Establishing Connections in New York
July-December 1869
While the first months of 1869 saw Edison drawing upon local Boston associates to aid him in his developing inventor-entrepreneurial activities, the second half of the year witnessed him successfully connecting with senior telegraph men of national reputation in his new business home in New York. In the spring he had arrived in the city of one million people, a center that was at once the focal point of national commerce and finance and also the American capital of telegraph invention and enterprise. As the year went on he grew closer to Franklin Pope, the former editor of the Telegrapher, a respected telegraph engineer, and superintendent of Samuel Laws’s Gold and Stock Reporting Telegraph Company. When Pope left his position with Laws at the beginning of August, Edison succeeded him. At this time Edison may also have used the company’s battery room as a temporary residence.1
Edison’s growing expertise with printing telegraphs served him well in his inauguration into the New York telegraph world, particularly the area of financial reporting. Samuel Laws had pioneered in this field when he founded the Gold and Stock Reporting Telegraph Company in 1867. 2 The company supplied price quotations for gold from a central transmitter in the “Gold Room” adjacent to the stock exchange to indicators in the nearby offices of bankers and brokers. Laws had invented the indicator and Franklin Pope had improved it. When Edison became superintendent, about 140 indicators were in offices around the city, but the company was not alone in the business.3 Laws’s enterprise was competing with the aggressive Gold and Stock Telegraph Company, which had been organized in August 1867 to exploit EdwardPage 126 Calahan’s new printing telegraph. 4 Laws introduced a printer of his own shortly after Edison’s arrival in New York and soon Edison redesigned it.5 More important to Gold and Stock, Laws also acquired rights to an 1856 patent for a printing telegraph with independent circuits for typewheel and printing mechanism6—one of the fundamental claims of Calahan’s patent. Unable to circumvent Laws’s patent holdings, Gold and Stock acquired the Laws company on 27 August 1869.7 Edison’s patents were included in the sale agreement but his services were not. Calahan retained his position as superintendent of the merged company, and Edison lost his four-week-old job.
Soon Edison joined Pope and James Ashley, editor of the Telegrapher, in the new firm Pope, Edison & Company. The new firm advertised as “Electrical Engineers and General Telegraphic Agency.” Using a compact printing telegraph that Edison and Pope designed, they also established the Financial and Commercial Telegraph Company, a reporting system to compete with Gold and Stock. During the fall Edison’s alliance with Pope extended to his rooming at the Pope family home in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
1. Edison claimed that he slept in the company’s battery room. App. 1.A29.
2. Samuel Spahr Laws (1824–1921) had been president of the New York Gold Exchange (DAB, s.v. “Laws, Samuel Spahr”). Regarding Laws’s gold indicator (U.S. Pats. 72,742 and 75,775) and business, see Prescott 1877, 672–73; Reid 1879, 602–5; and Hotchkiss 1969.
3. See n. 7.Page 127
4. Edward A. Calahan (1838–1912) was born in Boston and at the age of twelve began his telegraph career, starting as a messenger. Later he became an operator and manager for the American Telegraph Co. At the time that he invented his printing telegraph, he was a draftsman and assistant to Western Union’s engineer, Marshall Lefferts. Obituary, New York Times , 13 Sept. 1912, 9; Reid 1879, 606.
Regarding Gold and Stock, see “Certificate of Incorporation of The Gold and Stock Telegraph Company,” G&S v. Pearce; “The Gold and Stock Telegraph,” Telegr. 6 (1868–69): 12; “The Gold and Stock Telegraph Company—Its Inception, Development, Business, etc.,” Telegr. 11 (1875): 127–28; Reid 1879, 602–13; Calahan 1901b; and Hotchkiss 1969, 433–41.
5. Both the new printer design and a new circuit switch that used a polarized relay resulted in Edison patent applications that were executed and assigned to SLaws in August. U.S. Pats. 96,567 and 96,681.
