New Alliances
January-June 1870
The first half of 1870 saw an important shift in Edison’s business and personal relations as his work in printing telegraphy became closely tied to the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company and its officers. At the beginning of the year, he was working with Franklin Pope and James Ashley in connection with Pope, Edison & Company. Within four months he had moved his operations to Newark, New Jersey, and was developing facsimile and printing instruments for the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company and for himself. This activity demonstrated his unusual capabilities to the executives of that powerful company.
Edison’s business relations with Pope and Ashley also involved the Financial and Commercial Telegraph Company. Established the preceding fall, it was doing well and attracted the attention of its powerful rival the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company. The patent covering Financial and Commercial’s printer was not granted until April, but in the intervening months the inventors developed other devices—Edison a ratchet-and-pawl escapement mechanism for turning a typewheel,1 Pope a combination Morse and polarized relay,2 and the two together another printing instrument, the gold printer. Patent applications filed in April covered these inventions. Six days after submitting the application for the gold printer, the three partners sold to Gold and Stock partial rights to the four patent applications and to Edison’s Boston instrument patent, which they had had to repurchase from Joel Hills and William Plummer. They also sold the other assets of the Financial and Commercial Company to Gold and Stock. Under the contract, Pope, Edison & Company retainedPage 147 all patent rights for use with private lines—lines that, for example, a business might use to communicate between an office and warehouse. Small printing telegraphs opened this new market area, which the three partners expected to cultivate.
Early in 1870 Edison’s commercial horizons expanded as he began to work with Gold and Stock. Telegraph entrepreneur and Gold and Stock executive Marshall Lefferts took Edison under his wing, encouraging him to sign two contracts with Gold and Stock officers George Field and Elisha Andrews on 10 February. One contract called for the development of a facsimile telegraph to rival the Morse system, and the other specified a printer like the Calahan ticker. Lefferts, head of the Commercial News Department of Western Union, then succeeded Field as president of Gold and Stock in March. Gold and Stock, the sole transmitter of information from the New York Stock Exchange, commanded a market of great potential. In order to maintain its control, the company carefully hoarded printing telegraph patents, obtaining reissues when it needed to broaden or clarify claims. It owned the patents Edison had executed for Samuel Laws, and in the early months of 1870 the company’s officers gained personal knowledge of Edison and his talent for inventing.
Edison completed his ticker for Gold and Stock in early April, and although it operated slowly, it satisfied the company.3 Development of the facsimile telegraph took considerably longer, but the resources provided under the contract allowed Edison to rent a shop, furnish it, and hire a mechanic to assist with experiments. Taking advantage of this provision, Edison entered into a partnership with machinist William Unger, and in February they established the Newark Telegraph Works in a small shop across the street from Newark’s principal railroad depot. 4 Soon Edison was boarding in the city as well.
Establishing himself in Newark was an important step for Edison because most of his needs could be met there. Newark was a generally prosperous city, its growth having accelerated during the Civil War. In practical terms, it was a major source of iron and brass castings, hand and machine tools, chemicals, and other supplies any manufacturer of telegraph and electrical devices would need. 5 It also boasted a concentration of precision metalworking industries, such as toolmaking and jewelry manufacture, which provided the type of skilled labor Edison needed.6 As a place of residence it retained an almost pastoral aura. Observers emphasized the broad streets, abundant greenery, and general beauty of the city’s site along the clear Passaic River. Newark’s flourishing manufacturing and transportation facilities, pleasant environment, comparatively low taxes and rents, and proximity to New York City made it a desirable residence and workplace for the ambitious Edison.7Page 148
This 1875 map of downtown Newark, N.J., shows the locations of Edison’s businesses and residences between 1870 and 1873. The concentric circles are spaced at quarter-mile intervals. (1) Edison boarded in this area of Market St. sometime in 1870–71. (2) Edison was boarding at 854 Broad St. before he married in December 1871. (3) Edison purchased a house at 53 Wright St. (later renumbered 97) in December 1871. (4) Edison set up the Newark Telegraph Works, his first Newark shop, with William Unger at 15 New Jersey Railroad Ave., in February 1870. (5) The Newark Telegraph Works was moved to 4–6 Ward St. (renumbered 10–12) in May 1871, and renamed Edison and Unger. (6) Edison used a small shop at 24 Mechanic St. as an annex to the Ward St. shop during the fall of 1871. (7) Edison set up the American Telegraph works with George Harrington at 103–109 New Jersey Railroad Avenue in October 1870. (8) Edison established a shortlived enterprise, the News Reporting Telegraph Co., in the Daily Advertiser Building at 788 Broad St. in the fall of 1871. (9) Edison had a small experimental shop in White’s Building on the Morris Canal sometime in 1871–72. (10) Edison and Joseph Murray set up a small shop, Murray and Co., at us New Jersey Railroad Ave. in February 1872. (11) Murray and Co. moved to 39 Oliver St. in May 1872.
Page 149In this desirable manufacturing environment, Edison began to expand his inventive horizons into the field of automatic telegraphy. Marshall Lefferts may have prompted Edison’s first patent application in automatic telegraphy: an automatic telegraph transmitter. Lefferts had long-standing and deep interests in automatic telegraphy and is thought to have made Edison aware of problems that plagued the system of George Little, a system in which Lefferts was then interested. In automatic telegraphy an operator perforated a strip of paper with holes to represent the dots and dashes of Morse code and then fed the perforated strip into a transmitter, where electrical contact was made through the perforations, causing the circuit to close intermittently and thereby transmitting signals. A receiver at the other end of the line recorded the signals on paper. By using automatic machinery, such systems could send messages at higher speeds than hand-actuated instruments.8
Lefferts knew that practical limitations prevented automatic telegraphs from achieving high speed, however. One problem was that the inertia of the mechanism slowed the speed with which the signal could be transmitted. The most difficult problem was what Edison and his contemporaries called “tailing,” a combination of electromagnetic induction and capacitance that lengthened each electrical signal in a message. Thus, dots often appeared as dashes, and dashes sometimes became long enough to cause the entire message to appear as a solid line. Edison designed his first automatic transmitter to overcome tailing and executed the patent for it in June 1870.9 This was his initial step into an area that continued to occupy his inventive and entrepreneurial efforts for several years.
