Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-13

than steam. But at a certain point in my
experiment 1 apparently run against a
stone wall, around which 1 cannot get ana
which offers no loophole that can see. The
same thing happens with me about once
| month.
IT WILL NOT DOWN.
''The problem haunts me night and day
and get back to it; I get just so far and
then l run into my stone wall, and after
| bumpingsmy head against it until L have
headache 1 drop the thing for two weeks,
when the tremedous possibilities in 1t, and
the certainty that the thing can be done,
bring me back to it Of all the problems In
science know of, this is the most interest
ing. 1t will be q discovery of more value
than anything we have now, and do not
give up hopes of getting at it"
Edison also carries 8 note book devoted to
this problem, and one for whatever may
occur to him in the electric light field. At
the laboratory 1 saw yesterday some hun
dreds of glow lamps burning night and day,
each one numbered and possessing some
slight popularity. A number of men do
nothing but watch these lamps, recording
their behavior, and the result of such tests
are of use in guiding the manufacturers.
The Edison lamps are now made in Newark
at the rate of some 10000 day. When
Edison first put his lamps into use, they
lasted abot 500 hours, and required about
one-horse power for every ten lamps. In
these las. IL years they.have been so much
perfected that the lamps cost about half to
make, they last twice as long, and they
require only one-horse power for every 15
lamps.
THE LABORATORY HIS RECREATION.
One of the most peculiar things about
T al I'll
under stand, is that what he has achieved in
the way OF discovery and invention seems
to spur him on to still greater things. The
fact that he has had honors and wealth
heaped upon him within the last Is years in
an extraordinary fashion, do not seem to
teach him the necessity of rest and recrea-
ton. 1 remember years ago his saying to
me once that when he got rich he should
not buy yacht, or a fast horse, but he
would build the most perfect laboratory in
the world and make the talking machine a
success. He knew it could be done, and al
though scientific men said it was an impos-
sibility, he knew better.
All this he has done. He has invented
the quadruplex telegraph and the phono-
graph, both genuine discoveries; he has per-
tected the electric light and made it practi-
cable. And it might be thought that he
was entitled to spend the rest of his time in
enjoying the fruits of his labors. So he is,
and he does enjoy himself After q z o'clock
breakfast, taken with one eye on his labora-
tory down in the valley, he rushes to his be-
loved workshops, and that is the last his
splendid home sees of him before dark. -
THE FUTURE OF ELECTRICITY.
He said to me recently that we ought to be
ashamed of ourselves in this country if, by
the year 1880, we have not got dozen in
ventious each one more wonderful than the
telegraph, the steam engine or the electric
light. This may seem an extraordinary
position to take, and yet from Edison's
standpoint it is not so. The next generation
alter ours ought to do far more wonderful
things than we have done, simply because
people will have not only more education
and intelligence than we have, but they will
have wonderful tools to work with, of which
our fathers knew nothing. They will have
the steam engine, the dynamo, electricity,
the telegraph. the phonograph, the photo
graph, and a host of other beautiful tools
with which wonders ought to be accom-
plished.
Moreover, in every field of science the
spread of literature, newspapers and books
will make students in every part of the
world, and from this vast army of inventors
ought to come marvels every year. The GEN.
tury drawing to a close has done wonders,
but the next one ought to do still more.
PERSONALITY OF THE MAN.
A popularity which strikes one at once is
Edison's unwillingness to talk about things
that have been accomplished and are sue
cesstul. Thus, although the electric light
cost him eight or ten years of the hardest
work of his life, it is hard to get him to
speak about it. 1t is all right, he says, and
he will plunge at once into some other in
vention that is not yet all right.
Edison is a count millionaire and the |
most famous living inventor. His present
wealth, which amounts to many millions, is
as nothing compared to what it will be in
the next few years; but he still works away
in his laboratory, and comes forward to
greet you in just such suit of clothes as he
wore 20 years ago. The laboratory is the
finest in the world, and the immense library
with galleries around ali sides, four stories
high, is filled with costly furniture, scien- |
tifc apparatus and works of art.
THEN AND NOW.
As compared with Edison's dingy little |
shop of 20 years ago, out at Menlo Park, in |
which he used to eat his bread and cheese |
seated on an old packing box, talking over
the work in hand with his two or three |
workmen, the present surroundings are |
fabulously luxurious. Everything shows |
unbounded means, which may be the case
when we remember that this famous labora-
tory cost about 5000, 900 a year to maintain.
But the master mind is still the same.
When he works it means work for his |
men. In the old days at Menlo Park it was
no uncommon thing for him to remain at
the bench for 4S hours at a stretch, sending
one of the boys for crackers and cheese
when he felt hungry, and not giving up
until his assistants actually fell asleep |
standing up. To-day he is just as interested,
but he feels that there is no reason for risk |
ing health when he has more reputation and |
money than he knows what to do with.
H. H. Il.