Produced by Charles Keller and David Widger EDISON HIS LIFE AND INVENTIONS By Frank Lewis Dyer General Counsel For The Edison Laboratory And Allied Interests And Thomas Commerford Martin Ex-President Of The American Institute Of Electrical Engineers CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. THE AGE OF ELECTRICITY II. EDISON'S PEDIGREE III. BOYHOOD AT PORT HURON, MICHIGAN IV. THE YOUNG TELEGRAPH OPERATOR V. ARDUOUS YEARS IN THE CENTRAL WEST VI. WORK AND INVENTION IN BOSTON VII. THE STOCK TICKER VIII. AUTOMATIC, DUPLEX, AND QUADRUPLEX TELEGRAPHY IX. THE TELEPHONE, MOTOGRAPH, AND MICROPHONE X. THE PHONOGRAPH XI. THE INVENTION OF THE INCANDESCENT LAMP XII. MEMORIES OF MENLO PARK XIII. A WORLD-HUNT FOR FILAMENT MATERIAL XIV. INVENTING A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF LIGHTING XV. INTRODUCTION OF THE EDISON ELECTRIC LIGHT XVI. THE FIRST EDISON CENTRAL STATION XVII. OTHER EARLY STATIONS--THE METER XVIII. THE ELECTRIC RAILWAY XIX. MAGNETIC ORE MILLING WORK XX. EDISON PORTLAND CEMENT XXI. MOTION PICTURES XXII. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EDISON STORAGE BATTERY XXIII. MISCELLANEOUS INVENTIONS XXIV. EDISON'S METHOD IN INVENTING XXV. THE LABORATORY AT ORANGE AND THE STAFF XXVI. EDISON IN COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURE XXVII. THE VALUE OF EDISON'S INVENTIONS TO THE WORLD XXVIII. THE BLACK FLAG XXIX. THE SOCIAL SIDE OF EDISON APPENDIX LIST OF UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS INDEX INTRODUCTION PRIOR to this, no complete, authentic, and authorized record of the work of Mr. Edison, during an active life, has been given to the world. That life, if there is anything in heredity, is very far from finished; and while it continues there will be new achievement. An insistently expressed desire on the part of the public for a definitive biography of Edison was the reason for the following pages. The present authors deem themselves happy in the confidence reposed in them, and in the constant assistance they have enjoyed from Mr. Edison while preparing these pages, a great many of which are altogether his own. This co-operation in no sense relieves the authors of responsibility as to any of the views or statements of their own that the book contains. They have realized the extreme reluctance of Mr. Edison to be made the subject of any biography at all; while he has felt that, if it must be written, it were best done by the hands of friends and associates of long standing, whose judgment and discretion he could trust, and whose intimate knowledge of the facts would save him from misrepresentation.