EDISON'S METHOD IN INVENTING
WHILE the world's progress depends largely upon their ingenuity,
inventors are not usually persons who have adopted invention as a
distinct profession, but, generally speaking, are otherwise engaged in
various walks of life. By reason of more or less inherent native genius
they either make improvements along lines of present occupation, or
else evolve new methods and means of accomplishing results in fields for
which they may have personal predilections.
Now and then, however, there arises a man so greatly endowed with
natural powers and originality that the creative faculty within him
is too strong to endure the humdrum routine of affairs, and manifests
itself in a life devoted entirely to the evolution of methods and
devices calculated to further the world's welfare. In other words, he
becomes an inventor by profession. Such a man is Edison. Notwithstanding
the fact that nearly forty years ago (not a great while after he had
emerged from the ranks of peripatetic telegraph operators) he was
the owner of a large and profitable business as a manufacturer of the
telegraphic apparatus invented by him, the call of his nature was too
strong to allow of profits being laid away in the bank to accumulate. As
he himself has said, he has "too sanguine a temperament to allow money
to stay in solitary confinement." Hence, all superfluous cash was
devoted to experimentation. In the course of years he grew more and
more impatient of the shackles that bound him to business routine, and,
realizing the powers within him, he drew away gradually from purely
manufacturing occupations, determining deliberately to devote his
life to inventive work, and to depend upon its results as a means of
subsistence.
All persons who make inventions will necessarily be more or less
original in character, but to the man who chooses to become an inventor
by profession must be conceded a mind more than ordinarily replete
with virility and originality. That these qualities in Edison are
superabundant is well known to all who have worked with him, and,
indeed, are apparent to every one from his multiplied achievements
within the period of one generation.
If one were allowed only two words with which to describe Edison, it
is doubtful whether a close examination of the entire dictionary would
disclose any others more suitable than "experimenter--inventor." These
would express the overruling characteristics of his eventful career. It
is as an "inventor" that he sets himself down in the membership list of
the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. To attempt the strict
placing of these words in relation to each other (except alphabetically)
would be equal to an endeavor to solve the old problem as to which came
first, the egg or the chicken; for although all his inventions have been
evolved through experiment, many of his notable experiments have
called forth the exercise of highly inventive faculties in their very
inception. Investigation and experiment have been a consuming passion,
an impelling force from within, as it were, from his petticoat days when
he collected goose-eggs and tried to hatch them out by sitting over
them himself. One might be inclined to dismiss this trivial incident
smilingly, as a mere childish, thoughtless prank, had not subsequent
development as a child, boy, and man revealed a born investigator with
original reasoning powers that, disdaining crooks and bends, always
aimed at the centre, and, like the flight of the bee, were accurate and
direct.
It is not surprising, therefore, that a man of this kind should
exhibit a ceaseless, absorbing desire for knowledge, and an apparently
uncontrollable tendency to experiment on every possible occasion,
even though his last cent were spent in thus satisfying the insatiate
cravings of an inquiring mind.
During Edison's immature years, when he was flitting about from place to
place as a telegraph operator, his experimentation was of a desultory,
hand-to-mouth character, although it was always notable for originality,
as expressed in a number of minor useful devices produced during this
period. Small wonder, then, that at the end of these wanderings, when
he had found a place to "rest the sole of his foot," he established a
laboratory in which to carry on his researches in a more methodical and
practical manner. In this was the beginning of the work which has since
made such a profound impression on contemporary life.
There is nothing of the helter-skelter, slap-dash style in Edison's
experiments. Although all the laboratory experimenters agree in the
opinion that he "tries everything," it is not merely the mixing of a
little of this, some of that, and a few drops of the other, in the HOPE
that SOMETHING will come of it. Nor is the spirit of the laboratory
work represented in the following dialogue overheard between two alleged
carpenters picked up at random to help on a hurry job.
"How near does she fit, Mike?"
"About an inch."
"Nail her!"
A most casual examination of any of the laboratory records will reveal
evidence of the minutest exactitude insisted on in the conduct of
experiments, irrespective of the length of time they occupied. Edison's
instructions, always clear cut and direct, followed by his keen
oversight, admit of nothing less than implicit observance in all
details, no matter where they may lead, and impel to the utmost
minuteness and accuracy.
To some extent there has been a popular notion that many of Edison's
successes have been due to mere dumb fool luck--to blind, fortuitous
"happenings." Nothing could be further from the truth, for, on the
contrary, it is owing almost entirely to the comprehensive scope of his
knowledge, the breadth of his conception, the daring originality of
his methods, and minuteness and extent of experiment, combined with
unwavering pertinacity, that new arts have been created and additions
made to others already in existence. Indeed, without this tireless
minutiae, and methodical, searching spirit, it would have been
practically impossible to have produced many of the most important of
these inventions.
Needless to say, mastery of its literature is regarded by him as a
most important preliminary in taking up any line of investigation. What
others may have done, bearing directly or collaterally on the subject,
in print, is carefully considered and sifted to the point of exhaustion.
Not that he takes it for granted that the conclusions are correct, for
he frequently obtains vastly different results by repeating in his own
way experiments made by others as detailed in books.
