The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-10-31
BY WILLIS ]. BALLINGER
As told by william Joseph Hammer,
Iifelong Friend Of Edison.

twenty greatest inventions. Ameri-
cans have accounted for eleven.
And there is no doubt that Edi-
son outranks all as the worlds
greatest individual inventor. Ger
tainly his incandescent lamp, his
photograph, his motion picture
camera are lodged safely in the
hall of fame of inventions. But
even these triumphs are only
small part of the labors Of his pro-
life brain.
Years ago the United States COM
missioner of patents spoke of Edi-
son as that young man who keeps
the steps of the patent Office hot
with his footsteps"
Range Is Unbelievable
In prying into thousands Of Edi-
son blueprints the range of the
mans mind seems unbelievable.
Edison could jump from prosaic
invention like his belt conyeyor to
the realm of pure poetic fancy.
One day he said to Hammer:
Hammer, if 1 could only neu-
tralize gravitation I could do lot
of interesting things"
And the great man actually cogi-
tated seriously on such a stupen-
dous subject!
Devised Hopper Telegraph
Edison's agile mind perceived
dimly through the immense mys-
teries that surrounded it, the COM
ing of wireless.
He devised what he called his
"grasshopper telegraph" by which
the top of moving train was so
arranged that a message could be
made to leap from it through space
to the regular telegraph wires run
ming beside the trick without in
terfering with the regular messages
they carried.
Major Hammer sent the follow
ing message by means Of the Edison
"grasshopper telegraph" from a
Long Island train to his home.
Upon arriving at his home in New
ark there was the message await
ing him:
IF were a fugitive from justice,
such a system as this would serious
ly interfere with my arrangements"
TOyed With Electric Idea
The train from which the mes
sage had been dispatched was
travelling fifty miles an hour.
Edison toyed with the idea of
making a current jump. He be-
leved that, by coating the sails of
q sailboat with tin foil, an electric
spark could be made to jump miles
to another vessel or to shore or fur
ther to land, and he took out a
patent on the idea and he proved
it,
Later he sold it to the Marconi
company
Or we find Edison devising a way
to measure heat of the stars Or,
again, so interested in politics that
he turns out the first vote recorder,
his first patented invention, which
he thought would end fllibustering.
Patented Electric Torpedo
Or SO concerned with the safety
of his country that he patents an
electric torpedo. Or, far past 70,
turning naturalist and. with Bur-
bankian geninus, rearing golden rod
fourteen feet high and verging on
the very edge of success in creating
a new source of rubber.
The following inventions may
fairly be listed as Edison's greatest:
His universal stock ticker.
His automatic telegraph-a device
by which $500 words a minute are
sent from New York to Philadel-
phia, where ordinary manual trans
mission by telegraph key is not
more than forty or fifty words
minute.
Saved Millions of Dollars
His duplex and quadruplex tele-
graph-by which one operator can
send two to four messages stimuli
taneously over a single wire. This
invention saved the telegraph COM
panies hundreds of millions of dol
lars in cost of line construction
alone.
His carbon transmitter-which
today is used universally in the
telephone system.
Few people know it, but with
every telephone in the world one
talks into an Edison carbon trans
mitter.
Invention after invention poured
from his mind. There were, for in
stance:
His electrical pen and officiating
press, which would reproduce and
manifold writing-an invention
foreshadowing the modern mimeo-
graph.
PhOnograph His FavOrite
His phonograph-about which
Edison said: IF there is one thing
which I really did invent, it is the
photograph"
His feeder and main system for
the distribution of electric light
and power. which did away with
the need for and the tremendous
cost of isolated plants and the sub
stitution of great central stations.
His Ediphone. Back in 1890
Maior Hammer used the photograph
Tor Q1CLdIlIlS al Ills COlA CoP O1lNSAlSS
at his Office, and in 1905, Edison
perfected the Ediphone, now used
extensively.
His kaleidoscope. Edison was the
original inventor of the motion pic
ture: he devised the first motion
Npicture camera and his kaleidoscope
was the groundwork for the modern
motion picture machine.
First Continuous Film
DIR. Newton, an Episcopal minis
fer in Newark, invented the first
celluloid film used in cameras, and
the Eastman company, OF Roches-
ter later paid his heirs a huge sum
for his work. Up to that time glass
plates had been used, but Edison
invented the first continuous MIN
used in motion pictures.
His belt conveyor, a belt used TO
convey away materials, widely used
TODAY in the ore and other indus