6. H. N. Baker’s U.S. Pat. 14,759.
7. The terms of the agreement are in G&S Minutes 1867–70, 57–60.
To Frank Hanaford
New York, July 26 1869a
Friend Frank
Your Letter received. I am sorry that Skillings instruments act in that manner. Chas Williams is to blame for it. the last Lot were constructed very badly = Redding1 is making a Printer and if it works satisfactory it is my intention to order another one and two Transmitters and place them on Skillings Line It would appear from what has happened already that the Grey-eyed spectre of destiny has Been our gauardian angel, for no matter what I may do I reap nothing but Trouble, and the blues. I had saved [--]θ 160b dollars and from experimenting for other parties and with this I came to Boston and paid my debts which took the Entire amount leaving me without a single penny when I arrived in N York. It is all I can do to keep the wolf from the door, and supply Redding with money to make the Printer
It is useless for me to lay around or come to Boston, for I cannot make any money there and we should be farther than ever from the solution of this interesting problem If I stay here I can earn enough money to fix the thing all straight within a reasonable time. I think the whole cause of the frequent disorders of Skillings apparatus is want of battery. I would advise you to suggest to Skillings the purchasing of two or three cups more battery, and have them[-] put on the Line. If you will read the Contract you will notice that it does not mention the purchase of Supplies and it canno neither was it mentioned at the time. Therefore I do not see how SkillingsPage 128 can expect you to buy the Vitrol. Please do all you can till I get the Printers Ready, and put them on the Line. You ought to know me well enough to know that I am neither a dead beat or a selfish person, and that I ualways do as I agree without some damnable god damnable ill luck prevents it. If I make anything it happens somehow that some dead beat Like Adams eats it all up. However Ill never give up for I may have a streak of Luck before I die Yours
PSc I ll try and Send you some money if your hard up. Will $10. help you all I got— E
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 12:23). Letterhead of the Gold and Stock Reporting Telegraph. a“New York,” and “186” preprinted. bInterlined above. cPostscript written along right margin of last page.
1. Jerome Redding (1840?-1939), instrument maker, had for several years been employed in the telegraph manufacturing firm of Charles Williams, Jr. In 1869 he set up his own shop, Jerome Redding & Co. On 30 July 1869 Redding presented Edison with a bill for $75.97 to cover castings, gear cutting, a base, japanning, and 142¾ hours labor. Boston Directory 1867, 422; ibid. 1868, 491; ibid. 1869, 511; Redding to Frank Wardlaw, 1929, Pioneers Bio.; New York Times, 25 Nov. 1939, 17; bill enclosed with Redding to TAE, 9 May 1878, DF (TAEM 19:511).
To Frank Hanaford
New York, [July]a 30— 1869b
Hanaford
Please tell Skillings that I am making a Printer for him which will be just what he needs— If Welch wont permit you to use the Magnetographs until I get the Printer done, please have AGeorge1 fix up The Brass Kettles2 so they will Last till I get the Printers Ready = Also ask skillings to have Little patience = The difference in cost will be 135 dollars,. So Skillings will have to pay $130, being the difference in Cost = I will also give the Continental and Downer 3 Printers at $150, and take their instruments. I am disposed to do all I can even to the extreme Length of my pile = The pri it is not unlikely that the Printers may prove to be worthy of introduction upon other Lines there = please write and Let me know if it is the Lines that give trouble or instruments Yours
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 12:25). Letterhead of The Gold and Stock Reporting Telegraph. a“July” interlined above in unknown hand. b“New York,” and “186” preprinted.Page 129
1. George Anders.
2. Unidentified.
3. Downer Kerosene Oil Co. was founded by Samuel Downer. With his assistants, Luther Atwood, William Atwood, and Joshua Merrill, Downer introduced on a large scale hydrocarbon fluids for lubricating machinery and for illumination. Edison’s telegraph linked the company’s downtown office at 108 Water St. with its refinery at 122 First St. Boston Directory 1869, 204; DAB, s.v. “Downer, Samuel.” See also Doc. 66, n. 1.
Editorial Notice in the Journal of the Telegraph
New York, August 2, 1869.
Frank L. Pope has resigned his position as superintendent of the Gold and Stock Reporting Telegraph in this city.
T. A. Edison, of Boston, succeeds Mr. Pope in the above position.
Mr. Pope, like a wise man, thinks health worth more than money, and has started West to breathe Superior air. When he returns he designs paddling his own canoe in some congenial occupation respecting which his shingle will be seen in due season.1
Mr. Edison is like his predecessor, a man of genius and skill. Few men are better posted than he.
PD J. Teleg. 2 (1868–69): 197.
1. At this time negotiations were under way for the Gold and Stock Reporting Telegraph Co. to merge with the Gold and Stock Telegraph Co. (see Chapter 4 introduction). By early October, Pope had returned from his travels, the merger had taken place, and he, Ashley, and Edison had formed Pope, Edison & Co. Pope’s trip to Chicago and the Lake Superior area is related in “Carpet Baggist in the Northwest,” Telegr. 6 (1869–70): 25.
