THE WORLD'S greatest MAGIC WORKER.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 22, 19 March 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE WORLD'S greatest MAGIC WORKER.

JVIY INTERYIEW WITH MR. T. A EDISON.

"Send him along," was the curt and characteristic message which sent me a. willing pilgrim to the shrine of Mi. "Thomas *Aiva Edison, the greatest worker of "magic» the jvorld has e e. known. I knew that Mr. Edison had ar ingrained horror of interviews, and that he was as difficult to draw out as the Sphinx on the subject of his own .achievements and career; and it was with little hope o success that I had asked a mutual friend to plead for me tr a peep at Ins world-famous laboratory and a few words with the great man Mv delight may thus be imagined when a fewTays later I received the three-word invitation which made a liaunv man of me. T Onmv arrival at Orange New Jersey (the iourney takes less than an hour torn New York), I was most courteously received by Mr. Edison s secretary, 4ho told me that he had instructions to Sic round the laboratory but was doubtful whether I should be able to see the magician himself. He s vei> Jasv " he informed me, "but we 11 see S3, thankful for the slight hope thus held out to me, I accompanied my ciceidne on a tour of .inspection of surely the most fascinating factory in the W The' laboratory which has. been the cradle of so many epoch-making indentions consists of a number of large and stately buildings, picturesquely place. in an environment of meadows and shady trees, onlv three minutes walk fom his beautiful home. The library into which I was first ushered is an imposing double-galleried room, a hundred feet or so square, its high walls lined from floor to ceiling with serried rows of books-60.000 in number, and constituting the most complete collection ot scientific books in existence. As mv eves ranged, with a feeling almost of awe, over this vast repository of learning, my guide drew my attention to a recess, in which were a small table and chair. "That,' he told me, "is where Mr. Edison often takes his luncheon, a very simple meal, which Airs. Edison prepared with her own hands and sends down in a basket.

FOPTY YEAP.S OF INVENTION. From the library I was led to the galvanometer room, the most interesting in all the buildings; for it contains the models of almost all Mr Edison s wonderful inventions, from his first patent for recording votes. Here, among countless other mechanical marvels, 1 saw models of the microphone, the duplex and quadruples telegraphs, a device for sending photographs over the wires, a wonderful collection of acoustic instruments—and so on, through the almost interminable number of inventions with which the wizard lias startled and revolutionised the world during the last foitv years. In an adjoining room 1 was* shown the little iron bedstead on which he enjoys an occasional stretch in the solacing company of a cigar, in the intervals of long days and nights of work. ... ~ Through the X-ray room, with its magnificent equipment, which includes the verv machine that located the bullet which killed President Mcßinley. and through the small adjoining room, In which Mr. Edison toiled so hard in perfecting the phonograph, I was conducted to the phonograph experimental department, which contains everything connected with the " talking machine —phonographs of every conceivable size and shape, records in thousands, horns —a veritable forest of them, ranging » from, a few inches in length to leviathans of half a dozen yards. "This room," my guide informed me, •"is dedicated to experiments of every kind in phonograph perfecting—experiments with better materials and apparatus, with new records, horns, new composers and speakers, etc. In this adjoining room Mr. Edison often sits -alone for many hours together listening to new records and making notes oil them. At one time he practically lived here for seven months, working night and day to make the phonograph perfect; and during the whole of this time no one else was allowed to enter thaj-oom under any pretext. Equally marvellous in their way are the two great machine ships which I visited next —one for heavy, and the other for light experimental machinery ; as also what is known as the Precision jloom for putting the final touches to the machinery for manufacturing the various inventions. Here I saw scores of miracle-working automatic machines, each uncannily able to do in a few mm- ( tites work which no human hands could do in less than several days. PATENTS BY THE THOUSAND. Thus wonder succeeding wonder, until I no longer felt surprised at anything however amazing, I completed my tour of these magic-working buildings, my amiable guide expatiating enthusiastically on the genius of his master. He told" me of the vast range of his discoveries —of his devices for making plate-glass, for preserving fruit, of storage-batteries, ore-melting machinery, electric pens, compressed air apparattis, vocal engines—an utterly bewildering array of inventions, in addi tion to those for which Mr. Edison has made himself famous. Of the patents ]u had taken out to the number of many thousands, including nearly two hundred for electric lights, and more than a hundred for phonographs. "It is a common impression/' he said.