"Edison can travel along a well-used road and still find virgin soil,"
remarked recently one of his most practical experimenters, who had been
working along a certain line without attaining the desired result. "He
wanted to get a particular compound having definite qualities, and I had
tried in all sorts of ways to produce it but with only partial success.
He was confident that it could be done, and said he would try it
himself. In doing so he followed the same path in which I had travelled,
but, by making an undreamed-of change in one of the operations,
succeeded in producing a compound that virtually came up to his
specifications. It is not the only time I have known this sort of thing
to happen."
In speaking of Edison's method of experimenting, another of his
laboratory staff says: "He is never hindered by theory, but resorts to
actual experiment for proof. For instance, when he conceived the idea of
pouring a complete concrete house it was universally held that it would
be impossible because the pieces of stone in the mixture would not rise
to the level of the pouring-point, but would gravitate to a lower plane
in the soft cement. This, however, did not hinder him from making
a series of experiments which resulted in an invention that proved
conclusively the contrary."
Having conceived some new idea and read everything obtainable
relating to the subject in general, Edison's fertility of resource and
originality come into play. Taking one of the laboratory note-books,
he will write in it a memorandum of the experiments to be tried,
illustrated, if necessary, by sketches. This book is then passed on
to that member of the experimental staff whose special training and
experience are best adapted to the work. Here strenuousness is expected;
and an immediate commencement of investigation and prompt report are
required. Sometimes the subject may be such as to call for a long line
of frequent tests which necessitate patient and accurate attention to
minute details. Results must be reported often--daily, or possibly with
still greater frequency. Edison does not forget what is going on; but in
his daily tours through the laboratory keeps in touch with all the work
that is under the hands of his various assistants, showing by an instant
grasp of the present conditions of any experiment that he has a
full consciousness of its meaning and its reference to his original
conception.
The year 1869 saw the beginning of Edison's career as an acknowledged
inventor of commercial devices. From the outset, an innate recognition
of system dictated the desirability and wisdom of preserving records
of his experiments and inventions. The primitive records, covering the
earliest years, were mainly jotted down on loose sheets of paper covered
with sketches, notes, and data, pasted into large scrap-books, or
preserved in packages; but with the passing of years and enlargement of
his interests, it became the practice to make all original laboratory
notes in large, uniform books. This course was pursued until the Menlo
Park period, when he instituted a new regime that has been continued
down to the present day. A standard form of note-book, about eight and
a half by six inches, containing about two hundred pages, was adopted.
A number of these books were (and are now) always to be found scattered
around in the different sections of the laboratory, and in them have
been noted by Edison all his ideas, sketches, and memoranda. Details
of the various experiments concerning them have been set down by his
assistants from time to time.
These later laboratory note-books, of which there are now over one
thousand in the series, are eloquent in the history they reveal of the
strenuous labors of Edison and his assistants and the vast fields
of research he has covered during the last thirty years. They are
overwhelmingly rich in biographic material, but analysis would be
a prohibitive task for one person, and perhaps interesting only to
technical readers. Their pages cover practically every department
of science. The countless thousands of separate experiments recorded
exhibit the operations of a master mind seeking to surprise Nature into
a betrayal of her secrets by asking her the same question in a hundred
different ways. For instance, when Edison was investigating a certain
problem of importance many years ago, the note-books show that on this
point alone about fifteen thousand experiments and tests were made by
one of his assistants.
A most casual glance over these note-books will illustrate the following
remark, which was made to one of the writers not long ago by a member of
the laboratory staff who has been experimenting there for twenty years:
"Edison can think of more ways of doing a thing than any man I ever saw
or heard of. He tries everything and never lets up, even though failure
is apparently staring him in the face. He only stops when he simply
can't go any further on that particular line. When he decides on any
mode of procedure he gives his notes to the experimenter and lets him
alone, only stepping in from time to time to look at the operations and
receive reports of progress."
The history of the development of the telephone transmitter, phonograph,
incandescent lamp, dynamo, electrical distributing systems from central
stations, electric railway, ore-milling, cement, motion pictures, and
a host of minor inventions may be found embedded in the laboratory
note-books. A passing glance at a few pages of these written records
will serve to illustrate, though only to a limited extent, the
thoroughness of Edison's method. It is to be observed that these
references can be but of the most meagre kind, and must be regarded as
merely throwing a side-light on the subject itself. For instance, the
complex problem of a practical telephone transmitter gave rise to a
series of most exhaustive experiments. Combinations in almost infinite
variety, including gums, chemical compounds, oils, minerals, and metals
were suggested by Edison; and his assistants were given long lists
of materials to try with reference to predetermined standards of
articulation, degrees of loudness, and perfection of hissing sounds. The
note-books contain hundreds of pages showing that a great many thousands
of experiments were tried and passed upon. Such remarks as "N. G.";
"Pretty good"; "Whistling good, but no articulation"; "Rattly";
"Articulation, whispering, and whistling good"; "Best to-night so far";
and others are noted opposite the various combinations as they were
tried. Thus, one may follow the investigation through a maze of
experiments which led up to the successful invention of the carbon
button transmitter, the vital device to give the telephone its needed
articulation and perfection.
