the busiest man in the sta
ton. The giant dynamos were started up
at 3 o'clock In the afternoon, and, accord
ing to MI. Edison, they viii 90 on for
ever unless stopped by an earthquake.
0ne-third Of the lower district was lighted
up, the territory being within the boun-
diaries Of Nassau and Pearl streets and
Spruce and Wall streets. During the
past few weeks the Edison Electric Thu
minating Company has been engaged in
completing the installations in the prem
ises of its customers by the insertion OF
meters and lamps, and in procuring in
spection of such premises by the Fire
Underwriters. As the Board of Under
writers has but n expert, Mr.. Osborne,
the progress has been necessarily slow, but
such portion as has been inspected was
supplied last night. Mr.. Edison said that
the work will be pushed as rapidly as pos
sible, so that the district-that lying be-
tween Pearl street and the East river and
Spruce and Wall s~treets-will soon be
lighted. The laying of the steam heating
pipes, Mr.. Edison added, had interfered
with some Of the pipes Of his company,
and 1t might be necessary to-day toshut
off the enrrent in that portion Of the dis
trict wherein the Times Office is situated.
The current would be shut off until his
pipes could be shored up in that neigh
borhood.
Yesterday for the first time the Times
building was Illuminated by electricity.
Mr.. Edison had at last perfected his in
candescent light, had put his machinery in
order, and had started up bis engines, and
last evening his company lighted up about
one-third Of the lower city district in
which the Times building stands. The
light came IN in sections, First there came
in a series of holes in the floors and wells,
then several miles of protected wires, then
a transparent little e~gg-shaped glass globe,
and last of all the fixtures and ground
glass shades that made everything COM
plete. They were temporary fixtures to
give the light a trial, and so we're put in
with as little tearing and cutting as posi-
BILE. To each OF the gas fixtures in the
establishment q bronze arm was attached.
and the electric lamps were suspended
from these arms. The lamp is simplicity
itself. At the top is a brass circle, from
which are suspended the shade and the
lamp proper. The latter is a glass globe
about four inches. long, and the shape of a
dropping tear, broad at the bottom, mar.
row ut the neck, in which is inclosed the
carbon horseshoe that gives the light. The
globe Is air tight, and the air has been ex-
hausted, leaving the carbon horseshoe in a
perfect vacuum When the thumb screw
is turned and the connection with the
electric wires is thus formed, the electric
current makes this carbon so brilliant that
it would be unpleasant to look at. II 4
not intended to be looked at. however he,
ing entirely hidden by the ground glass
shade. The whole lamp looks so much
like a gas burner mounted by a shade thar
nine people out Of ten would not have
known the rooms were lighted by cleo
tricity, except that the light was more
brilliant than gas and a hundred times
steadier. To turn on the light nothing Is
required but to turn the thumb screw; no
matches are needed, no patent appliances.
As % as it is dark enough to need arti-
fetal light you turn the thumb screw ana
the light is there, with no nauseous smell.
no flicker and no glare,
1t was about . O'Clock yesterday after.
noon when the lights were put in opera
ton. 1T was then broad daylight, and
the light looked dim. 1t was not till about
I o'clock, when it began to grow dark
that the electric light really made iisoIi
known, and showed how bright and steadv
It is. Then the twenty-seven electric
lamps in the editorial rooms and the
twenty-five lamps in the counting rooms
made those apartments as bright as day,
bpt without any unpleasant glare. 1t was
a light that a man could SIT down under
and write for hours without the conscious
Aess otAaying any artificial light about
hlnl. There wasa very slight amount of
heat nom each lamp, but not nearly as
much as from a gas burner-One-ffteenth
as much as from gas, the inventor saws.
The light was soft, mellow, and grateful
to the eye, and it seemed almost like
writing by daylight to have a light with
out Il particle of flicker and with scarcely
any heat to make the head ache. The
electric lamps in the Times building
were as thoroughly tested last evening as
any light could be tested in a single even
ing, and tested by men who have battered
their eyessufiiciently by years Of night
work to know the good and lad points of
lamp, and the decision was unanimously
in favor Of the Edison electric lamp as
against gas, One night is a brief period in
which to judge of the merits or dement's
ola new system of lighting, but so far as
it has been tested in the Times office the
Edison electric light has proved IN every
way satisfactory. When the composing
rooms, the press rooms, and the other
parts of the Times building are provided
with these lamps there viii be from 80Oto
400 Of them in operation in:the building
enough TO make every corner Of it as
bright as day.