The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-01

America invented the new things OF
war, the submarine and the acroplane
and various munitions. 40 Thomas A..
Edison impressed uron n reporter for
THE SrS yesterday with positsveness,
But-and here Mr.. Edison grew as vehe-
nent as IL liz possible for "A gentle man.
nered gentleman to grow-recently a
large part Of America has seemingly,
SO Mr.. Edison believes. invented an al
together false notion Of the objects and
operations of the new naval consulting
board Of engineering specialists which
has been formed to help Secretary Dan
iels and the Navy Department to fur
thcr offensive and defensive inventions.
II was with the idea Of dispellins
false notions about the object OF the
board Of expert engineers that Mr.. Edi-
son for the first time went into a gem
"ral discussion yesterday OF how the
board members hope to he able to go
about assisting the Navy Department.
Promptly Mr.. Edison made II clear that
neither ne nor the other board MEM
beers. OF which Mr.. Edison in a way OF
speaking Is the dean. has anything to
do with making new inventions whatso-
ever"
In "a jiTy the master inventor thus
laughed away the man on the streets
idea that when the twenty-three menu
hers Of the board. as yet not officially
named. assemble AT Washington on &C.
tober s next with Mr.. Edison In the
chair they will come into the meeting
room trailing models OF jitney subma-
rines and other weird contraptions.
False Motion D%ispeiiea.
Also right at the beginning OF things
a false notion was dispelled from the
mind Of the visitor who had journeyed
toward the Oranges with visIon OF
boarding corI@ Of naughty Office boys
and a long wait In impressive QUITE Of
fees before an audience could he gained.
perhaps in a sanctum suggestive OF He
lasvo settings.
The whole operation IL much simpler.
one drops of a West range trolley
car, enters a factory yard surrounded
uy "A forest Of gray concrete buildings
and-yssterday AZ least-happens upon
an alert looking young man hustling
along.
Hes In there" thu young mar says,
indicating one Of tn. Older buildings.
long and low roofed-i chemical labors-
too.
From the doorway one saw standing
far down an aisle lind with bottles and
jars and glass re,orrs the creator Of
most things worth while. from mean
{ descent lights and ~seAtuplex Geographic
transmission down the ages 20 Charlia
chaplin. His felt ha. was on the back
nf his head. his strirg tie needed re-
arranging. but his brain seemed prop.
erly tidied up as he watched in,ei,tly
Il chemical mixture Ia a retort.
America invented the nrea' things
OF war Mr. Edison. getting right down
To- the subject at hand. said as he took
only one lingering lcoK back toward
the re.ort and settled :ntu a chair. 'But
our navy is SO organized that when in
yentions such as the submarine and
others Of great import nce wer" brought
to the Departments attention i; turned
them down. Congress never supplied 1t
with funds for sufficient research work,
and so it's turned down everything
We'll. no, everything" corrected the
alert looking young mar encountered IN
the factory yard. WHO proved to be,
despite his youthful appearance. Miller
Reese Hutchinson. T.. T., Pm. ID, chlet
engineer NJ the Edison laboratory and
personal representative Of Mr.. Edison.
Lack Of Funds blamed.
practically everything" Mr., Edison
Insisted stoutly. There's the suhma-
rlne. Then they did mex 20 nothing
with the aeroplane. Lacf OF iuids
from Congress Is N. chief cause.
Now. az for any nation in the public
mind that the consulting board Of en-
gineering experts has been organized 10
tell the navy it's All . rOng or has been
assembled to turn "ut astonishing
weapons of offence or d"tence-tnt'
all bosh.
The board consists at present OF
'','ty three engineering cNper's' h"'
ut picked hy the secretary OF IA,
Navy or any other individual, Ou'
chosen by the popular vote ~ the vari-
Gus engineering societies Of when theS
ar. prominent members and their dutir'
win IL. not 10 tell the navy hoN to con
duct it, business nor TO folst oh the NAVY
apartment our owr or IN, inventions
ot others. The board has nothing u
do with iuvcitiug as such Whatsoever
Il IL merely a consulting body to whtyn
II the department wishes, any ne" ld"-
submitted 70 the navy from any source
may be suhntttcd for an cNper, opin'"i
as to whether the idea has merit enough
to warrant further experimentation ant
research.
"Th. mtmh.gs Of the board are 10
organized 10 suggest such IDEAS 10 I'M
Department; AS experts they -Npcc
merely to say yes or mo- r,sardin,
the worth OF IDEAS submitted by others
II rs an individual amy m shoult
happen 20 have an idea OF MS own Il
suggest such invention would have Il
he submitted to the department throuRl
the regular channels just as ANY man Il
.-htl 49,. 10 fa. - ~ . H-t