The two hundred and odd note-books, covering the strenuous period during
which Edison was carrying on his electric-light experiments, tell on
their forty thousand pages or more a fascinating story of the evolution
of a new art in its entirety. From the crude beginnings, through all
the varied phases of this evolution, the operations of a master mind
are apparent from the contents of these pages, in which are recorded the
innumerable experiments, calculations, and tests that ultimately brought
light out of darkness.
The early work on a metallic conductor for lamps gave rise to some very
thorough research on melting and alloying metals, the preparation of
metallic oxides, the coating of fine wires by immersing them in a great
variety of chemical solutions. Following his usual custom, Edison would
indicate the lines of experiment to be followed, which were carried
out and recorded in the note-books. He himself, in January, 1879, made
personally a most minute and searching investigation into the properties
and behavior of plating-iridium, boron, rutile, zircon, chromium,
molybdenum, and nickel, under varying degrees of current strength, on
which there may be found in the notes about forty pages of detailed
experiments and deductions in his own handwriting, concluding with the
remark (about nickel): "This is a great discovery for electric light in
the way of economy."
This period of research on nickel, etc., was evidently a trying one, for
after nearly a month's close application he writes, on January 27, 1879:
"Owing to the enormous power of the light my eyes commenced to pain
after seven hours' work, and I had to quit." On the next day appears
the following entry: "Suffered the pains of hell with my eyes last night
from 10 P.M. till 4 A.M., when got to sleep with a big dose of morphine.
Eyes getting better, and do not pain much at 4 P.M.; but I lose to-day."
The "try everything" spirit of Edison's method is well illustrated in
this early period by a series of about sixteen hundred resistance tests
of various ores, minerals, earths, etc., occupying over fifty pages of
one of the note-books relating to the metallic filament for his lamps.
But, as the reader has already learned, the metallic filament was soon
laid aside in favor of carbon, and we find in the laboratory notes an
amazing record of research and experiment conducted in the minute
and searching manner peculiar to Edison's method. His inquiries were
directed along all the various roads leading to the desired goal,
for long before he had completed the invention of a practical lamp he
realized broadly the fundamental requirements of a successful system of
electrical distribution, and had given instructions for the making of
a great variety of calculations which, although far in advance of
the time, were clearly foreseen by him to be vitally important in the
ultimate solution of the complicated problem. Thus we find many hundreds
of pages of the note-books covered with computations and calculations
by Mr. Upton, not only on the numerous ramifications of the projected
system and comparisons with gas, but also on proposed forms of dynamos
and the proposed station in New York. A mere recital by titles of
the vast number of experiments and tests on carbons, lamps, dynamos,
armatures, commutators, windings, systems, regulators, sockets,
vacuum-pumps, and the thousand and one details relating to the subject
in general, originated by Edison, and methodically and systematically
carried on under his general direction, would fill a great many pages
here, and even then would serve only to convey a confused impression of
ceaseless probing.
It is possible only to a broad, comprehensive mind well stored with
knowledge, and backed with resistless, boundless energy, that such a
diversified series of experiments and investigations could be carried
on simultaneously and assimilated, even though they should relate to a
class of phenomena already understood and well defined. But if we pause
to consider that the commercial subdivision of the electric current
(which was virtually an invention made to order) involved the solution
of problems so unprecedented that even they themselves had to be
created, we cannot but conclude that the afflatus of innate genius
played an important part in the unique methods of investigation
instituted by Edison at that and other times.
The idea of attributing great successes to "genius" has always been
repudiated by Edison, as evidenced by his historic remark that "Genius
is 1 per cent. inspiration and 99 per cent. perspiration." Again, in a
conversation many years ago at the laboratory between Edison, Batchelor,
and E. H. Johnson, the latter made allusion to Edison's genius as
evidenced by some of his achievements, when Edison replied:
"Stuff! I tell you genius is hard work, stick-to-it-iveness, and common
sense."
"Yes," said Johnson, "I admit there is all that to it, but there's still
more. Batch and I have those qualifications, but although we knew quite
a lot about telephones, and worked hard, we couldn't invent a brand-new
non-infringing telephone receiver as you did when Gouraud cabled for
one. Then, how about the subdivision of the electric light?"
"Electric current," corrected Edison.
"True," continued Johnson; "you were the one to make that very
distinction. The scientific world had been working hard on subdivision
for years, using what appeared to be common sense. Results worse than
nil. Then you come along, and about the first thing you do, after
looking the ground over, is to start off in the opposite direction,
which subsequently proves to be the only possible way to reach the goal.
It seems to me that this is pretty close to the dictionary definition of
genius."
It is said that Edison replied rather incoherently and changed the topic
of conversation.
This innate modesty, however, does not prevent Edison from recognizing
and classifying his own methods of investigation. In a conversation with
two old associates recently (April, 1909), he remarked: "It has been
said of me that my methods are empirical. That is true only so far
as chemistry is concerned. Did you ever realize that practically all
industrial chemistry is colloidal in its nature? Hard rubber, celluloid,
glass, soap, paper, and lots of others, all have to deal with amorphous
substances, as to which comparatively little has been really settled.
