The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-07-15
HOSIERY COMPANY sees VALUE
General Superintendent R. N. KimbaA
Visits Thomas A. Edison at His Lab
oratory and Is Entertained by the
Great Inventor.

Thomas A. Edison of West Orange,
New Jersey, who has just accepted
an invitation to head national adj
visory board of civilian inventors for
a bureau of invention and develop
ment to be created in connection with
the United States navy department
under Secretary Daniels, believes that
patriotic service can be rendered a
nation in peace as well as in war and
one of the great manufacturing plants
of Kenosha has been instrumental in
interesting Mr.. Edison in movement
which will be of greatest interest and
value to all textile working concerns
in the United States.
E'The Man Who Makes Dreams Come
True working at the suggestions Of
officials of the Chicago Kenosha Hosi-
cry Company, is now busy seeking to
perfect a process for the manufacture
of dye stuffs at his great laboratories
at West Orange. The war came as a
Gripping blow to many industries US
ing dye stuffs on account of the fact
that for a century practically all of
the analine dyes used in the United
States were imported from Germany.
Wizard Edison has just sent letter
to the hosiery works here in which he
states that he has managed to make
an analine dye which will be the equal
if not the superior of the dye produc-
ed in Germany and in a short time the
dye will be commercially offered to the
textile plants of the United States.
The invention now being perfected
by Mr.. Edison promises to save a lot
of textile plants in the United States
from commercial ruin and it will make
it possible for other plants to continue
to use processes which they have sue
eessfully used for years and which
TO change over to other methods
would cost these companies vast
sums of money.
The Kenosha hosiery plant, the larg-
est Of the kind in the world, was the
first to avail itself of the genius Of
Edison in meeting great trade prob
lem. Ten days ago Roger N. KimbalI,.
general superintendent OF the plant,
went to West Orange to see Mr.. Edi-
son. He had received a letter from
Mr.. Edison short tim 80 telling Of
experiments which were being made
along the lines of making the analine
dyes and the hopes that were enter
tanned for the success of the project.
'FMr. Edison was attracted by the
battle to do something for his own
nation" said Mr.. Kimball. che
started in making analine dye not to
make money, but to demonstrate to the
world that if Germany and Germans
could make an analine dye America
and Americans could. We were at
traeted to the suggestion of the new
work to Mr.. Edison by necessity. For
years we have purchased analine dyes
in Germany. We had been accustom-
ed to buy consignment Of dye which
cost us eight hundred dollars, but the
last time we received consignment
the cost Of the same amount of dyes
was ten thousand dollars and little
over. There was no warrant that q
new supply would be furnished at this
price and like a lot Of other things
exclusively German, the price was SUBJ
ject to increase. Many firms have
used substitutes for the analine dyes
because of their inability to pay the
price demanded by the German ex-
porters We decided that it would be.
cheaper to pay this price and main
tain old methods of manufacture,
temporarily at least. Just as soon as
7 received Mr.. Edison's letter I hur-
ried to West Orange. They sent me
to the laboratory and Mr.. Edison was
busy at work on the proposition when
I found him. We lunched together
and I explained to him just what our
problem was. IF they can make it
we can make it, was the Characters
tic response of Mr.. Edison. In max
ing his analine dye Mr.. Edison ran up
against the hard proposition of secur-
ing carbolic acid. He found that
there was an embargo on carbolie acid
and he set his chemists to work to
make substitute for carbolic acid in
making analine DYES. He succeeded
in this undertaking. am convinced
that the new invention Of Mr. Edison
along a line that has been foreign to
the workings of this great genius in
the past viii be of greatest value to
the textile trade. It is going to re-
duee greatly the cost Of manufacture
IN the United States and ultimately