To Frank Hanaford
New York, Aug 3 1869a
Friend Hanaford
Did Mr Welch allow you to put Magnetos upon Skillings Line, also what does Skillings Say about Printer. Does he feel Satisfied that we intend to fulfill our Contract answer with particulars
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 12:27). Letterhead of the Gold and Stock Reporting Telegraph. a“New York,” and “186” preprinted.
Page 130LAWS-EDISON PRINTER Doc. 74
In the summer of 1869 Edison modified the printing telegraph that Samuel Laws was using on his stock-reporting lines.1 In doing so he practically redesigned the entire printer. Edison reduced its size and the number of moving parts, replaced the inking ribbon with a wheel, eliminated one printing electromagnet and added one for the unison stop, and altered the structure of the pawls that turned the typewheel. His patent application for the new design—assigned entirely to Laws—claimed the pawls and the magnet for the unison stop. The frame Edison chose looks a great deal like contemporary sewing machines, although there was nothing in the new mechanical arrangement that required such a frame.
Edison’s redesigned printer received a patent (U.S. Pat. 96,567) before Laws’s original design (U.S. Pat. 99,273), for which Laws had applied in January of 1869 and which was in interference with the reissue application of Edward Calahan’s printer.2 All of Laws’s telegraphic patents went to the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company with the sale of his company in September 1869.3 On 28 December 1869 Gold and Stock applied for reissue of the patent covering this printer.4
And Samuel Laws Production Model: Printing Telegraphy 1
[New York, August 17, 1869?2]
M (historic photograph) (est. 15 cm × 5 cm × 13 cm), NjWOE, Cat. 551:14, 36. See Doc. 54 textnote. Except for a relocation of the magnet that activates the unison stop, this machine appears to be essentially identical to the patent specification.
To E. Baker Welch
New York, Sept. 14, 1869.
Mr. Welch:
Your letter received. Laws seem inclined to give you $500 dollars cash for your third and one third of the profits $250 down. But I am quite sure he will not give you anything for the instruments on hand but will take them and dispose of them and pay you their cost. He thinks of putting the whole thing into some of these private Line men here in N. York.1 Mr. Laws has sold out his gold Reporting Telegraph to Callahans Co.,2 and he is to furnish all necessary funds to bring my Double Transmitter out for a portion of my interest.3 I think everything will come out all right yet.
TL (transcript), MWalFAR, Welch v. Edison. See Doc. 36 textnote. aFollowed by “Room 48. 5 & 7 New St.”
1. Samuel Laws proposed to purchase Welch’s interest in the magnetograph. Laws had already purchased George Anders’s one-third interest in the magnetograph on 6 July. The U.S. Patent Office has no record of a reassignment from Welch to Laws. Digest Pat. E-2:126.
2. See Chapter 4 introduction.
3. Nothing further is known about Laws’s offer to finance the double transmitter.
FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL INSTRUMENT Doc. 76
On 16 September 1869, Edison and Franklin Pope jointly executed a patent application that specified the design incorporated in Doc. 76. This was the first printing telegraph design Pope and Edison patented together.1 Late in 1869, Pope, Ashley, and Edison introduced these instruments on the lines of their Financial and Commercial Telegraph Company, an enterprise that provided gold and stock quotations to mercantile and importing companies in lower Manhattan. Manufacture and use of the instruments continued for several years.2
The electromechanical heart of the Financial and Commercial instrument consisted of two coordinated but different types of electromagnets in the same circuit. One was a “polarized” electromagnet or modified polarized relay like that employed in Edison’s Boston instrument. The cores of this electromagnet projected from one end of a permanent magnet, as in Siemens’s original design for the polarized relay, with an armature between them that was attached to the other end of the permanent magnet and was hence of the oppositePage 133 polarity.3 The other magnet was an ordinary neutral electromagnet. In his earlier printer, Edison had used the modified polarized relay as a switch to shunt current to either the type-wheel or the printing electromagnet. Here he used it solely to advance the typewheel, with every impulse passing through both the printing and typewheel electromagnets.4 Rapid signals of alternating polarity were transmitted by the break-wheel of a central transmitter that had an indicating dial.5 At the local receivers in the circuit, these short signals moved the typewheels, whereas longer signals of either polarity activated the printers. To avoid accidental printing, a portion of the current was cut out until the proper letter was reached on the transmitting dial. The diminished current could move the typewheel but not the printing lever. Like the Boston instrument, this machine was designed to operate on one wire without a local battery. 6
1. U.S. Pat. 102,320; see Doc. 93. George Anders later stated that in 1869 he had worked out the printing and typewheel circuit used in this printer and had described it to Edison. Edison and Jerome Redding also remembered the development of this instrument as having begun in Boston. Anders’s testimony, 11 Apr. 1876, pp. 2, 5–6, Anders v. Warner; Preliminary Statement of G. L. Anders, 21 Feb. 1876, pp. 3–4, ibid.; Jerome Redding to Frank Wardlaw, 1929, Pioneers Bio.; Edison’s testimony, 29 Nov. 1880, p. 7, Nicholson v. Edison.