My methods are similar to those followed by Luther Burbank. He plants an
acre, and when this is in bloom he inspects it. He has a sharp eye, and
can pick out of thousands a single plant that has promise of what he
wants. From this he gets the seed, and uses his skill and knowledge in
producing from it a number of new plants which, on development, furnish
the means of propagating an improved variety in large quantity. So, when
I am after a chemical result that I have in mind, I may make hundreds
or thousands of experiments out of which there may be one that promises
results in the right direction. This I follow up to its legitimate
conclusion, discarding the others, and usually get what I am after.
There is no doubt about this being empirical; but when it comes to
problems of a mechanical nature, I want to tell you that all I've
ever tackled and solved have been done by hard, logical thinking." The
intense earnestness and emphasis with which this was said were very
impressive to the auditors. This empirical method may perhaps be better
illustrated by a specific example. During the latter part of the storage
battery investigations, after the form of positive element had been
determined upon, it became necessary to ascertain what definite
proportions and what quality of nickel hydrate and nickel flake would
give the best results. A series of positive tubes were filled with the
two materials in different proportions--say, nine parts hydrate to one
of flake; eight parts hydrate to two of flake; seven parts hydrate to
three of flake, and so on through varying proportions. Three sets of
each of these positives were made, and all put into separate test tubes
with a uniform type of negative element. These were carried through a
long series of charges and discharges under strict test conditions. From
the tabulated results of hundreds of tests there were selected
three that showed the best results. These, however, showed only the
superiority of certain PROPORTIONS of the materials. The next step
would be to find out the best QUALITY. Now, as there are several hundred
variations in the quality of nickel flake, and perhaps a thousand ways
to make the hydrate, it will be realized that Edison's methods led to
stupendous detail, for these tests embraced a trial of all the qualities
of both materials in the three proportions found to be most suitable.
Among these many thousands of experiments any that showed extraordinary
results were again elaborated by still further series of tests, until
Edison was satisfied that he had obtained the best result in that
particular line.
The laboratory note-books do not always tell the whole story or meaning
of an experiment that may be briefly outlined on one of their pages. For
example, the early filament made of a mixture of lampblack and tar is
merely a suggestion in the notes, but its making afforded an example
of Edison's pertinacity. These materials, when mixed, became a friable
mass, which he had found could be brought into such a cohesive,
putty-like state by manipulation, as to be capable of being rolled out
into filaments as fine as seven-thousandths of an inch in cross-section.
One of the laboratory assistants was told to make some of this mixture,
knead it, and roll some filaments. After a time he brought the mass to
Edison, and said:
"There's something wrong about this, for it crumbles even after
manipulating it with my fingers."
"How long did you knead it?" said Edison.
"Oh! more than an hour," replied the assistant.
"Well, just keep on for a few hours more and it will come out all
right," was the rejoinder. And this proved to be correct, for, after
a prolonged kneading and rolling, the mass changed into a cohesive,
stringy, homogeneous putty. It was from a mixture of this kind that
spiral filaments were made and used in some of the earliest forms
of successful incandescent lamps; indeed, they are described and
illustrated in Edison's fundamental lamp patent (No. 223,898).
The present narrative would assume the proportions of a history of
the incandescent lamp, should the authors attempt to follow Edison's
investigations through the thousands of pages of note-books away back in
the eighties and early nineties. Improvement of the lamp was constantly
in his mind all those years, and besides the vast amount of detail
experimental work he laid out for his assistants, he carried on a great
deal of research personally. Sometimes whole books are filled in his
own handwriting with records of experiments showing every conceivable
variation of some particular line of inquiry; each trial bearing some
terse comment expressive of results. In one book appear the details of
one of these experiments on September 3, 1891, at 4.30 A.M., with the
comment: "Brought up lamp higher than a 16-c.p. 240 was ever brought
before--Hurrah!" Notwithstanding the late hour, he turns over to the
next page and goes on to write his deductions from this result as
compared with those previously obtained. Proceeding day by day, as
appears by this same book, he follows up another line of investigation
on lamps, apparently full of difficulty, for after one hundred and
thirty-two other recorded experiments we find this note: "Saturday 3.30
went home disgusted with incandescent lamps." This feeling was evidently
evanescent, for on the succeeding Monday the work was continued and
carried on by him as keenly as before, as shown by the next batch of
notes.
This is the only instance showing any indication of impatience that the
authors have found in looking through the enormous mass of laboratory
notes. All his assistants agree that Edison is the most patient,
tireless experimenter that could be conceived of. Failures do not
distress him; indeed, he regards them as always useful, as may be
gathered from the following, related by Dr. E. G. Acheson, formerly one
of his staff: "I once made an experiment in Edison's laboratory at Menlo
Park during the latter part of 1880, and the results were not as looked
for. I considered the experiment a perfect failure, and while bemoaning
the results of this apparent failure Mr. Edison entered, and, after
learning the facts of the case, cheerfully remarked that I should not
look upon it as a failure, for he considered every experiment a success,
as in all cases it cleared up the atmosphere, and even though it failed
to accomplish the results sought for, it should prove a valuable lesson
for guidance in future work. I believe that Mr. Edison's success as
an experimenter was, to a large extent, due to this happy view of all
experiments."
Edison has frequently remarked that out of a hundred experiments he
does not expect more than one to be successful, and as to that one he
is always suspicious until frequent repetition has verified the original
results.
