The boys' life of EdisonMeadowcroft, Wm. H. (William Henry)
General
The boys' life of Edison
Meadowcroft, Wm. H. (William Henry)
Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931 -- Juvenile literature
Each item was numbered consecutively, and the list copied and sent
up to the superintendent, who was instructed to make the changes and
report by number as they were done. These changes were made and their
value was proven by later experience.
Edison's achievements have made a deep impression on the cement
industry, but it is likely that it will become still deeper when his
"Poured Cement House" is exploited.
A few years ago he conceived the idea of pouring a complete concrete
house in a few hours. He made a long series of experiments for
producing a free-flowing combination of the necessary materials, and
at length found one that satisfied him that his idea was feasible,
although experts said it could not be done.
His plan is to provide two sets of iron molds, one inside the other,
with an open space between. These molds are made in small pieces and
set up by being bolted together. When erected, the concrete mixture is
poured in from the top in a continuous stream until the space between
the molds is filled.
The pouring will be done in about six hours, after which the molds will
be left in position about four days in order that the concrete may
harden. When the molds are removed there will remain standing an entire
house, complete from cellar to roof, with walls, floors, stairways,
bath and laundry tubs, all in one solid piece. These houses, when built
in quantity, can be produced at a very moderate cost.
Mr. Edison intends this house for the workingman, and in its design
has insisted on its being ornamental as well as substantial. As he
expressed it: "We will give the workingman and his family ornamentation
in their house. They deserve it, and besides, it costs no more after
the pattern is made to give decorative effects than it would to make
everything plain."
XX
MOTION-PICTURES
Through his invention and introduction of the phonograph and of his
apparatus for taking and exhibiting motion-pictures Edison has probably
done more to interest and amuse the world than any other living man.
These two forms of amusement have more audiences in a week than all the
theaters in America in a year.
It is a curious fact that while instantaneous photography is necessary
to produce motion pictures, the _suggestion_ of producing them was made
many years before the instantaneous photograph became possible.
One of the earliest efforts in this direction was made before Edison
was born, and shown by a toy called the Zoetrope, or "Wheel of Life."
A number of figures showing fractional parts of the motion of an
object--such, for instance, as a boy skating--were boldly drawn in
silhouette on a strip of paper. This paper was put inside an open
cylinder having small openings around its circumference. The cylinder
was mounted on a pivot, and, when revolved, the figures on the paper
seemed to be in motion when viewed through the openings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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