2. See Docs. 85 and 86; “The Printing Telegraph,” Telegr. 6 (1869–70): 269; Reid 1879, 621; and Edison’s testimony, 29 Nov. 1880, pp. 7–8, Nicholson v. Edison. A photograph album in the West Orange, N.J., archives contains two photographs of a laboratory mock-up of this instrument (Cat. 551:12, 14, NjWOE).
3. See Doc. 12, n. 1.
4. See Doc. 54. This method was adopted in other machines as well. Reid 1879, 619.
5. The breakwheel was a standard piece of printing telegraph equipment. A wheel turned by a crank made intermittent electrical contact by one of several means. Edison, in an unpublished manuscript, left the only description we have of the varied breakwheel mechanismsPage 134 employed in the early 1870s. NS-74-002, Lab. (TAEM 7:240–82); Edison’s testimony, 29 Nov. 1880, p. 8, Nicholson v. Edison.
6. Edison’s testimony, 29 Nov. 1880, pp. 8–9, Nicholson v. Edison. This printing telegraph was sometimes used with more than one wire. Reid 1879, 621.
To Frank Hanaford
N York Sept 17 1869
Friend Hanaford
I received your Letters, but owing to things being so mixed by the Consolidation of S S Laws Gold reporting Telegh and Callahans Stock reporting Telegh and the mya Consequent dismissal has upset all my calculations.1 The Printers are being made abut were delayed, by the removal of Phelphs Shop, 2 and a rush of work = I expect to receive pay soona for a job I am doing now and I will remit you sufficient money to purchase Skillings Battery although, if you will read the Contract, you will see we did not Contract to furnish supplies, but only to keep the Line in good working order. If I was you I should inform Mr Skillings that his battery needed supplies, and That you would purchase for him and hand in the bill for same My P Office address is 6138 6010a Now—3
A barber told me yesterday that the roots of my hair were all coming out grey, and that I would be gray in 10 months4 my hair is now all sprinkled with them by the trouble which my Double Transmitter give me and Skillings & other things. I shall forward Printers soon as done Your
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 12:28). Letter begins on reverse of letterhead of the Gold and Stock Reporting Telegraph. “Interlined above.
1. Edward Calahan served as superintendent after the merger, so Edison’s services were no longer required. See Chapter 4 introduction.
2. George M. Phelps (1820–1888), inventor and manufacturer, supervised Western Union’s factory, which had recently been moved from Brooklyn to larger quarters on Fifty-fifth St. in New York. He had earlier managed the machine shop of the American Telegraph Co. Phelps invented in several areas but was best known for his work in printing telegraphy. Reid 1879, 640–42; “Removal,” Telegr. 5 (1868–69): 304; “The Death of George M. Phelps, Sr.,” Elec. W. 11 (1888): 268.
3. The number 6138 was the post office box of Laws’s Gold and Stock Reporting Telegraph Co.; 6010 was the box number of the Telegrapher. James Ashley, editor of the Telegrapher, soon became Edison’s business partner (see Doc. 78).
4. Edison’s hair was not conspicuously gray until the 1890s.
Pope, Edison & Co. Advertisement in the Telegrapher
New York, October 2, 1869.1
Pope, Edison & Co., 2
Electrical Engineers,
and
General Telegraphic Agency,3
Office:
Exchange Buildings,
Nos. 78 and 80 Broadway, Room 48. 4
A necessity has long been felt, by Managers and Projectors of Telegraph Lines, Inventors of Telegraph Machinery and Appliances, etc., for the establishment of a Bureau of Electrical and Telegraphic Engineering in this city. It is to supply this necessity that we offer facilities to those desiring such information and service.
a leading feature
will be the application of Electricity to the Arts and Sciences.
instruments
for Special Telegraphic Service will be designed, and their operation guaranteed.
careful and reliable tests
of Instruments, Wires, Cables, Batteries, Magnets, etc., will be made, and detailed written reports furnished thereon.
contracts
for the Construction, Re-construction and Maintenance of either Private or Commercial Telegraph Lines will be entered into upon just and reasonable terms.
various applications of electricity.