This patient, optimistic view of the outcome of experiments has remained
part of his character down to this day, just as his painstaking, minute,
incisive methods are still unchanged. But to the careless, stupid, or
lazy person he is a terror for the short time they remain around him.
Honest mistakes may be tolerated, but not carelessness, incompetence,
or lack of attention to business. In such cases Edison is apt to express
himself freely and forcibly, as when he was asked why he had parted with
a certain man, he said: "Oh, he was so slow that it would take him half
an hour to get out of the field of a microscope." Another instance will
be illustrative. Soon after the Brockton (Massachusetts) central station
was started in operation many years ago, he wrote a note to Mr. W. S.
Andrews, containing suggestions as to future stations, part of which
related to the various employees and their duties. After outlining the
duties of the meter man, Edison says: "I should not take too young a man
for this, say, a man from twenty-three to thirty years old, bright and
businesslike. Don't want any one who yearns to enter a laboratory and
experiment. We have a bad case of that at Brockton; he neglects business
to potter. What we want is a good lamp average and no unprofitable
customer. You should have these men on probation and subject to passing
an examination by me. This will wake them up."
Edison's examinations are no joke, according to Mr. J. H. Vail, formerly
one of the Menlo Park staff. "I wanted a job," he said, "and was
ambitious to take charge of the dynamo-room. Mr. Edison led me to a heap
of junk in a corner and said: 'Put that together and let me know
when it's running.' I didn't know what it was, but received a liberal
education in finding out. It proved to be a dynamo, which I finally
succeeded in assembling and running. I got the job." Another man who
succeeded in winning a place as assistant was Mr. John F. Ott, who has
remained in his employ for over forty years. In 1869, when Edison was
occupying his first manufacturing shop (the third floor of a small
building in Newark), he wanted a first-class mechanician, and Mr. Ott
was sent to him. "He was then an ordinary-looking young fellow," says
Mr. Ott, "dirty as any of the other workmen, unkempt, and not much
better dressed than a tramp, but I immediately felt that there was a
great deal in him." This is the conversation that ensued, led by Mr.
Edison's question:
"What do you want?"
"Work."
"Can you make this machine work?" (exhibiting it and explaining its
details).
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Well, you needn't pay me if I don't."
And thus Mr. Ott went to work and succeeded in accomplishing the results
desired. Two weeks afterward Mr. Edison put him in charge of the shop.
Edison's life fairly teems with instances of unruffled patience in the
pursuit of experiments. When he feels thoroughly impressed with the
possibility of accomplishing a certain thing, he will settle down
composedly to investigate it to the end.
This is well illustrated in a story relating to his invention of the
type of storage battery bearing his name. Mr. W. S. Mallory, one of his
closest associates for many years, is the authority for the following:
"When Mr. Edison decided to shut down the ore-milling plant at Edison,
New Jersey, in which I had been associated with him, it became a
problem as to what he could profitably take up next, and we had several
discussions about it. He finally thought that a good storage battery
was a great requisite, and decided to try and devise a new type, for he
declared emphatically he would make no battery requiring sulphuric acid.
After a little thought he conceived the nickel-iron idea, and started to
work at once with characteristic energy. About 7 or 7.30 A.M. he would
go down to the laboratory and experiment, only stopping for a short time
at noon to eat a lunch sent down from the house. About 6 o'clock the
carriage would call to take him to dinner, from which he would return by
7.30 or 8 o'clock to resume work. The carriage came again at midnight
to take him home, but frequently had to wait until 2 or 3 o'clock, and
sometimes return without him, as he had decided to continue all night.
"This had been going on more than five months, seven days a week, when
I was called down to the laboratory to see him. I found him at a bench
about three feet wide and twelve to fifteen feet long, on which there
were hundreds of little test cells that had been made up by his corps
of chemists and experimenters. He was seated at this bench testing,
figuring, and planning. I then learned that he had thus made over
nine thousand experiments in trying to devise this new type of storage
battery, but had not produced a single thing that promised to solve
the question. In view of this immense amount of thought and labor, my
sympathy got the better of my judgment, and I said: 'Isn't it a shame
that with the tremendous amount of work you have done you haven't been
able to get any results?' Edison turned on me like a flash, and with
a smile replied: 'Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results! I
know several thousand things that won't work.'
"At that time he sent me out West on a special mission. On my return, a
few weeks later, his experiments had run up to over ten thousand, but
he had discovered the missing link in the combination sought for. Of
course, we all remember how the battery was completed and put on the
market. Then, because he was dissatisfied with it, he stopped the sales
and commenced a new line of investigation, which has recently culminated
successfully. I shouldn't wonder if his experiments on the battery ran
up pretty near to fifty thousand, for they fill more than one hundred
and fifty of the note-books, to say nothing of some thousands of tests
in curve sheets."
Although Edison has an absolute disregard for the total outlay of money
in investigation, he is particular to keep down the cost of individual
experiments to a minimum, for, as he observed to one of his assistants:
"A good many inventors try to develop things life-size, and thus spend
all their money, instead of first experimenting more freely on a small
scale." To Edison life is not only a grand opportunity to find out
things by experiment, but, when found, to improve them by further
experiment. One night, after receiving a satisfactory report of progress
from Mr. Mason, superintendent of the cement plant, he said: "The only
way to keep ahead of the procession is to experiment. If you don't, the
other fellow will. When there's no experimenting there's no progress.
