Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931; Inventors -- United States -- Biography
EDISON had no sooner designed his dynamo in 1879 than he adopted the
same form of machine for use as a motor. The two are shown in the
Scientific American of October 18, 1879, and are alike, except that
the dynamo is vertical and the motor lies in a horizontal position,
the article remarking: "Its construction differs but slightly from the
electric generator." This was but an evidence of his early appreciation
of the importance of electricity as a motive power; but it will probably
surprise many people to know that he was the inventor of an electric
motor before he perfected his incandescent lamp. His interest in the
subject went back to his connection with General Lefferts in the days of
the evolution of the stock ticker. While Edison was carrying on his shop
at Newark, New Jersey, there was considerable excitement in electrical
circles over the Payne motor, in regard to the alleged performance of
which Governor Cornell of New York and other wealthy capitalists were
quite enthusiastic. Payne had a shop in Newark, and in one small room
was the motor, weighing perhaps six hundred pounds. It was of circular
form, incased in iron, with the ends of several small magnets sticking
through the floor. A pulley and belt, connected to a circular saw larger
than the motor, permitted large logs of oak timber to be sawed with ease
with the use of two small cells of battery. Edison's friend, General
Lefferts, had become excited and was determined to invest a large sum
of money in the motor company, but knowing Edison's intimate familiarity
with all electrical subjects he was wise enough to ask his young expert
to go and see the motor with him. At an appointed hour Edison went to
the office of the motor company and found there the venerable Professor
Morse, Governor Cornell, General Lefferts, and many others who had been
invited to witness a performance of the motor. They all proceeded to the
room where the motor was at work. Payne put a wire in the binding-post
of the battery, the motor started, and an assistant began sawing a heavy
oak log. It worked beautifully, and so great was the power developed,
apparently, from the small battery, that Morse exclaimed: "I am thankful
that I have lived to see this day." But Edison kept a close watch on the
motor. The results were so foreign to his experience that he knew there
was a trick in it. He soon discovered it. While holding his hand on the
frame of the motor he noticed a tremble coincident with the exhaust of
an engine across the alleyway, and he then knew that the power came from
the engine by a belt under the floor, shifted on and off by a magnet,
the other magnets being a blind. He whispered to the General to put
his hand on the frame of the motor, watch the exhaust, and note the
coincident tremor. The General did so, and in about fifteen seconds he
said: "Well, Edison, I must go now. This thing is a fraud." And thus
he saved his money, although others not so shrewdly advised were easily
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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