Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1888-12-13
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT PROBLEM.
How Edison wres.led with It's Difncuities
A Knotty Point.

A Knotty Point.
remember going 10 see Edison soon
after 1t was announced that he had
boasted Of having solved the electric light
problem. All electricianSinow that this
same problem is one of the odest in the
field of electricity. Fifty ysrs ago sci
entists in England and Profe ssor Joseph
Henry in this country had Inlde mean
descent lamps, which were Il III appear
ance very similar 10 what we have today.
There was little glass globe from which
the air had been exhausted; inside was o
strip of carbon or platinum, which, when
heated by strong c1rrent Of electricity,
giowed with white heat.
In Professor Henry's day the electric
current was an expensive affair, how
sver, the denamos being unknown, and
the zinc battery alone being in use.
When the dynamo offered an unlimited
current at moderate price inventors be-
gan to work at the glow lamp again.
Its defects had never been sufficiently
overcome 10 make il more than labora-
tory toy; it would give light for few mo-
ments and would then go out, the oxygen
remaining in the bulb burning up the
carbon loop. In order to make the lamp
Of practical use it was necessary to de-
wise means for making the bulb really
empty of air and for making the carbon
loop last reasonable time. Edison went
at this work with his customary ardor.
For months he tested air pumps, until he
found better form than any yet known;
then he worked at carbons until his
friends feared he would break down
under the strain. The preparation Of q
new form Of carbon loop might require
weeks of steady labor, the results os
which would be decided in perhaps five
| minutes.
In his search for better material than
platinum Cor the loop which gives out the
light in glow lamp, Edison tried 3,200
different materials, arriving finally at
kind of South American bamboo Of re-
markably close fiber. This wood, when
carboniZed. gives loop Of great tenacity
and durability. For two years the In
ventor worked at the glow lamp before
he dared 10 say that il was commercial
success. In the winter Of ls70-s0 he an-
nounced that his lamp would last long
enough TO make competition with gas pos
sible. Ii may be remembered that the
announcement caused storm of ridicule.
One so called expert. connected with a
well known college, declared that Edi-
sons lamp could never enter into COM
petition with gas, but would remain a
curiosity and possibly luxury for rich
men. This was at time when Edison
was inviting people from all over the
country to see the lamp work at his
Menlo Park laboratory, and so angered
him that he declared he would some day
erect a statue 10 his critic, light it up
with Edison lamps and make the inscrip-
ton read: This is the man who said the
Edison lamp was a failure"
There were many dark days that win
ter. After making one batch Of lamps
that burned splendidly and Lasted for
weeks, burning night and day. Edison
found 10 his dismay that the second
batch, made in exactly the same way, so
far as he could find out, and of the same
materials, failed completely. Instead Of
burning for weeks, the lamps went out
in less than AZ hour. For three day
Edison worked night and day trying in
vain TO find the trouble. Then he took
10 bis bed. seriously i'll, while his ex-
hausted assistant took rest.
Edison has had the good fortune TO at
tract and retain a number Of devoted
men, who for the last ten years have
shared in his trials and successes. When
the inventor believes that lie is on the
track Of something important he com.
pletely forgets his meals and his sleep.
He has been known 10 work for forty-eight
hours at a stretch, without leaving his
laboratory, ard with no food except
crackers and cheese which ho ate as he
pondereJ over a kn0tty point. lie can
not understand that other men need rest,
and is indignant that any one should
think Of meals or sleep while the result
Of some interesting experiment \ e
doubt. The Edison lamp was not Der.
tected without maay such Incidents
! Natu Nork Co..