Stop experimenting and you go backward. If anything goes wrong,
experiment until you get to the very bottom of the trouble."
It is easy to realize, therefore, that a character so thoroughly
permeated with these ideas is not apt to stop and figure out expense
when in hot pursuit of some desired object. When that object has been
attained, however, and it passes from the experimental to the commercial
stage, Edison's monetary views again come into strong play, but they
take a diametrically opposite position, for he then begins immediately
to plan the extreme of economy in the production of the article. A
thousand and one instances could be quoted in illustration; but as
they would tend to change the form of this narrative into a history of
economy in manufacture, it will suffice to mention but one, and that a
recent occurrence, which serves to illustrate how closely he keeps in
touch with everything, and also how the inventive faculty and instinct
of commercial economy run close together. It was during Edison's winter
stay in Florida, in March, 1909. He had reports sent to him daily
from various places, and studied them carefully, for he would write
frequently with comments, instructions, and suggestions; and in one
case, commenting on the oiling system at the cement plant, he wrote:
"Your oil losses are now getting lower, I see." Then, after suggesting
some changes to reduce them still further, he went on to say: "Here is a
chance to save a mill per barrel based on your regular daily output."
This thorough consideration of the smallest detail is essentially
characteristic of Edison, not only in economy of manufacture, but in
all his work, no matter of what kind, whether it be experimenting,
investigating, testing, or engineering. To follow him through the
labyrinthine paths of investigation contained in the great array of
laboratory note-books is to become involved in a mass of minutely
detailed searches which seek to penetrate the inmost recesses of nature
by an ultimate analysis of an infinite variety of parts. As the reader
will obtain a fuller comprehension of this idea, and of Edison's
methods, by concrete illustration rather than by generalization, the
authors have thought it well to select at random two typical instances
of specific investigations out of the thousands that are scattered
through the notebooks. These will be found in the following extracts
from one of the note-books, and consist of Edison's instructions to be
carried out in detail by his experimenters:
"Take, say, 25 lbs. hard Cuban asphalt and separate all the different
hydrocarbons, etc., as far as possible by means of solvents. It will be
necessary first to dissolve everything out by, say, hot turpentine, then
successively treat the residue with bisulphide carbon, benzol, ether,
chloroform, naphtha, toluol, alcohol, and other probable solvents.
After you can go no further, distil off all the solvents so the asphalt
material has a tar-like consistency. Be sure all the ash is out of the
turpentine portion; now, after distilling the turpentine off, act on the
residue with all the solvents that were used on the residue, using for
the first the solvent which is least likely to dissolve a great part
of it. By thus manipulating the various solvents you will be
enabled probably to separate the crude asphalt into several distinct
hydrocarbons. Put each in a bottle after it has been dried, and label
the bottle with the process, etc., so we may be able to duplicate it;
also give bottle a number and describe everything fully in note-book."
"Destructively distil the following substances down to a point just
short of carbonization, so that the residuum can be taken out of the
retort, powdered, and acted on by all the solvents just as the asphalt
in previous page. The distillation should be carried to, say, 600
degrees or 700 degrees Fahr., but not continued long enough to wholly
reduce mass to charcoal, but always run to blackness. Separate the
residuum in as many definite parts as possible, bottle and label, and
keep accurate records as to process, weights, etc., so a reproduction of
the experiment can at any time be made: Gelatine, 4 lbs.; asphalt, hard
Cuban, 10 lbs.; coal-tar or pitch, 10 lbs.; wood-pitch, 10 lbs.;
Syrian asphalt, 10 lbs.; bituminous coal, 10 lbs.; cane-sugar, 10 lbs.;
glucose, 10 lbs.; dextrine, 10 lbs.; glycerine, 10 lbs.; tartaric acid,
5 lbs.; gum guiac, 5 lbs.; gum amber, 3 lbs.; gum tragacanth, 3 Lbs.;
aniline red, 1 lb.; aniline oil, 1 lb.; crude anthracene, 5 lbs.;
petroleum pitch, 10 lbs.; albumen from eggs, 2 lbs.; tar from passing
chlorine through aniline oil, 2 lbs.; citric acid, 5 lbs.; sawdust of
boxwood, 3 lbs.; starch, 5 lbs.; shellac, 3 lbs.; gum Arabic, 5 lbs.;
castor oil, 5 lbs."
The empirical nature of his method will be apparent from an examination
of the above items; but in pursuing it he leaves all uncertainty
behind and, trusting nothing to theory, he acquires absolute knowledge.
Whatever may be the mental processes by which he arrives at the
starting-point of any specific line of research, the final results
almost invariably prove that he does not plunge in at random; indeed,
as an old associate remarked: "When Edison takes up any proposition
in natural science, his perceptions seem to be elementally broad and
analytical, that is to say, in addition to the knowledge he has acquired
from books and observation, he appears to have an intuitive apprehension
of the general order of things, as they might be supposed to exist in
natural relation to each other. It has always seemed to me that he goes
to the core of things at once."