Special attention will be paid to the application of Electricity and Magnetism for Fire-Alarms, Thermo-Alarms, Burglar-Alarms, etc., etc.
telegraphic patents.
We possess unequalled facilities for preparing Claims, Drawings, and specifications for Patents, and for obtaining prompt and favorable consideration of applications for Patents in the United States and Foreign Countries.
experimental apparatus.
Attention will be paid to the construction of experimental apparatus, and experiments will be conducted with scientific accuracy. Parties at a distance, desiring Experimental Apparatus constructed, can forward a rough sketch thereof, and the same will be properly worked up.
drawings, wood engravings, catalogues, etc.
prepared in the best and most artistic manner.
purchasing agency.
Telegraph Wire, Cables, Instruments, Insulators, ScientificPage 137 and Electrical, and Electro-Medical Apparatus, Telegraph Supplies of all descriptions, Telegraphic and Scientific Books, etc., will be purchased for parties favoring us with their orders, and forwarded by the most prompt and economical conveyance, and as cheaply as the same could be purchased by our customers personally. Our facilities for this business are unexcelled.
Letters and orders by mail should be addressed to Box 6010, P.O., New York.
PD, Telegr. 6 (1869–70): 45.
1. The advertisement appeared in the Telegrapher from this date until 23 April 1870.
2. Edison, Franklin Pope, and James Ashley formed the firm of Pope, Edison & Co. between the time of Pope’s return from his Midwest trip (see Doc. 72) and the appearance of this announcement. James N. Ashley (n.d.) was at the time editor of the Telegrapher. He had begun his career at midcentury as an operator with the New York and Boston Telegraph Co. He helped introduce the House printing telegraph in the United States and Europe, managed several telegraph companies, and served as army correspondent for the New York Herald during the Civil War. In February 1868 he replaced Pope as editor of the Telegrapher and in 1877 became editor of Western Union’s Journal of the Telegraph when that publication absorbed the Telegrapher. Reid 1879, 409–10.
3. The company leased private lines to businessmen and, acting as the Financial and Commercial Telegraph Co., used Edison’s and Pope’s first printer to provide merchants with quotations from the gold and commercial exchanges. See Docs. 76 and 86; and “The Gold and Stock Telegraph Company.—Its Inception, Development, Business, etc.,” Telegr. 11 (1875): 127.
Many of the provisions of this announcement reflect Pope’s expertise. His Modern Practice of the Electric Telegraph included long sections on testing wires, he was an experienced writer and designer, and he later became a patent attorney. Although Edison’s biographer Matthew Joseph-son claimed that this advertisement “was the first announcement of a professional electrical engineering service in the United States,” Chester, Partrick & Co. had been advertising themselves as “Telegraphic and Electrical Engineers” in the Telegrapher since 16 November 1867. Josephson 1959, 78.
4. This was the address of the Telegrapher.
To E. Baker Welch
New York Oct. 3, 1869.
E. B. Welch.
Please send me a copy of my assignment to you of double transmitter. 1 I need it to show to other parties so I can go ahead with it. Respy.
TL (transcript), MWalFAR, Welch v. Edison. See Doc. 36 textnote.
1. Doc. 61.
Anonymous Article in the Telegrapher1
New York, October 9, 1869.
Electrical and Telegraphic Engineering.
The necessity for a more general application of scientific knowledge and experience to the construction and operation of telegraph lines, and to all matters connected therewith, has become very apparent.2 In Europe this necessity was earlier appreciated than in this country, and many able scientific, electrical and telegraphic engineers are there fully and profitably employed.
In this country, with the exception of Mr. Moses G. Farmer, of Boston, whose great ability and attainments as a scientific electrician have placed him in the front rank of modern scientists, we know of no one who has heretofore devoted himself to this important work. As will be seen from the advertisement of P ope, Edison & Co., in this paper, this firm offer their services for such practical and scientific services in this city. Mr. Pope’s superior ability and acquirements as a practical telegrapher and electrician, are too well known to need any extended commendation from us. Although young in years he has, by careful study and experiment, fully qualified himself to give valuable assistance to such as may desire his services. As an operator of several years’ experience he has acquired that knowledge of the practical working of the electric telegraph which will render his services of peculiar value in all matters pertaining to the construction and operation of telegraphic lines, the due adjustment and proportions of instruments, insulation, batteries, etc., which render telegraphs accurate and reliable.