•' that Mr. Edison's inventions come io liim in brilliant flashes of inspiration. Nothing could be farther from the truth, 1 assure you. Of course, he has the inventive facnltv quite abnormally developed; but with very lw excep tions his discoveries are the fruits oi long months, often years, of laborious study and experimenting. He is gifted with remarkable physical stamina and patience, and thinks nothing of working twenty hours a day for weeks together." My tour concluded—it had lasted two hours, and included much of interest which F have no space to describe— 1 Ik>r.an to fear that I should have to depart without catching even a glimpse of the man who had created all these marvels. Hut. to my delight, T found that I was not to be disappointed after all. ■•.Vow." my guide said, "we will go and .see if the boss can spare you a few minutes;" and following eagerly in his wake T found myself outside the library, which my friend entered. A moment •of waiting, and he was hack again with the words, "It's all right; Mr. Kdison will see you." Entering the room rather nervously I found myself most cordially greeted by a broad-shouldered, clean-shaven, greyhaired man of middle height, who gave ruv hand a hearty grin as he said, "very nlfW'd in sen von, Ml'. . 1 IlllVC iust finished inv luncheon'' (pointing to the remains of a very modest meal, in which a teapot figured}, "and have a minute or two to spare. Take a s-Ml and join me in a ch/nr." And thus encouraged 1 soon felt finite at homo with my L'enial host, whose eves, huge and luminous, seamed to light up his whole face a* he talked to me. DEAFNESS NO DRAWBACK. I quickly discovered. a=, indeed, T

had heard, that Mr. Edison is deaf; for I he held his hand behind his left ear to cjiitch what 1 said. "1 am very deaf," he explained to me. "When I was quite a lad, making my living by selling papers on the trains, a guard who was angry with me lifted me by my ears and broke both diaphragms. But I don't find my deafness any drawback. You see it helps me to think better; and, curiously enough, I can hear quite well in a factory or on a train where there is a great deal of noise. In fact, I am not sure I would be cured if I could; my deafness has many advantages." i Then, between the puffs of his cigar, | he began at my request to talk about , his boyhood—the days when ho used to ( sell pea-nuts, candy and newspapers; . and the later days when he was able to 1 purchase an old printing-press and, , securing the use of a smoking-car, pro- . duccd the '"Grand Trunk Herald," writI ing his news and his leaders, putting . them into type himself, and selling his 3 papers, hot from the press, on the cars, j Then followed years of struggle and poverty before he at last struck the . road to fortune when he was able to r sell certain electrical inventions for ~ £B,BOO. "But," he said, "I dare say you 0 would be more interested in my present s life. My work begins about half-past e six, when I look through my day's proy gramme, prepared overnight, and . glance through the morning papers, bes fore breakfasting with my wife and .. family. After breakfast I smoke a mild y cigar and at ten minutes to eight I e [.troll over here and begin work with a rush. I have, as a rule, fifty or more p. experiments all going on at the same ~ time, in every branch of work from d chemistry and electricity to mechanics ,\ and metallurgy; so you can see that [ c i am pretty fully occupied during the day. ] c When does my day endl ; —well, somes r times at six in the evening, sometimes [. at six the next morning. But lam an ,] idle man now compared with earlier j days, when I have worked for five days • s and nights at a stretch without a wink j. of sleep or a sit-down meal. ,f " But the want of sleep never worries me; find three or four hours a day . r quite enough. It's not the quantity but Y the quality that counts. I go to sleep j. as soon as I get in lied: I have never II dreamed in my life; and the moment I x awake I jump out of bed and get dressjs ed. From the moment of waking to jj bed-time my brain is always working. n In my home, after my day here is finished, I work on into the small hours of the morning; and even when I am supposed to be holiday-making in my Flor- [. Ida home lam never idle for a moment. " WORKING HOLIDAYS. l!t "This year I took with me books on a botany, sea-shells and birds and pheno--1 mena of the sea. I read them all and ,- then went in search of the things they v describe until I learned to know them e all thoroughly. The man who lives simc ply, sleeps little and works hard never i- needs a holiday. My only bad habit is s smoking; but I don't think it does any J harm, providing one has good health ,t and a strong constitution.

"As to my inventions, the one I am proudest of and which gave me the greatest trouble was the problem of incandescent lighting. It was all pioneer work, you see; for at the time practically nothing was known about electric lighting. In this, as in my other inventions, the most difficult part was to make the idea a commercial success — and this has been my life's work, to make inventions commercially valuable. "As for hobbies —well, I have neither time nor inclination for what most men call hobbies. I like motoring, because I find it useful to me. As for the rest, my favourite recreation is reading chemical works and making chemical experiments. It is, by the way, all nonsense to say. as I understand is said, that I don't like the phonograph. Why, iv is one of my favourite children, and I never tire of listening to really good music, such as Beethoven's. "But," he said at last, as he rose from his seat and flicked the cigar-ash from his shabby, chemical-stained coat, "I am afraid I must leave you now, much as I should like to stop. Goodbye, and be sure to look me up again—any time: perhaps I shall be less busy next time." And with a hearty grip which made my fingers tingle, he accompanied me fo the door, a proud and grateful man for being privileged to spend even ten minutes in the company of one of the world's greatest men and its greatest worker of "magic."—Sheffield Weekly Telegraph.