The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-02-10


of these to make a pound, and their
value would be s44S,0O
"Whewr' said Mr.. Eyre when he
had verified his figures, "I did not
know that We had anything SO valua-
Bile about the factory. | think some
time I will have to walk off with a
pound of these
The head of the flament department
laughed. "Where would you get
them ?" he asked. 'In the whole
history of this factory we never made
anything like pound of them, and if
we had where would you sell them p
"Well, an ounce would do, said
Mr.. Eyre.
OF course the larger the filaments
are the less they are worth by weight,
but whether they are of value of
81 400 pound or S44S, 900 it is inter
esting to consider that practically all
Of this value is the product of human
labor and skill. The material out Of
which they are produced costs but a
few cents. Their history and the way
in which they are produced are known
to but few except those who are init
mately associated with their produc-
tion.
In the early days of experimenting
with the electric light the current was
passed through thin wire of plati
mum. The reader may remember at
that time Mr.. Edison had agents look
ing all over the world for new sources
of supply Of that rare metal. Then,
as now, nearly all the platinum of the
world came from two districts in the
Ural mountains in Siberia. Had the,
people remained dependent upon plat
mum for their lamps they would have
needed for each one piece of wire
6-1 900 inch in diameter and Is inches
long, and this at the present price of
platinum-S13 an ounce-would cost
10 cents. The worlds whole product
of this metal in 1887 was but about
$500 pounds, and would have been
inadequate for the present lamp sup
ply. Even to-day, with a product Of
perhaps $4,000 to $4,000 pounds,
there would be but small margin left
after making 100000 lamps, and
merely the cost of the flaments would
be S2,000,000. 1t was at this juno
ture that Edison conceived the idea of
using carbon flament. He confded
his idea to his chief assistant, Mr..
Batchellor, and they began work one
evening. It is one of Edison's pecu-
liarities, that once started upon
piece of work, he does not stop for
sleep or sometimes even food. The
material from which he proposed to
make his flament was a spool Of
Clark s cotton thread. All that night
Edison and Batchellor worked and all
the next day, and then again all night.
At the end of thirty-six hours they
had produced perfect flament. Mr..
Batchellor took it up and they march
ed with it toward the bench where
glass blower was at work. Just as
they reached the bench The carbon
broke. Edison cried Batchellor,
eve won't sleep until we make one"
Back they went to work, and late in
the afternoon they completed second
carbon loop. Again they marched
with it to the glass blowers bench and
placed it there in safety, but just then
jewellers screwdriver rolled over it
and broke it. Batchellor was an even
tempered man, but that was too much.
'I'm damned" he cried, "Job got
too much reputation for patience on
small capital.
There was no giving up. however.
Back to work the two men went. Ex-
perience had been a good teacher, and
before night they had completed
third flament, got it safely mounted
in bulb, exhausted the air, and set
it glowing with the electric current.
For the great illumination at Menlo
Park, which followed, the flaments
were made of pieces stamped out of
visiting cards, and many after that
were stamped from paper. Others
were made from slivers Of bamboo.
Weston was the first, perhaps, to use
vegetable parchment for the purpose,
but that is what the General Electric
Company use to-day. This is virtu-
ally the material out of which artif-
cial silk is made. Just the materials
and process used no flament maker
will tell, for this is one of the last of
the trade secrets, and the only one
about lamp making. A mixture Of
vegetable matter, rich in carbon, like
paper stock or cotton, is taken and is
digested with sulphuric acid or chic
rides until it is gummy mass about
as thick as dough. This is forced
through dies, just as vcrmicelli is
made, and it comes out in endless
strings. For sixteen candle power
filaments the die has an aperture %
1000 of an inch in diameter The
string of paste falls into jar partly
filled with secret liquid, where it
lies in coils. Then it is run out,
washed, and partly dried and coiled
on cylinders to become entirely dry.
Then it is cut into proper lengths,
with allowance for shrinkage, and
taken in punches and wound on shap-
ers to give it the form desired and set
into form by being heated slightly.
Now it is ready for carbonizing. This
is done by packing the punches in
crucibles with sifted charcoal or other
carboniferous substances, and, after
sealing, by baking it in hot fire for
one and a half days. When it is
taken out every thread is black and
shiny and seems to have a perfect
surface, but it is not ready for use.
Now each filament is taken separately
and clamped with each end in live
electric current, and while it is i'm
mcrsed in a vaper Of gasoline the cur
rent is passed through it. The effect
is to deposit upon the white-hot fila
ment coating of lamp black, or car
bonized gasoline, which gives it quail
ties not otherwise obtainable. In the
early days of their manufacture only
eight 1G-candlc power lamps could be
lit by ne-horse-power, but now fifteen
are used. The flament is now ready
to be mounted in the lamp.
There are thirty lamp factories in
the United States. Onl y about half
of these make their own filamcnts
The others buy them from special