The record-union., 1892-11-26
EDISON'S WORKSHOP.
How the Funny Phonograph is Made
Modern Wonder Working.
Where the Incandescent Lights Are
Equipped to Take the Vital
Current.

Where the Incandescent Lights Are
Equipped to Take the Vital
Current.
1t is a great brick building four stories
high, crowded with machinery and
fianked by other brick buildings, also
crowded with machinery, the whole COW
ering eight or ten acres of land and sur
rounded by an impossible fence-f such
an establishment can be called iabOrato-
~, then doubtless Thomas A. Edison's
workshop on the edge of Llewellyn Park,
in Orange, n. j., is the most extensive
laboratory in the world, says the New
York Times correspondent.
The Edison laboratory is easily reached
by rail, being within sight Of the Lew
ellyn Station in Orange, and the Lew
ellyn Station is charming little rural
spot, far from the madding crowd, with
no human being in sight except at train
times. But the door stands accommodate
ingly open, and when the station agent,
who lives across the street, sees a straug-
er on the premises he crosses over and
offers to sell him q ticket. 1t is easy to
reach the gate OF the laboratory, but not
SO easy to gain the inside. The gate IS
kept closed and locked, and the people
who are constantly applying for admiS-
sion are told, always in the polltest way
and with the deepest regret on the part Of
the gatekeeper. that they cannot be adj
mitted without a pass from MIR. Edison
or one Of his superintendents. As these
gentlemen are either busy inside or alb
sent, they are not within reach, and a
pass is hard to obtain. Even when pro-
vided with a pass the usual visitor sees
little Of the establishment beyond the
dynamos, the monographs and the stock
room, for experiments are constantly in
progress in the many private rooms, and
visitore there would certainly be trouble
some and might be dangerous.
They took me first to the top story,
where the monographs are kept, and
where six or seven OF them are constant
ly ready for use.
THE PHONOGBAPH.
Some things they told me about the
phonograph that were hard to under
stand, ana would be still harder to eX-
plain in type. One was the possibility of
catching a sound that is inaudible, if l
may express IL SO, and toning the phono-
graph up until the ear could appreciate
it. The wax cylinders they seemed to
hold cheap, for my guide broke several
to show me their composition. "Forever,"
was the startling answer when l asked
how long the cylinders would last. This,
however, must he taken conditiOnally.
Although the first impression made upon
them do not wear out for years, and al
though an infinitesimal shaving may
then be taken from the surface and the
cylinders made ready for second use, still
they may melt. They are made largely
of hardened wax, and temperature Of 80
or 30 degrees of Fahrenheit is likely to
soften and ruin them. For this reason
some doubts were expressed about the
success of Professor Garners efforts to
bring some monkey conversations back
from Africa on photograph cylinders.
Professor Garner has taken several pho
nographs with him to Africa, but 1t IS
more than likely that the equatorial heat
there will ruin his cylinder
one of the talking dolls that are COM
mon enough now in the toy shops was
produced. But this was no ordinary
talking doll. Its clothing was somewhat
disarranged and its head looked as
though an autopsy had been performed
upon it. The cylinder was so arranged
that it could be turned backward and the
doll made to repeat sentences, beginning
at the end and producing every sound in
reversed order. The effect was very
much as though some foreign language
was being spoken.
HOW THE LAMPS ARE MADE.
From the phOnograph room they took
me down to the department where incan-
descent lamps are made. The glass is
blown on the premises, and we saw the
glassblOwers at work, and leaving one
part of the bulb open for the insertion OF
the carbon and the extraction Of the air
In one room they showed me consign-
ment of bambOOs from the tropics, to be
used in making the incaudescent carbOns
In one of the broad corridors they took
me under many long rows OF electric
lamps suspended from the ceiling, nearly
all burning. There were hundreds of the
lamps, making the hall as light as day
and warming it percepubly. These are
all experimental lamps, aud the trial Of
them they call 1.-The survival of the fit
test.' MIR. Edison is anxious to find
some more durable material for the car
bons than bamboo, and nearly every
thing that is suggested is tried. The
current is kept constantly on, and these
lamps that burn out quickly are taken
out and the material is rejected. Nothing
so far has been found that answers better
than bamboo, though some Of the carbons
last long time.
The room in which the air is extracted
from the glass bulbs is full ofinterest and
full Of machinery, for the machine that
does the work occupies almost the entire
space, leaving only narrow passageway
around the walls. On front and back it
is studded with long glass tubes like The
water-gauge OF steam boiler, but larger
and longer. Through these tubes a con
stant stream Of sparkling water seems to
be flowing, but what seems to be water is
mercury. The unsealed bulb is fitted to
d part of the machine, and the current of
mercury belonging to one tube flows
through it and gradually extracts the
air, or rather forces it out. At first the
mercury running through the tube is full
of air bubbles, but they gradually dimin-
ish, and at the end OF twenty or thirty
minutes the mercury runs smooth again.
Then the air IS all out and the bulb is
sealed. The huge machine can operate
upon about fifty bulbs at time, and it
consequently has a capacity Of 100 lamps
an hour.
From this place they took me into what
is called the stock-room, which is quite
as large as two ordinary houses. it is
lined and filled with thousands OF driers.
shelves. cabinets and closets, containing
every chemical that could by the most re-
mote posi- bility be useful in experiment.
ing. The stocz-room is the pride of the