The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-10-28

1t was very powerful but IL did not
work. When seek to accomplish any
thing I always try to determine which is
the best method Then I try to overcome
| the obstacles. In order TO construct a
| nying machine thought we needed to get
/ the greatest rising power per horse power.
In order to ind what this was, If possible.
\ attached a revolving fan to the top of
| the motor and placed it on large scales.
/ Loose wires from dynamo ran to the
motor which was started. The fan
whirled around and the tendency was to
lift up. II did so ana raised and lowered
/ accordingly as the fan ran fast or slow.
/ OF course I could then weigh the lifting
power exactly. Then 1 found that differ
ent fans had greater or lesser power. Two
! 1ukes were different from tire
! fukes and three from four and so on.
made all sorts Of experiments and then
/ concluded that electricity was not the
/ right thing.
"As to the various methods that have
/ been tried. I am very glad they were
tried, for while they are failures, every
failure is a step forward. 1t is the things
that I know won't work that are the most
valuable to me. Some OF these methods
have aimed to initiate the birds Of the
air. But the birds are especially adapted
! to fly. Their bones are hollow, for in
stance, and in other ways they are suited
to the air. The birds utilize the wind,
too. The wind really does the flying for
them and they manipulate the body so
as to best take advantage of It. In short,
they soar With insects it is different.
Take the bee. 1t is purely a flyer. It's
wings are small in proportion, but 1t
makes up for that by their very rapid
vibration"
At this juncture Mr. Edison took occa-
sion to add something more concerning
the value Of failures. He said somewhat
ambiguously that he was 81 years old.
Now, as all the world knows, he is but
Al, 1t sounded odd, to say the least. Then
he explained:
Judging by the standard of the ord
mary mans working day." he said, Il
am much older than 1 look. The average
working day is eight hours long. For
twenty-one years l have averaged nine
teen hours per day. 1t makes me 81 years
old Most of that time has been taken
up in trying things that would not work.
You see my hair is gray. l will soon be
100 years old
Mr. Edison does not think that any new
fuel will be made to take the place of
coal. Neither does he think we will be
able to telephone across the ocean. Re
garding the first he says:
Coal and wood, the latter to include
growing things, Of course, are the only
unoxidized substances on earth Every
thing else has been burnt. They cannot
be burned again. We might utilize the
sun, wind and the air, but not in a very
radical manner. There is a sun engine.
Mouchet built one and so did Ericsson.
Air can be utilized, ! should think. The
windmill is very old.
Il don't think we will be able to telc-
phone across the Atlantic. 1t would be
impossible because of the identification
of the gutta percha covering of the cable.
Every substance viii electrify somewhat,
so the difficulty is not to be overcome
by discarding what is now used Be
tween Valencia and Hearts Content, for
instance, the tons of gutta percha on the
cable play a large part in it's operation.
Every bit Of 1t has to be electrified be-
fore a single signal can be sent. And
when the current is cut off at Valencia
after being operated, 1t still continues to
flow into Hearts Content for a COMPARE
lively long time afterward This all in
terferes with the sound waves. Even in
telegraphing there is no real break be-
tween the flashes, and there are only
ten to twelve sound waves per second.
In telephoning there would be two or
three thousand in the same time The
only way to get it over would be TO en-
ploy some other force that would not
affect surrounding matter"
While he spoke Mr. Edison took out
his pencil and illustrated his subject by
drawing lines on an old piece of paper
which lay beside the log on which he was
sitting. He spread the paper over his
knee. you know the alphabet" he
asked as he drew Morse characters on
the paper. Now you see there is an
absolute break between the flashes, rep
resented SO. 1t is a plain series Of straight
lines and breaks. But the cable current
is represented better by a waving line.
More like this for instance" Mr.. Edison
here drew a waving, curving line.
This line you see runs up and down UNI
/ equally 1t is the length or value of the
/ curves that enables the operator to detect
the message. 1 have often watched the
operators al work and / think it is really
wonderful that they are able to select
the message at ALL can read the ordi-
nary line as 1t runs UP and down, but it
! is crossed and recrossed by other lines
| coming form earth currents and the
i thousand and one sources from which a
| stray current gets in and it is simply
! Impossible for me to pick out the real
message. Yet those fellows do it every
! time and with. comparative ease.
! Gable operators ought to feel compli-
mented by what Mr.. Edison has to say
| of their skin in cabling. One would
/ think he who was accredited to be one of
/ the most skillful telegraphers of his time
! might at least claim some proficiency in
! this other branch of the service, Yet
| he acknowledges the superiority of men
whose work is seldom noticed beside the
/ more theatrical feats of the ordinary
/ land-wire operators.
''How about the attempts to see by
wire? Do you think this is a coming adj
iunet of the telephone?" was the next
/ question.
Much has been said about it in the
dailies," he replied. '"They tell how il
! is to be accomplished by selenium, but
| do not see how it is practical. / do not
think the selenium process will solve it,
I It is a surprise to nae, however that the
transmission of pictures by wire is not
I more used. 1t is very easy Of accom-
| plishment. and newspapers could get ac-
curate pictures Of distant events in this
| manner. l have transmitted pictures
this way. and I would guarantee to send
ono ten inches square a distance Of five
| hundred miles every ten minutes. And
| every picture would be as good as the av-
erage newspaper cut at that
Il notice also. that communication
without connecting wire is agitated
| They propose to use it in barbors, so that
| ships coming in may better determine
their position. j had a broader scheme
than that. The system OF signalling be-
tween moving trains is in active uss on
one OF our railroads. Now I proposed to
do It between ships at sea, and even
! when they arc thirty miles apart II could