The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-09-08
THE WIZARD OF MENL0.
Thomas A. Edison's Latest Results
in Inventions and Their Var
ious Improvements.
He Claims to Have at Last Per-
fected the Photograph After
Many Long Years.
He is One of the Few Inventors Who Have
Acquired Wealth-A Wonderful
Laboratory.

Among the inventors of the world he Is
one of the favoredifew who have acquired
the wealth that should properly attend on
genius, says the New York Herald. Not
that he has made as much money as he
might have done or ought to have done, but
he has prospered as men of great genius do
not always prosper. Still he has allowed
others to reap the fruits of his researches,
and while he had the glory they in several
instances have had most if not all of the
profit.
But as Edison is growing older he is
growing wiser in the matter Of business"
In the future he is not likely to have any
thing to do with the spectators who take
his inventions to make money for them
selves. So gathered from a conversation
I had recently with the wizard" in his
laboratory at Valley Road, Orange.
l had drawn from him the fact that he
had established mill for the manufacture
of ore by a magnetic process. asked him
why we had not heard of it,
WELL" said Mr.. Edison, with light
laugh, 'Isuppose it is because it is not in
to keep this.for myself. l don't intend to
nave
The mill he spoke of is at Ogden, near
Lake Hopatconr. New Jersey, and has q
capacity Of Is tons in "a hours. There is
no Bessemer orein New Jersey, except what
he makes by his new process which takes
out the phosphate of lime. He had been
working at that idea for eight or nine years.
Now he had 800 men at the mill and would
start up for business on September l. He
said they had an enormous hole there and
threw out 1000 tons at charge. 1t was
two-thirds rock and oDe-third ore.
artificial ORE said the inventor, lis the
highest grade known; IT IS the best IN the
world. We put this New Jersey material
into the mill and turn ont pure ore. The
veins arerich, otherwise l would not do it.
Why others could not succeed in this IS that
they used to take % per cent and lose u per
cent in the process. We lose only about
comes in. When you have your process ex-
actly right there is great deal OF money
in it,
An entire block of land is occupied by the
laboratory. There are five separ ate build
ings Of brick, and the interiors OF az are
is 200 by rs feet high. 1t is NEEDLESS to say
that electricity is the only light about the
place. There are about 700 lamps on the
plant and in the neighborhood. and the en-
CINE room has capacity of 80 horse
power.
There is no laboratory in the world SO
complete as this one. On its numerous and
roomy shelves are to be found everything
that can possibly be needed in scientific in
vestiRation by the sixty experimenters
whom he has constantly at work.
Time means more than money to this
great inventor. In years gone by often had
his researches been stopped for the want of
certain kind Of mineral. or particular
drug or chemical: or some kind OF ore, or a
rare wood. or a special description of fur.
@c n q
stoppage, he had caused every available
catalogue to be overhauled by his assistants
for anything that he did not already pos
sess. As an example, he had to send to
Japan to get the bamboo fibre with which
he now makes the carbons for his lamps.
Then, again, when perfecting his machine
for generating electricity from heat he
couldn't find nickel in sufficient quantities
in this country, and had to send to England
Tor it.
From a common iron bolt to an alligator
skin, from a bit Of phosphate to the rarest
and oostliest of chemicals, you can make a
selection. l saw, each in its proper place,
labeled to correspond with the index.
rhinoceros skin, all kinds of printing ink,
every kind of cloth, paper and rubber; met
al tubings, hard and soft rubber in all
shapes, glass tubes of all sizes, photographic
stones, Florida beefsteak that looked like
the hide of a horse, and hpropos of this
heard the gravy even was 80 tough that it
used to blunt the edge Of knives in cutting
it. Also clays, chalks and every variety of
vegetable substances. He has at least %,
600 different articles and a big store room
for the excess. II do not have to send out
of the place for anything now said Mr..
Edison. "No matter how small the article
may be. have it here"
His electrical room is superior to that at
Washington, or any chamber in the world
~ a. -. -.
perimenters with instruments complain O
the perceptible jar resulting from the run
ming of railway trains on roads even tina
are distant. Mr.. Edison says he expert
ences no such trouble. Here he has all thu
known instruments of precision. He OBJ
tains absolute stiffness because of the in,
mensely solid character of the foundation
beneath the instruments. Beneath thi
chamber are 100 feet of gravel, and unde
one instrument he has 100 tons of granite
and in another place 500 tons of granite.
Passing into another building, notices
plan of a town, the map being about 81
feet square. 1t was the street plan of tn
city of Milwaukee, and in the interior O
the different blocks We're irregular short an.
long lines with figures and letters. l
showed the number of the gaslights il
every house in the city and what the gas
lights cost. The result was obtained b,
having six men spend four weeks canvass
ing the city. BY this means, when it wa
proposed 10 lntrOuuCe electricity the com
pany could make a comparative estimate OF
the cost of domestic lighting by electricity
and by gas.
Mr.. Edison said he had 1Ol towns, esti
mated on this plan, some of them in Eu
rope.
Beyond the pattern room saw the bi,
building where twenty complete phone
graphs are turned out every day. Som
are being manufactured for the toy ''nicke
and slot" business, but the great maiorit,
are for actual commercial purposes.
Returning to the library he gave tn
Herald artist and myself an exhibition O
his latest improved phonograph. He run
one of them by water power. The ma
chimes look like very small lathe. TIL
wax cylinder to receive the impression
put ON the spindle to the right. Right owe
the cylinder is a delicate little screw, til
manipulation of which regulates the in
tensity Of the sound. and this is one of Id
improvements in the machine. If YOU a,
ply the air tubes in receiving this screw
quite handy in regulating. At the rict
end of the cylinder is a small plate col
tanning little key, which. by moving n
or down in an inch slot causes the machir
to receive or transmit at the pleasure of IL
operator. This is another improvement.
We heard a band of music piano, ri
colo and violin with remarkable clearnes
and even the quality of the instrument
was discernible. This is ,by far the be
monograph Edison has produced, and
faols worry prond IF It