Mr. Edison is a young man of the highest order of mechanical talent, combined with good scientific electrical knowledge and experience. He has already invented and patented a number of valuable and useful inventions, among which may be mentioned the best instrument for double transmission yet brought out.
Their united genius and science cannot fail to render their services most valuable to all who may have occasion to employ them, and must ensure their constant and profitable occupation.
Connected with their other business they have established a purchasing bureau, which cannot but prove a great accommodation to persons at a distance, who may desire to purchase telegraph material, supplies, books, etc.
We commend this new firm to the favorable consideration of the telegraphic public, with entire confidence that they willPage 139 afford to those who may desire their assistance complete satisfaction.
PD, Telegr. 6 (1869–70): 52.
1. Editor James Ashley probably wrote this article.
2. Ashley had previously argued the need for “scientific” expertise in telegraphy: “In no line of business can searching scientific investigation and study be so profitably applied as in the practical management and improvement of the telegraph. … Every telegraph company should employ a competent and scientific Engineer, to whom should be confided the entire care of, and responsibility for its wires and apparatus.” “Errors in Telegraphic Management,” Telegr. 5 (1868–69): 336.
To the Editor of the Telegrapher
New York, October 16, 1869.
Queries.
To the Editor of the Telegrapher.
Does the continuous “jump spark” of an induction coil conduct low tension currents, and in what degree?
At what ratio does the effective power of the several layers of wire upon an electro-magnet decrease or increase as they recede from the core?
Who was the first discoverer of the insulating properties of paraffine?
Is the iron ray in the solar spectrum deflectable by a magnet?
Is there any known device for rendering a galvanometer perfectly astatic? 1
Is the current of a voltaic battery intermittent? if not, the proof.
Was Voltaire the inventor of the Voltaic pile—vide Madison Buell,2 in the Journal of the Telegraph 3—or was it Volta?
PD, Telegr. 6 (1869–70): 58.
1. That is, insensitive to the Earth’s magnetic field.
2. Madison Buell was chief operator and manager for Western Union in Buffalo. He frequently contributed to the technical press and was the inventor of a widely used switchboard. Taltavall 1893, 107–8.
3. “Scintillations from Scientific Authors,” J. Teleg. 2 (1869): 197.
4. Authorship attributed to Edison. See Doc. 34, n. 10.
To Joel Hills and William Plummer
New York, November 12 1869a
Gentlemen—
As the conditions upon which I conveyed to you my printing Telegraph instrument—namely the issue of the PatentsPage 140 and the instrument proving to be as represented 1—have been fulfilled, the conditions consideration of two hundred and fifty dollars has become due you will therefore please forward me a check for that amount on receipt of this Letter Respy Yours—
ALS, MiDbEI, EP&RI. Letterhead of Pope, Edison & Co. a‘New York,” and “18” preprinted.
1. Sec Doc. 51.
To Frank Hanaford
New York, Nov 30 1869a
Friend Hanaford =
I cannot do aeverything without money but to show you that I have not been Idle read this affidavit
This is to certify that Mr Edison Is having one set of Private Line instruments constructed—1
These instruments will be done probably in 10 days—and I will ship then on to you with full instruments instructions how to put them up= They cost me all the money I have earned, but and I think you are a little hard on me If I came to Boston I never could be able to earn enough to get them Respy
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 12:31). Letterhead of Pope, Edison & Co. a“New York,” and “18” preprinted. bSignature.
1. These instruments may be the “Printers” referred to in Docs. 73 and 77.
To E. Baker Welch
New York Nov. 30, 1869.
Mr. Welch:
I have not been able to see Laws yet, but hear he is in town to-day will try and see him.1
Please send on a copy of my assignment to you for double transmitters. Respy.
TL (transcript), MWalFAR, Welch v. Edison. See Doc. 36 textnote.
1. After his company merged with the Gold and Stock Telegraph Co., Samuel Laws began studying law. He received the LL.B. degree from Columbia College in New York in 1870. He was, however, still connected with telegraphy as one of the directors of Gold and Stock. DAB, s.v. “Laws, Samuel Spahr.”
