Arizona sun., 1947-01-24
WNU Features.

A. Edison found time to root
around in about everybody's
backyard, doping out a gadget
or a machine or a formula
that would help his neighbor.
He was crammed with ideas
about many things, some OF
which, as everybody knows,
brought him enduring fame.
There were some, however,
that his "a years did not give
him time to perfect.
AS the 1oOth anniversary Of his
birth, on February II, 1847. ap-
proaches, there are probably very
few people who know that Edison
once won a patent on flying ma
chine" Back in 1910, he doped out
an idea on helicopter, in which
field he thought the future of avi-
alton lay. On another occasion he
was granted patent on method
of preserving fruit, and when he
died. he was working on formula
for extraction of rubber from the
lowly goldenrod.
Wizard Was Human.
Edison once even worked on an
insecticide, and this experience
shows a human side that bellies any
suggestion that he had a magic
thumb" in the inventive business.
He was just coming into fame as
the Wizard of Menlo Park when
he was approached by a neighbor-
ing farmer whose principal crop
was threatened with destruction by
an invasion of potato bugs. The
year was 1878, Tom was 81, and he
already had to his credit such in
ventions as the phonograph and a
score of telegraph patents. The
farmer allowed as how an up-and-
coming young inventor ought to be
able to find a way to kill off the
potato bugs.
Accepting the challenge, although
he knew relatively nothing about
bugs and plants, Edison collected a
quart bottle full of potato bugs and
set forth to compound a lethal po-
ton. Testing every chemical in his
laboratory. he hit upon bisulphide
of carbon as sure-fire potato bug
killer. Jubilantly, he and the farm
er sprinkled the infested potato
vines and waited to tabulate the re-
suits.
The bugs died like fies-but
so did the potato vines; and Edi-
son had to pay the farmer $500
damages for, as he put it, mot
experimenting properly"
He never again made the mis-
take of not experimenting enough.
Consequently, some of his inventions
took him years to perfect, and be-
cause. of his patience the world has
become a much better place in
which. to live, His invention of the
electric light made necessary a sys-
tenn of electrical distribution which
brought not only light but also
scores of electrical gadgets to the
farm home as well as city resi-
dence. His phonograph put the best
music into the home, and his numer-
GUS other inventions, including the
motion picture, made life easier.
more comfortable and entertaining.
Worked Too Well.
There was one other of Edison's
creations which backfired, but it
wasn't because he hadn't perfected
it; this one, on the contrary,
worked too well. At one time he
was working as night telegraph op-
orator in the Grand Truck railroad
station at Stratford Junction, Can
ada. One of the requirements of the
job was that Edison. then II, must
check in on the wire every half
hour by sending the signal 6 in
Morse code to the train dispatcher
at%a nearby station. >
Edison deplored this arrangement
because it prevented him from
catching up on the sleep he wasn't
getting during the daytime, which
he spent in study and experimental
ton, So he rigged up device for
automatically sending out the sig
nal g. He. hooked up. the Sinstru-
ment to the office clock SO that ev-
cry 80 minutes the signal went out
over the wire. thus ,reassuring the
dispatcher<that Edison was on the
job whereas. in fact, he was sound
asleep
This ruse was successful
until one night the train dis
patcher tried vainly to contact
Edison on the wire, during one
of his catnaps. Alarmed by the
prospect that the Stratford juno
ton telegraph Office was un-a
manned, the dispatcher made
his way to EGison's office on a
handcar. He arrived Just in time
10 find Edison blissfully sleep
ing while the young inventors
machine obedienfly dotted-and-
dashed the prescribed signal.
The next day Edison started
looking for another job, but the ex-
pertinent proved Of incalculable