The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-04-12

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Sanp1.e reIegrspn-
x<w York Le<1ex.
Mr.. Edison. ! vas informed. had
lbsen up the two previous nights dis
covering - bug In his phonog7sph
m expression for solving \ difScuIty
and Implying that some imaginary in
[secf has seer<sed itself inside and Il
causing all the troui,ie. Though tired,
the giant inventor, rohed in his long
cotton gown, was stiH hard at work.
with cheexy greeting. hcsever, be
left the bench xnd was soon discuss
ing recent electrical progress in Eng
land
so you are stisI working away al
the photograph - Yes, il il almost
ready for the market: they are bussly
&c work on them ia the factory.
have Just finished some improvements
IN the spectacle e. term given 70 the
mechanical device holding the re-
eeiver and fransmifferJ. The instru-
ment IL now very sensitive, and will
produce musical sounds with great
deIicacy- fact, remarked Mr.. Edi-
son with one OF his quaint smiIes---ssif
win almost re-echo ones breathing. y
Il heard your phonograph doll the
other evening.
.sOh. there Is an immense field for
its use as toy. bat II Is 9 thoroughly
commercial instrument as we'll.
SIS it true that your patents for the
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We'll that is hardly correct; the
detail patents for my recent improve
ments are very strong, and il is impos-
phonOgraph with q delicate articulation
without infringing them"
ism the telephone capable Of con-
siderable further development?
Il am just taking ii up again, and
intend to produce ! telephone Just as
good for q thousand miles as fhous-
and feet. Oh, yes, . good loud speak
ing telephone can be made to do this,
and it Is my next work. /"
What do you think OF an instru-
ment combining the telephone and
the monograph ~
THAT will come in time
Are you doing anything with yonr
train telegraph p This system is
likely 20 be3very useful, as it enables an
operator in q moving train TO tele-
graph. and this without any wire con-
neclion With the telegraph lines by the
side OF the railway track, the current
literally jumping across the interven-
ing space
soh yes, the jumping telegraph, as
We call 1t. 1t was rather amusing
when we were first trying 1t on Staten
Island Railroad. One of my assist
ants wrote up that he could only get
il 10 Jump one way. We were too
busy here to put him right, and after
few days another letter came saying
he had tried everything, and the only
way he knew to get the thing to jump
the other way would be to pivot Staten
Island and turn it right around. We
sent TO him after that =
DO you think there is sufficient
data to warrant much money being
spent on underground conductors in
England %
Certainly. Look at the New York
electric lighting station, erected six
years ago, and which has been running
continuously and paying dividends.
Go and see the underground cables
there. Do you want any further
evidence of their durability and prac-
tical results These were the earliest
form. mind, and with the improve
ments that have been made in under
ground conductors as in everything
else, have no fear of them whatever.
A good underground system mast tell
in the long run against overhead
wires.
You are still improving your incan-
descent lanps?"
Yes, we are doing that all the
time. And going to the lamp ex-
perimenting room. he took up the
test sheets OF some lamps then burn
ing. Look at this. At the present
time you are getting IS lamps to the
horse power; with these lamps here.
you can get %, and ont this batch OF
II none have yet broken, and they
have been alight 93s hours
Have you been 10 your Florida
house lately, shooting alligators %
Not for two years have been so
busy, but hope To- 90 to Paris this year
with my wife. You have heard about
nay exhibit there
Yes. and from the preparations
here it should be one of the most in
teresting features in the worlds show.
! understand you are also entering on
the same field az NJ. Pasteur, and in
tend to diminish the yellow fever epi-
demicY''
well, l think / can do it. Yellow
fever Is like a fungus on decaying
pie-crust. gradually spreading with
dirt and iiith, as il needs something
TO feed on. In Brooklyn, in lsi7. 4
paved street stopped Ii. The yellow
fever Is not conveyed readily through
the air, otherwise il would at once
seize a city, but 1t creeps along the
ground at an average rate OF forty-two
feet day. Now, gas il its enemy.
Yellow fever would never take much
hold of New York; there is too much
gas burned, and too many gas leaks in
the ground.
The yellow fever does not exist in
winter %
THAT is it, aud il | sprinkle rhigo-
line sufficiently in this room. 1.-THE
library OF the laboratory II could
cover the place with icicies.
Then this would stamp out the
epidemic like cold weather %
Not quite SO; IL would not do this
solely by cold or simple freezing. il
having another property am search.
ing for inimical to vegetation and
organic structure. AT present | am
experimenting with gasoline, which
seems also 20 have this same property,
! and | am now finding what low forms
OF vegetable life it went kill. By
| sprinkiing this room with il all These
plants would die, and gasoline evapor.
ates and leaves no trace. Sprinkle IL
over the ground. and the grass all dies
| il Is the same wherever petroleum i
found, there II little vegetation. To
/ thoroughly accomplish the purpose the
chemicals must be of the cheapest and
eommonesf order. am still expert.
menting, and hope by next summer Il
be ready should the epidemic reap
/ pear.
Mr.. Edison gave his able assistant
Nr. Kennedy. permission TO show me
some of the results of the interesting
experimental that had been under
taken. The antiseptic powers of gaso
line are known. and rhigoline, mem
Der ct the same group OF hydro-ear
hons, is one OF the i:ghtest LIQUIDS
Owing 10 lis rapid evaporation, Mr.
| kcnneisy was able 20 freeze a coat
covering IL with icicses in the open air
although ft vas warm sunny dav