Although nothing less than results from actual experiments are
acceptable to him as established facts, this view of Edison may
also account for his peculiar and somewhat weird ability to "guess"
correctly, a faculty which has frequently enabled him to take short
cuts to lines of investigation whose outcome has verified in a most
remarkable degree statements apparently made offhand and without
calculation. Mr. Upton says: "One of the main impressions left upon me,
after knowing Mr. Edison for many years, is the marvellous accuracy of
his guesses. He will see the general nature of a result long before it
can be reached by mathematical calculation." This was supplemented by
one of his engineering staff, who remarked: "Mr. Edison can guess better
than a good many men can figure, and so far as my experience goes, I
have found that he is almost invariably correct. His guess is more than
a mere starting-point, and often turns out to be the final solution of
a problem. I can only account for it by his remarkable insight and
wonderful natural sense of the proportion of things, in addition to
which he seems to carry in his head determining factors of all
kinds, and has the ability to apply them instantly in considering any
mechanical problem."
While this mysterious intuitive power has been of the greatest advantage
in connection with the vast number of technical problems that have
entered into his life-work, there have been many remarkable instances
in which it has seemed little less than prophecy, and it is deemed worth
while to digress to the extent of relating two of them. One day in
the summer of 1881, when the incandescent lamp-industry was still
in swaddling clothes, Edison was seated in the room of Major Eaton,
vice-president of the Edison Electric Light Company, talking over
business matters, when Mr. Upton came in from the lamp factory at
Menlo Park, and said: "Well, Mr. Edison, we completed a thousand
lamps to-day." Edison looked up and said "Good," then relapsed into
a thoughtful mood. In about two minutes he raised his head, and said:
"Upton, in fifteen years you will be making forty thousand lamps a day."
None of those present ventured to make any remark on this assertion,
although all felt that it was merely a random guess, based on the
sanguine dream of an inventor. The business had not then really made a
start, and being entirely new was without precedent upon which to base
any such statement, but, as a matter of fact, the records of the lamp
factory show that in 1896 its daily output of lamps was actually about
forty thousand.
The other instance referred to occurred shortly after the Edison Machine
Works was moved up to Schenectady, in 1886. One day, when he was at the
works, Edison sat down and wrote on a sheet of paper fifteen separate
predictions of the growth and future of the electrical business.
Notwithstanding the fact that the industry was then in an immature
state, and that the great boom did not set in until a few years
afterward, twelve of these predictions have been fully verified by the
enormous growth and development in all branches of the art.
What the explanation of this gift, power, or intuition may be, is
perhaps better left to the psychologist to speculate upon. If one were
to ask Edison, he would probably say, "Hard work, not too much sleep,
and free use of the imagination." Whether or not it would be possible
for the average mortal to arrive at such perfection of "guessing" by
faithfully following this formula, even reinforced by the Edison
recipe for stimulating a slow imagination with pastry, is open for
demonstration.
Somewhat allied to this curious faculty is another no less remarkable,
and that is, the ability to point out instantly an error in a mass of
reported experimental results. While many instances could be definitely
named, a typical one, related by Mr. J. D. Flack, formerly master
mechanic at the lamp factory, may be quoted: "During the many years
of lamp experimentation, batches of lamps were sent to the photometer
department for test, and Edison would examine the tabulated test sheets.
He ran over every item of the tabulations rapidly, and, apparently
without any calculation whatever, would check off errors as fast as he
came to them, saying: 'You have made a mistake; try this one over.'
In every case the second test proved that he was right. This wonderful
aptitude for infallibly locating an error without an instant's
hesitation for mental calculation, has always appealed to me very
forcibly."
The ability to detect errors quickly in a series of experiments is one
of the things that has enabled Edison to accomplish such a vast amount
of work as the records show. Examples of the minuteness of detail into
which his researches extend have already been mentioned, and as
there are always a number of such investigations in progress at the
laboratory, this ability stands Edison in good stead, for he is thus
enabled to follow, and, if necessary, correct each one step by step.
In this he is aided by the great powers of a mind that is able to free
itself from absorbed concentration on the details of one problem, and
instantly to shift over and become deeply and intelligently concentrated
in another and entirely different one. For instance, he may have been
busy for hours on chemical experiments, and be called upon suddenly to
determine some mechanical questions. The complete and easy transition
is the constant wonder of his associates, for there is no confusion
of ideas resulting from these quick changes, no hesitation or apparent
effort, but a plunge into the midst of the new subject, and an instant
acquaintance with all its details, as if he had been studying it for
hours.
A good stiff difficulty--one which may, perhaps, appear to be an
unsurmountable obstacle--only serves to make Edison cheerful, and brings
out variations of his methods in experimenting. Such an occurrence will
start him thinking, which soon gives rise to a line of suggestions for
approaching the trouble from various sides; or he will sit down and
write out a series of eliminations, additions, or changes to be worked
out and reported upon, with such variations as may suggest themselves
during their progress. It is at such times as these that his unfailing
patience and tremendous resourcefulness are in evidence. Ideas and
expedients are poured forth in a torrent, and although some of them have
temporarily appeared to the staff to be ridiculous or irrelevant, they
have frequently turned out to be the ones leading to a correct solution
of the trouble.
