Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931; Inventors -- United States -- Biography
The Pearl Street station, as this first large plant was called, made
rapid and continuous growth in its output of electric current. It
started, as we have said, on September 4, 1882, supplying about four
hundred lights to a comparatively small number of customers. Among those
first supplied was the banking firm of Drexel, Morgan & Company, corner
of Broad and Wall streets, at the outermost limits of the system. Before
the end of December of the same year the light had so grown in favor
that it was being supplied to over two hundred and forty customers whose
buildings were wired for over five thousand lamps. By this time three
more "Jumbos" had been added to the plant. The output from this time
forward increased steadily up to the spring of 1884, when the demands of
the station necessitated the installation of two additional "Jumbos"
in the adjoining building, which, with the venous improvements that had
been made in the mean time, gave the station a capacity of over eleven
thousand lamps actually in service at any one time.
During the first three months of operating the Pearl Street station
light was supplied to customers without charge. Edison had perfect
confidence in his meters, and also in the ultimate judgment of the
public as to the superiority of the incandescent electric light as
against other illuminants. He realized, however, that in the beginning
of the operation of an entirely novel plant there was ample opportunity
for unexpected contingencies, although the greatest care had been
exercised to make everything as perfect as possible. Mechanical defects
or other unforeseen troubles in any part of the plant or underground
system might arise and cause temporary stoppages of operation, thus
giving grounds for uncertainty which would create a feeling of public
distrust in the permanence of the supply of light.
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