Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-01-19
NIZARO EDISON,
OF MenlO Park, Talks About
His Wonderful Inventions.
Interviewed by a Newspaper Man
in New York City.
The Electric Light the Most
Profitable of All.

Inventor of the QuadrupIes System OF
Telegraphy, Electric Pen and Mimeo-
graph, Incandescent Lighting, Electric
Railroad and Phonograph--Par In
ventor of the District Telegraph, stool,
Ticker and Telephone.
New YORK. Jan 19.-1his question
was put to Thomas A Edison: "How
much does he civilized world owe you
for what you have done for it?' His
answer was characteristic: Probably
as much as the world thought it was
worth"
Can you give list of the inventions
with which your name is connected|
/ You mean the big ones? There are
not very many of them. Here they are;
District tell graph-half Of that is my in
vention. QuadrupleX system of tele-
graphy-that's all mine. Stock ticker
am half inventor. Telephone-half of
that again. Electric pen and mimeo-
graph-mine. Incandescent lighting
system-mi0e. Electric railroad-l am
one of the inventors of that. Phonograph
mime.
District Telegraph.
The district messenger service is pay
! ing about per cent. on s., coo ,0OO 1t
employs 10000 people.
The OuadrupIex System.
THE quadrupleX system is in use on
! $4,000 miles Of the Western Union wire.
1t makes every mile of wire do the work
! of four miles. Consequently the system
represents 216,00O miles Of phantom
wire, worth %ll 900, 900. And on those
$11 10000 worth of wires no repairing
has to be done. II representa- saving IN
repairs of 100000 annually. | sold the
whole thing to the Western Union )r
$50, 900 and then spent every cent of
that sum in eXperim 7nting in trying to
make wire carry six messages inst ad
of four, Yes, | spent more thal $1,000 J,
so that financially would be better off
today if | had never invented the
quadruplex system.
The Stock Ticker.
For the stock ticker | received $50,
900, but | had spent $4,000 in getting it
up-in the hole again.
Telephones.
about the telephone. I want to say
the end you put TO your ear. He was
trying to use that also as a transmitter,
but it didn't work | completed the de-
vice by inventing carbon transmitter
which made the telephone a financial
success by making it commercially
available. When look at the financial
figures ON the telephone they stagger
me. There are 100000 of them in
use, an they pay $50.0O0,000 year
rental and represent an actual invest
; ment of &l00 100000, capitalized at
twice that sum. and paying SlO,OOO.OOO
year profit 1t employs about 10000
people All told, | get out of the tele-
phone about %lO2, 900, and deducting
from that what paid for experiments,
leaves me about $4,000 net for the
whole thing. Bell has made about
$500 600 1t was his father-ln-law who
got the fat end Of it by getting control
of so much stock.
Incandcscent Lighting.
MY incandescent light system is the
most satisfactory of my inventions to
think about, because throughout the
world $4,000 employees are making a
living by it. | employ 5000 of them
myself. Four million lights are burn
ing. Taking all the companies together,
the system is capitalized at 5000, 600, 900,
paying from to 20 per cent. per year,
My patents ON the lights netted me
$40 600. but spent 800. 900 in expert
menting.
Electric Railroad.
"The electric railway, ont of which |
got a speed of forty miles an hour on a
three mile track, | sold long ago at a
loss.
PhOnograph.
The phonograph has done very little
for me. | have lost money by the sale
of my inventions. All the money |
make is on my manufactures.
Electric Pen.
MY electric pen profits were small" :"
pnMNED NIL G nEMOl LGLEN