Edison's inexhaustible resourcefulness and fertility of ideas have
contributed largely to his great success, and have ever been a cause of
amazement to those around him. Frequently, when it would seem to others
that the extreme end of an apparently blind alley had been reached, and
that it was impossible to proceed further, he has shown that there were
several ways out of it. Examples without number could be quoted, but
one must suffice by way of illustration. During the progress of the
ore-milling work at Edison, it became desirable to carry on a certain
operation by some special machinery. He requested the proper person on
his engineering staff to think this matter up and submit a few sketches
of what he would propose to do. He brought three drawings to Edison, who
examined them and said none of them would answer. The engineer remarked
that it was too bad, for there was no other way to do it. Mr. Edison
turned to him quickly, and said: "Do you mean to say that these drawings
represent the only way to do this work?" To which he received the reply:
"I certainly do." Edison said nothing. This happened on a Saturday. He
followed his usual custom of spending Sunday at home in Orange. When he
returned to the works on Monday morning, he took with him sketches he
had made, showing FORTY-EIGHT other ways of accomplishing the desired
operation, and laid them on the engineer's desk without a word.
Subsequently one of these ideas, with modifications suggested by some of
the others, was put into successful practice.
Difficulties seem to have a peculiar charm for Edison, whether they
relate to large or small things; and although the larger matters have
contributed most to the history of the arts, the same carefulness of
thought has often been the means of leading to improvements of permanent
advantage even in minor details. For instance, in the very earliest days
of electric lighting, the safe insulation of two bare wires fastened
together was a serious problem that was solved by him. An iron pot over
a fire, some insulating material melted therein, and narrow strips of
linen drawn through it by means of a wooden clamp, furnished a readily
applied and adhesive insulation, which was just as perfect for the
purpose as the regular and now well-known insulating tape, of which it
was the forerunner.
Dubious results are not tolerated for a moment in Edison's experimental
work. Rather than pass upon an uncertainty, the experiment will be
dissected and checked minutely in order to obtain absolute knowledge,
pro and con. This searching method is followed not only in chemical or
other investigations, into which complexities might naturally enter,
but also in more mechanical questions, where simplicity of construction
might naturally seem to preclude possibilities of uncertainty. For
instance, at the time when he was making strenuous endeavors to obtain
copper wire of high conductivity, strict laboratory tests were made of
samples sent by manufacturers. One of these samples tested out poorer
than a previous lot furnished from the same factory. A report of this to
Edison brought the following note: "Perhaps the ---- wire had a bad spot
in it. Please cut it up into lengths and test each one and send results
to me immediately." Possibly the electrical fraternity does not realize
that this earnest work of Edison, twenty-eight years ago, resulted in
the establishment of the high quality of copper wire that has been
the recognized standard since that time. Says Edison on this point:
"I furnished the expert and apparatus to the Ansonia Brass and Copper
Company in 1883, and he is there yet. It was this expert and this
company who pioneered high-conductivity copper for the electrical
trade."
Nor is it generally appreciated in the industry that the adoption of
what is now regarded as a most obvious proposition--the high-economy
incandescent lamp--was the result of that characteristic foresight which
there has been occasion to mention frequently in the course of this
narrative, together with the courage and "horse-sense" which have
always been displayed by the inventor in his persistent pushing out
with far-reaching ideas, in the face of pessimistic opinions. As is
well known, the lamps of the first ten or twelve years of incandescent
lighting were of low economy, but had long life. Edison's study of the
subject had led him to the conviction that the greatest growth of
the electric-lighting industry would be favored by a lamp taking less
current, but having shorter, though commercially economical life;
and after gradually making improvements along this line he developed,
finally, a type of high-economy lamp which would introduce a most
radical change in existing conditions, and lead ultimately to highly
advantageous results. His start on this lamp, and an expressed desire to
have it manufactured for regular use, filled even some of his business
associates with dismay, for they could see nothing but disaster ahead
in forcing such a lamp on the market. His persistence and profound
conviction of the ultimate results were so strong and his arguments so
sound, however, that the campaign was entered upon. Although it took two
or three years to convince the public of the correctness of his views,
the idea gradually took strong root, and has now become an integral
principle of the business.
In this connection it may be noted that with remarkable prescience
Edison saw the coming of the modern lamps of to-day, which, by reason of
their small consumption of energy to produce a given candle-power, have
dismayed central-station managers. A few years ago a consumption of 3.1
watts per candle-power might safely be assumed as an excellent average,
and many stations fixed their rates and business on such a basis. The
results on income when the consumption, as in the new metallic-filament
lamps, drops to 1.25 watts per candle can readily be imagined. Edison
has insisted that central stations are selling light and not current;
and he points to the predicament now confronting them as truth of his
assertion that when selling light they share in all the benefits of
improvement, but that when they sell current the consumer gets all
those benefits without division. The dilemma is encountered by central
stations in a bewildered way, as a novel and unexpected experience; but
Edison foresaw the situation and warned against it long ago. It is one
of the greatest gifts of statesmanship to see new social problems years
before they arise and solve them in advance. It is one of the greatest
attributes of invention to foresee and meet its own problems in exactly
the same way.