Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-11-22
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT PRosLEM.
How Edison wrestied with It's Difacultsea
A Knotty Point

"A knotty foinI
remember going 10 see Edison soon
after il was announced that he had
boosted Of having solved the electric light
problem. All electricians,kno that this
same problem is one Of the oldest in the
iiell of electricity. Fifty years ago sci.
entists in England end Professor Joseph
Henry in this country had made mean
descent lamps, which were to all appear
ance very similar TO what we have today.
There Vas n little gl&ss globe from which
the air had been exhausted; inside wa q
strip of carbon or platinum, which, when
heated by a strong carrent Of electricity,
glowed with a white heat.
In Professor Henry's day the electric
current was an expensive affair, how.
ever, the dynamos being unknown, and
the zinc battery alone being in use.
When the dynamo offered an unlimited
current at a moderate price inventors be-
gan to work at the glow lamp again.
It's defects had never been sufficiently
overcome TO make it more than a labora.
tory toy; it would give light forafey mo-
ments and would then g6 out, the 6xySeh
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
embts Of air and for making the carbon
io5b fast 4 Reasonable time. Edison went
at this work With his customary ardor.
For months he tested air pumps, until he
found a 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 o
new form of carbon loop might require
weeks of steady labor, the results Of
which would be decided in perhaps o.,
minutes.
In his search for a better material than
platinum for the loop which gives out the
light in a glow lamp, Edison tried 3,2QV
different materials, arriving finally at 6
kind of South American bamboo of re.
markably close fiber. This wood, when
carbonized, gives a loop Of great tenacity
and durability. For two years the in.
yentor worked at the glow lamp before
he dared to say that it was a commercial
success. In the winter Of 1S79-eO he an
nounced that his lamp would last long
enough to make competition with saspS
sible. 1t may be remembered THAI III,
announcement caused q storm Of .dicule
One so called expert, come ted with {
well known college, 1slared that Edi
sons lamp could never egcer into com
petition With gas but would remain
Curiosity and Possibly a luxury for ricl
men, This was ht a time when Edison
was inviting people from all over tn
country to see the lamp work at hi
Menlo Park laboratory, and so angereC
him that he declared he would some da,
erect a statue to his critic, light it VI
with Edison lamps and make the inscrip
ton read: This is the man who said TIL
Edison lamp was a failure"
There were many dark days that win
ter. After making one batch Of lamp
that burned s~plendidly and lasted TO
weeks, burning night and day, Edisoi
found to his dismay that the secon,
batch, made in exactly the same way, s.
far rs he could find out, and Of the sam
materials, failed completely. Instead o
burning for weeks, the lamps went gu
in less than an hour. For three DAY
Edison worked night and day trying !
vain to find the trouble. Then he too
to his bed, seriously i'll, while his ex
hausted assistant took q rest.
Edison has had the good fortune 10 al
tract and retain a number Of devote
men, who for the last ten years hav
shared in his trials and successes. Whel
the inventor believes that he is on tn
track of something important he com
pletely forgets his meals and his sleep
He has been known 10 work for forty-eigh
hours at a stretch, without leaving hi
laboratory, and with no food exceT
crackers and cheese which he ate as Ii
pondered over a knotty point. He can
not understand that other men need resi-
and is indignant that any one shoal
think of meals or sleep while the resuI
of some interesting experiment j.
doubt. The Edison lamp was not pei
fected without many sucE incidents.
New York Star.