The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-03-26
EDISON DEPENDS ON HIS
 REMARKABLE NOTE BOOKS
From the New York World.

From the New York World.
 rT HE most valuable aid on which
 Thomas A. Edison relies in eontnu-
 ing his wonderful work of research and invention is a collection of remark able notebooks.
 MT. Edison does not trust to his mem- ory, but has made his motion" books, as he calls them. the repository of his thoughts, his discoveries and his experi- ments.
 In many respects these little Volumes are the most wonderful collection of note- books in the world. Some of them date back to the earliest days of Edlsons s marvellous career, and the latest are of this very day, in which he is still work ing with the energy and eagerness Of youth.
 Thomas A. Ed.sons notion books consist of ordinary notebooks small enough to, be thrust into the pocket. He is never without one oI these books. He keeps 1t within reach while he works talks, thinks eats, sleeps and travels. One dozen of closely written notion books are more precious to him than his paatial library, in which are gathered 4O,OO0 works of reference alone.
 No other laboratory in the world can boast such complete and costly appoint , ments, as the one in Orange, N. J., in which this many sided genius devotes his time to research and invention.
 Note Books Date Back 40 Years.
 Scientific magazines have printed ex- haustive articles about Edison's labora- tory and machine shop, and have gone into minute details of his experimental apparatus, appliances for conducting analyses and machinery used in the man ufacture of models. Newspaper repre- sentatiyes have interviewed him on every topic under the sun, but, oddly enough his notion books-the most interesting not to say the most important of the aids he employs in working out his inventions have not hitherto been exploited. The first motion" book is about forty years old. The inventor started 1t in his eighteenth year, when in his capacity of telegraph operator he devoted every spare moment to the task of solving the problem of duplex transmission. Of the myriad inventions with which MT. Edisons name is associated only three do not appear in the motion" book The missing trio comprise his very first inyention-an automatic attachment for his telegraph instrument which sent in an hourly signal to show he had not stirred from his post throughout the night, while in reality he was pursuing his beloved experiments at a safe dis tance from the instrument He was only r when he invented this ingenious de- vice. The second invention was an auto matic repeater which transferred the telegram from one line to another with out the medium of sending or receiving operator. The third an invention of great financial value, was hls gold and stock quotation printer.
 Fourth invention Noted.
 His fourth invention, the duplex sys- tenn of telegraphy, whereby two separate and distinct messages, in opposite drec- tions, could pass simultaneously over a single wire. figure prominently in his first notebook The hour and date on which the idea of this system flashed through his mind are recorded there; as also data about his quadruplex, sextuplex and oc- toplex system. On the day on which he succeeded in sending eight distinct mes sages over a single wire, four in each direction, the boyish comment "HurrahV was written beneath the full report in tl1e motion" book
 Another early invention of which the books give particulars is the machine for TecOTulnB votes, on WHICH ne tOOk=oul d. patent in 1869. This entry Is of-great interest because 1t tells of the first patent ever recorded in his name. The fact that he has over one thousand pat ents at the present time bears witness to his indefatigable energy and indus try.
 As the motion" book habit grew on him. MT. Edison made his reports there ia more elaborate and minute than at first. His system barred out any pos- sibility of a careless entry being made. ] When opportunity presented itself to test the value of any one notion" he wrote out the mlnutest details of the results obtained. If these results war ranted him in believing that great ard lasting good could be accomplished by perfecting his discovery, he worked early and late until he had brought his experi- ments to q successful issue. and the note book showed with photographic clearness every move he had made. But if the motion" was weighed in the balance and found wanting, the letters IN. G." were placed beneath the report and it was probably never mentioned thereafter.
 The motion" books are rich also fin sketches of machinery drawn by him. These pen and ink sketches of his pre- 1 llminary ideas of the form of his vari- ous inventions are very interesting be- cause they were made the monet the notion" pertaiing to them flashed into Into his mind
 Each page of the book Is dated. and the date attested by three witnesses. These witnesses comprise as a rule picked men from among his staff of assistants. Their initials appear at the foot of every para graph of importance and across the sketches.
 Whenever lawsuit against infringers of his patents crops up. MT. Edison finds