Anonymous Article in the Journal of the Telegraph
New York, December 1, 1869.
Dr. Bradley’s Clock and Works.a
We had great pleasure a few days ago in visiting the shops of Dr. Bradley,1 of Jersey City, and examining his electric clock, a sketch of which we have given on our fourth page. It is exceedingly simple and ingenious. The governor or pendulum is its chief feature. Acting as a part of the circuit by which motion is communicated, the centrifugal tendency is checked the instant it leaves its contact with the arm which propels it, and is, in like manner, sustained by its contact. The description is interesting and excellent.
Dr. Bradley has a large force manufacturing the new printing instruments of Pope & Edison,2 which are remarkable for their ingenuity and simplicity. A single wire is used. In the circuit are two magnets, one more responsive than the other. The primary motion of a crank ratchets up the type wheel to its place by the more responsive magnetic arm. Arresting the motion of the crank allows the second magnet, which makes the stroke, to act. The return of the striking arm moves the paper forward. Thus three motions are made by a single wire and by the same current. The less responsive magnet is made so by lightness and quickness of contact in the primary motion. It acts when time is given by detention to connect. We are indebted to Mr. Ecklin, the intelligent foreman, for the inspection of this minute but effective instrument.
In an adjoining room we were allowed to see the Bradley process of filling the wire spools, which is executed by Miss Knight, an intelligent and skillful lady, to whom Dr. Bradley has assigned this duty.
PD, J. Teleg. 3 (1869–70): 5. aFollowed by centered rule.
1. Leverett Bradley (1798–1875), educated as a physician, was a merchant, a civil engineer, and then a newspaper publisher before turning to electrical invention and manufacture in the late 1850s. He gained a reputation for his patented magnetic helices and electrical measuring instruments. “Obituary. Dr. Leverett Bradley,” Telegr. 11 (1875): 222. See also App. 1.A30–31.
2. See Doc. 76.
Anonymous Article in the Telegrapher1
New York, December 11, 1869.
The Financial and Commercial Telegraph.
The first section of the above company’s line, designed for furnishing reports of the prices of gold and exchange to merchants and others, has just been put in successful operationPage 142 in this city. This enterprise, although in many respects similar to others now engaged in the same line of business, is intended to occupy a somewhat different field—that of furnishing quotations at low rates to mercantile and importing houses, who have only an indirect interest in the rate of gold, not sufficient to warrant them in employing the more expensive instruments in such general use among the brokers of Wall and Broad streets.
The line has been constructed, and the instruments furnished by Pope, Edison & Co ., contractors, who will also remain in charge of its working until fully completed. The line is constructed in the best manner, with No. 7 compound wire and Brooks insulators,2 and the single wire printing instruments of Pope & E dison are employed. They are of elegant workmanship and appearance, and their simplicity and effectiveness will ensure them a large popularity.
The whole work has been done in the short space of seven weeks from the time the order was placed in the hands of the contractors, a fact which speaks well for the business enterprise of the new firm.
PD, Telegr. 6 (1869–70): 124.
1. Editor James Ashley probably wrote this article.
2. The Brooks insulator, patented by veteran telegrapher and inventor David Brooks, was considered a major advance in telegraph technology. Made with paraffin-saturated cement, it consisted of a hook cemented into an inverted glass bottle that was in turn cemented into a cast-iron shell. The materials in ordinary insulators allowed current leakage because they were hygroscopic, that is, their surfaces became moist in humid air. The cement in Brooks’s insulator prevented the formation of a continuous water film, even in rain. Brooks’ Patent Paraffine Insulator Works in Philadelphia manufactured the insulator. “David Brooks,” J. Frank. Inst. 132 (1891): 75; Pope 1869, 61–62; “Brooks’ Improved Insulators,” Telegr. 5 (1868–69): 320; “Brooks’ Improved Paraffine Insulator,” ibid., 360; “Brooks’ Patent Paraffine Insulator Works,” ibid. 6 (1869–70): 127.
