The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1907-01-18
EDISON TALKS OF
NEWEST INVENTION
Great Inventor Enthusiastic
Over His Wonderful
Battery.
c c NOW CERTAIN
81 Have Found the Metal He Says,
and the Problem Has Beer Solved
-Ausomobiiing to Be Revo-
lutionized.
SUCCESS NOW CERTAIN
From the New York Paners.

II have found the metal," said
Thomas a. Edison. and the problem
has been solved"
The great inventor was speaking to
me of his wonderful new battery which
is destined to revolutionize transit fa-
cilities and drive horses off the streets
of all large cities.
Running the gauntlet of the high
fence about the laboratory, the Guard
at the wicket gate and the numerous
SentinelS in the form of Workmen who
are always on guard to keep the in
truder from e-ncroaching on the time of
the busiest inventor in the world. the
writer bearded the lion in his den up
on the second floor of the great labor
atory at West Orange, N. j., and after
~persuading him that the world was
anxious to learn of his latest discov-
cries. especially in the line of storage
batteries and cement, Mr.. Edison talked
With great freedom.
~"Singularly enough" said Mr.. Edi-
son, speaking of the battery, after
years of study and hard labor, to say
nothing of the enormous expense. it all
came out right one day and now it is
an accomplished fact. l have found the
metal; that solves the problem"
Mr.. Edison was speaking of his new
cobalt process, which has produced a
metallic compound that r-evolutionizes
the making of electric storage batteries.
IL NsiS W llIll nc NECESSARY toIJ.l!t1JlaJ
Mr.. Edison made his recent extensive
journeys, especially in the south.
See that new factory going up over
there" he continued. pointing out the
window. We'll, that huge building /
am putting up to make the batteries
first; then. as the demand increases,
the force will be enlarged To cope with
the business, and from present pros
poets the business viii be larger than
we shall be able to handle without
building new factories
ut was necessary to produce n bat
terry within the reach of everybody,
which could do its work at q lower cost
than horses could do it. There is moth
ing dangerous about the electric car; it
runs smoothly n noiselessly: there is
no kick to it and it will not vibrate and
shake everything Dose as q gasoline u
will do in time. Any man with q few
minutes instruction can handle an cleo
trio vehicle with perfect safety. while
it takes an experienced man to become
master of a gasoline or steam truck.
Edison's assurance is not lightly Civ
en-. He old how he had never before
been certain, in spite of what the news
papers had said, and how at the pres
ent time it was absolutely accom-
plished. Edison is too old a scientist
to make haphazard prophesies. Even
while he was telling with assurance
what he a done, his mind was on
memories of the unforeseen.
Much of the success of the new stor-
age battery will depend pon the abil-
,ity of the rubber tire manufacturers to
reduce the cost and increase the dura-
bility of their product MIR. Edison
was pleasantly optimistic about this
feature of the matter. but by nc means
explicit.
If the manufacturers can only induce
Mr.. Edison to look into this phase of
the coming evolution of traffic the
thing will be done. but the wizard is
not interested at present. He intimat-
ed that there might be some undiscov-
ersd material as suitable as rubber for
wagon wheels, just as he was sure
that there vas some solution of the
lead battery-but that is another story.
In Edison's world of magic there is
no such thing as fail. When we con-
slider the manner in which he has faced
failure, again and again, in connection
with every one Of his big inventions,
the personality of his genius points a
moral to ambitious dreamers.
Once the thing is done, Edison busies
himself no more with that. Withic
the Enclosure of the Edison works at
Orange. N. J. two new factory build