Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1893-08-25
THE WIZARD WEARY
AT LEAST OF INVENTIONS THAT
ARE NOT PROTECTED.
graph, and Gives Considerable
Attention 10 MetalIurgy-He Can
Make RubIes at So Per Pound.

Attention TO MetalIurgy-He Can
Make RubIes at So Per Pound.
Thos. A. Edison was at the Worlds
Fair, last week, and was made the
subject of an interview, from which
we extract as follows: / arrived in
in Chicago Monday night" he said.
" l came in quietly, not wishing to let
any one know of my arrival. When !
was in Paris in 1889 I was awfully
bored. There is always a lot of people
who want to show me something / do
not want to see. For the last twenty
years l have been making exhibitions
at fairs. I have displayed my inven-
tions in Cape Town, Rio Janeiro, Tu
rim, Natal, Russia, France, Germany,
Cincinnati, New Orleans, London and
every place that has ever boasted of an
exposition.
al have made no show at the
Worlds Fair. l originally intended
to and worked on the kinetograph, an
entirely new thing, day and night for
long time. My chief assistant was
taken i'll, and the work fell on me so
heavily that l finally determined to
save myself, even if made no exhibit
I needed rest this year and determined
to see the big show at my ease. So
far / have succeeded very well. 1
have not been within ten feet of any
portal OF the Electricity Building, and
have no intention of going there.
The first place I went to was the
Mines and Mining building. 1 have
given up experimenting in electricity,
and my whole time is now devoted to
metallurgy. Not that I think that
electricity is exhausted as a source of
invention; no, not by any means. but
l am not going to have anything to
do again with anything that 1 have to
get patent on.
There is no protection for an in.
ventor in the courts of the United
States. That is why I have given up
electricity. For twenty years I have
been fighting for thirty or forty
patents l own, in all these 1 have
been sustained in but two. The rest
will probably be sustained ten or fif-
teen years after the patent right ex-
pires. 1t is not that the patent laws
are not all right. 1t is because prac.
tice in the courts is such that an in
ventor can get no satisfaction except
by sheer accident.
For long time l tried to obtain
electricity from coal. got very good
results for while, and felt very much
satisfied. l saw, however, that il
would require several more years ol
experiment and gave it up. 1 have
since devoted my time to metals
When a way is found to get electricity
direct from coal, that time will mark 9
new era in the advancement of man
kind.
have a new model phonograpl
to be brought out in short while, ar
innovation entirely new, and or
which l am yet putting the finishing
touches.
"The kinetograph is TO the eye wha,
the phonograph is to the ear. By
this machine figures can be produced
on a screen every shade OF expression
and every gesture can be reproduced
To make this machine / had to take
forty-six pictures second. This i.
equal to the capacity OF the eye. Ter
or twenty or even thirty pictures &
second would show the movements o.
an arm, for instance, in jerks, but
with forty-six photographs second
the arm is seen to rise just as the
human eye sees it, and with the same
speed.
"a combination OF photograph and
kinetograph, which l shall probably
call the photo-kinetograph, 1 have
also in course of construction. Thi.
will show mans every motion, and
the likeness will speak,
II have always used a great many
sapphires in the manufacture O.
Photographs. They are very ex
pensive and sometimes very hard te
procure at all. 1 analyzed the
chemical composition of the sapphire
and finding out what it was started t
make sapphires. l now make all
use. l can make rubies for IS a poune
that in beauty far exceed the genuine.