New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-05-23
ARGUMENT FOR EDISON.
THE NCANDEsCENT ELECTRIC LIGHT IN
QUESTION.
srATEMENTs OF HIS ATTORNEYS IN THE LEGAL
CONTEST WITH GEORGE wEsTINGI
HOUSE AT PITTsBURG.
lBY TELEGRAPH TO rHE TRIBuSE.I

TELEGRAPH THE IHiBChEI
Ptsburg May 22.-George Westinghouse, ir., and
Thomas A. Edison, who wagIng legal contest for
the monopoly Of tho lncandescent elecc light Of the
United States, both sat in the United states District
Courtroom to-day listening TO the arguments OF
hesSr Lowry ard Dyer, Of New-YOrk, for the dc
PENDANTS In the present GrOsvenOr Lowry, OF
New York, opened tho In behalf Of the Edison
Company yesterday afternoon. lie finished
this afternoon, occupying about four hours.
His propositions in general That
Mr. Edison began experimenting on the subject OF
electric light IN 1871 prior the profescd invention
Of Sawyer q Man. and made use IN his experiments
Of carbonZed paper among Numerous Other things ;
that he subsequently, conducted eTtondeu series Of
experiments with platinum wire and other materials
for conductors, that he from the beginning con-
vnccd that carbon of form, either nbIUus not,
the most desirable material for the Rcandesccnt
conductor Of al electric lamp, provided the lamp
chamber could Do completely exhausted OF air and
sealed and perfected 10 maintain stable
vacuum that the carOOn would be free from the
attacks of oxygen, which destroy It when In a state
Of incandcsccnoe; that Edison was engaged, not In
seeking particular material for lamp, but IN seek
Ing a lamp together with tho other parts OF an
electric system which should enable electric lighting
TO DO put on a common basis In respect 10 the cost
OF investment for streets etc that he finally achieved
this in the fall Of 1879 and exhibited his
Invention Menlo Park, employing there
lamp which Is substantially identical with that now
In by tho plaintiff and all other companies using
electric light; that tho solution OF the entire difficulty
the obtaining Of tho thread Ike carbon having high
resistance TO the passage Of the electric current, SO
cured in glass chamber sealed up by fusion Of tho
glass; from which tho air had boon exhausted 10 tho
state OF high vacuum; that 10 accomplish this OBJ
icct he pursued tho plan OF high resistance In lamps
and the employment Of what Is called tho multiple
arc that I'm this cspcct his principles and methods
were exactly opposite to those Of saw
yer Man, who sought for low resistance
conductors, which Impactcabe in the
system Of multiple arc and would have caused In
given instance named, cost for street conductors
OF $50, 900, whereas, by Edison's systrn, the
same lighting facilities afforded for about 300 600
Mr.. Edison finally selected bamboo fibre, which
tho result OF empirical experiments made by him
al cost Of hundreds Of thousands OF dollars, by
sending agents to different parts Of the world 10
obtain wood which furnished the structure most
favorable TO producing this thrcaf-llke cOndu"tor,
and possessing the high specific resistance OF carbon.
Tho original SawyerMan lamp was shown To no
body. The original Edison lamp publicly eN-
hibtod at Mealo Park 10 thousands, and no claim
was ever made that sawyer Man had invented
such lamp until after the publication In the Now-iGra
papers Of December 81, 1879, Of full description,
with illustrations Of his lamp. As between sawysr's
written statement, made at the time, and Mr.. Mans
recollectious ten years old, the c0uH must believe
the former. 10 wit: That the sawyrrNan hhrnuS
carbon arch form lamp brDkc down from ihr nr. and
was not emcd by them worth the rNpcndiiur" ~ I3
for n pacnt. This published repeatedly BY Mr
Sawyer IN letters 10 tho newspapers al tho time,
In which he declared that the Eson lamp would break
down IN the same way and WAS worthless Their
laboratory experiments covered six weeks frOm the
opening.
Mr. Dyer, Of EsvNYark, at tho cioso Of Mr.. LoSry's
argument took up The for tho defendant and dis
cussed IN detail technical features Of the cas1. lie
showed that, beginning with thu experiments Of Sir
Humphrey Dsyy az tho beginning Uf Tho century, tho
catbOnLcd vegetable hr0us materials for Hcand"s'rnt
lighting which are claimed to DO mouUpuiiL"d by
sawyer & Man wCrr IN Common use lhc ar form OF
burner which IS also claimed a, novel feature by
tho com mplairant. hr also showed Ia be old. both
I'm metals aud carbon before sawyer & Man claimed
to have made their invention. Moreover, the patent
Is wholly insufficient ll It's description 70 Cnabl"
practical lamp malr by H. and ls therefore
Invalid at law. Mr. Dyer explained that the whole
case of sawyer Man rsis, by thelr OTu showing.
on those words In their original specification
I've have triel carboHIEoi paper covered with
powd Nrcd pumbsgp'
Nj Dyer arguoi that this description refers 10 an i'm
practcable process consisting Of filing StFp Of paper
with powdered pumbGgu and thcn passing ~" ELECTRIC
current through IT, The arguments VIII bo finished To-
morrow