Memorandum: Telegraph Construction Estimate
[1869]1
Diggers 8. | $10.80 | Labor per Mile | $ 17.58 |
Setters2 5. | 6–75 | Poles per Mile | $ 50.00 |
Nailing Insulators. 1 | 1.35 | Wire per Mile | $ 60.00 |
Trimmer.3 1 | 1.35 | Insulators per Mile | $ 7.00 |
Reel Men4 2. | 2.70 | ||
Wire pullers 2. | 2.70 | Cost per Mile | $ 134.58 |
Page 143
Climbers 2. | 3.08 | Labor to NY | $ 4,395.00 |
Reel Horse & Wagon | 2.00 | Cost to Build | |
Labor per three Miles | $30.73 | Lines to NY | $33,645.00c |
Board per three Miles " " " |
$22.00 |
$17.000. for an additional wire and by use of double Transmitters on each 4 complete wires could be had to N York
TELEGRAPH CIRCUITS Doc. 88
Edison made the drawings of telegraph circuits shown in Doc. 88 in a pocket notebook sometime in 1869. Although the circuits depicted were for printing telegraphy (cf. Docs. 66, 93, and 109), they embody ideas that Edison also used or tried to use in multiple telegraphy. He introduced the drawings in an 1880 patent interference to support his claim that in 1869 he was working on circuits that in principle were suitable for diplex and quadruplex telegraphy. He testified that he recognized this possibility at the time but had first had the idea years earlier.1
Sketch E is the earliest document to display the general form of Edison’s later successful diplex and quadruplex designs. The lower loop in the diagram represents a telegraph main line (Edison left out transmitting devices in all of these sketches). Edison described “a polarized relay and a neutral relay being included in the same circuit, one operated by a reversal of the current, and the other by a rise and fall of tension. Both instruments were provided with local circuits containing a battery and electromagnet.”2 The local circuits are shown in the upper part of the drawing. In the main circuit the polarized relay is shown on the left side, the neutral on the right. Because this arrangement allowed both the reversal of the current and the rise and fall of tension to be independent and simultaneous signals and because it did not require either the two local circuits or the two implied keys to be in the samePage 144 location, this circuit could be used in multiple as well as printing telegraphy.
Sketch B depicts what Edison characterized as “a neutral relay and a polarized relay, both included in the same circuit.” In this design the two signal types could be neither independent nor simultaneous. The lower loop in the diagram represents the main line of the telegraph system; the upper portion of the drawing shows a local circuit for the printing instrument. P’ designates an electromagnet to move a printing device; immediately below that are the ratchet, the escapement lever, and two electromagnets of a typewheel circuit. Next below is a switch actuated by a neutral (standard) relay that is itself on the main line; the lowest device is a polarized relay, also on the main line, that switches between the local circuit branches. “The neutral relay served to open and close a local circuit and give rotation to a type wheel. The polarized relay served to open and close a local circuit and give motion to a magnet to effect the printing of a letter; a rise and fall of tension caused the neutral relay to move its armature back, and forward, opening and closing a local circuit at each reciprocation when the polarity of the current was in one direction, but when the polarity of the current was reversed, the tongue of the polarized relay closed a local circuit, and at the same time prevented the neutral relay from closing or opening the circuit operated by it by reason by opening the said circuit upon the polarized relay... .”3
Edison described sketch C as “nearly identical, except in the method of making the local connections.”4 The main-line wire is not shown. At center left is a paper tape that is pressed up against the round typewheel by the printing lever.
Edison did not discuss the other drawings. Sketch A is a printing telegraph circuit in which the polarized relay appears to switch the current between typewheel magnet T and printing lever magnet P , with the typewheel magnet partially cut in on the printing circuit. Sketch D is a combination neutral and polarized relay.
1. Testimony and Exhibits on Behalf of T. A. Edison, pp. 3, 22, 29, 147–54, Nicholson v. Edison. See also App. 1.A18, D42.
2. Testimony and Exhibits on Behalf of T. A. Edison, p. 29, Nicholson v. Edison.
3. Ibid., p. 28. Edison did not use this circuit in either of his successful 1869 printing telegraphs (Docs. 54 and 76).
4. Testimony and Exhibits on Behalf of T. A. Edison, pp. 28–29, Nicholson v. Edison.
Technical Drawings: Telegraph Circuits 1
[Boston or New York,]2 1869
AX (photographic transcript), MdSuFR, RG-241, Nicholson v. Edison, Testimony and Exhibits on Behalf of T. A. Edison, pp. 197–98. The exhibit sketches appear to be photolithographic copies prepared for the printed record (Lemuel Serrell to TAE, 18 Dec. 1880, DF [TAEM 55:235]). During this testimony Edison inserted the labels “No 1” and “No 2” on the sketches. Apparently in the original document the two drawings labeled “1869” were on opposite sides of one piece of paper.