1. U.S. Pat. 103,035. See Doc. 97, n. 12.
2. U.S. Pat. 103,077. See Doc. 97, n. 11.
3. U.S. Patent Office 1872, 80; Henry van Hoevenbergh to Ralph Pope, 24 July 1908, Meadowcroft; G&S Minutes 1867–70, 126–30.
4. How Edison met Unger is unknown. See Doc. 92, n. 1.
5. Newark was noted for the wide range of its manufactures (HirschPage 150 1978, 16–21; Armstrong 1873; Atkinson 1878; Ford 1874; Van Arsdale & Co. [1873?]; and Popper 1951). Of the thirty suppliers of the Newark Telegraph Works in 1870 whose locations have been identified, twenty-one were in Newark and seven were in New York City. 70-006, DF (TAEM 12:155–201).
6. Foreign-born residents constituted about one third of Newark’s population in 1870. Nearly 45 percent of these were from Germany, including the Unger family, and a large number were skilled workers with some capital (Popper 1951, 63–64, 131–33; Drummond 1979, 141–45; Urquhart 1913, 2:1059–60; U.S. Census 1964, roll 447). For a time Edison and Unger employed as a machinist one of William Unger’s older brothers, George.
7. Atkinson 1878, 314; Drummond 1979, 21–30, 62–64, 128–34, 148, 241, 250–52; Ford 1874, 5; Lamb 1876; Popper 1951, 65–68; Sikes 1867a and 1867b.
8. See Doc. 33. Hand operators averaged 25–40 words per minute; ink recording automatic telegraphs in use in England averaged 60–120. Experimental tests of George Little’s electrochemically recording automatic system in 1869 yielded speeds as high as 100–130 words per minute. Pope 1869, 118; Prescott 1877, 711; National Telegraph Co. 1869; “Little’s Automatic Telegraph System,” Telegr. 6 (1869–70): 150.
9. Each time the circuit was broken in the process of transmitting a dot or dash, the line discharged and induced a current. The induced current prolonged the signal, an elongation that was imperceptible at moderate speeds but noticeable at higher transmission speeds. The effect was compounded by capacitance, which increased with transmission distance. Telegraphers often referred to the cause of tailing as “electrostatic line induction.” See Doc. 101, n. 3.
To Frank Hanaford
New York, [January?]1 26 1870a
Frank
Did you receive my Letter enclosing money2 you said nothing about it in Letter = Am making Skillings instruments now— will forward with description how to put them up— They will go all right if the Line even lays on the ground = keep your Courage up and it will come out all right Think I can get you a red hot Situation here where you Can make some stamps—3 I may come on with the insts myself if I do will tell you about it
Answer if you got my Letter with money My hair is damnd near white— Man told me yesterday I was a walking churchyard—4 Your
ALS, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 12:42). Letterhead of the Telegrapher. a“New York,” and “18” preprinted.
1. Conjecture is based on the content of the letter and its relationship to other documents.
2. Edison offered to send money to Hanaford at least twice, and laterPage 151 did send money at least once. See Docs. 70 and 77; and Frank Hanaford to TAE, 12 July 1871, DF (TAEM 12:224).
3. “Stamps” meant money. Farmer and Henley 1970, s.v. “Stamps.”
4. See Doc. 77.
From Dewitt Roberts
Ellenburgh N.Y. Feb 4 1870
Dear Sir—
I have just directed Mr Williams1 to send the Voting Ins’t2 here by Express with facilities for working it—
I wish you would prepare the neccessary articles for the solution 3 and send it to me by the National Express Company as soon as possible. I would also like to know if you are willing I should proceed to put the Instrument before the public
Your early attention to this matter will greatly oblige Truly Yours
Am sorry the Boys had to give up as they did.4 I would rather have given $50. myself than had them do that
Agreement with George Field and Elisha Andrews
[New York?,] February 10, 1870a
This Article of agreement made and entered into this tenth (10th) day of February 1870 by and between Thomas A Edison of Elizabeth, New Jersey, party of the first part, and Geo B Field1 of the city county and State of New York and Elisha W. Andrews2 of the town of Englewood Bergen County New Jersey parties of the second part.3 Witnesseth that the party of the first part agrees to invent and perfect a Printing Telegraph Instrument to be worked practically upon one wire, and to perform the same kind of work as the stock Instrument known as “Calahans Invention Patent” Asnow used by the “Gold and Stock Telegraph Company” of New York City.4
Said instrument to be made, shall be constructed not to have more than thirty Six pieces and Six screws in its working parts, all parts to be made of iron and steel, the size to be smaller than the Calahan instrument and the speed to be as great if not greater.5
Page 152It shall be constructed to print two lines on the strip of paper, and all the parts to be clearly seen, and easily approached and the instrument to be easily taken out or put in an office, to have a superior inking apparatus, and the instrument to be worked with the same amount of battery as those used by the Gold & Stock Tel Co” if not less. All parts of the said instruments to be made interchangeable, and the said invention to be clearly patentable in its combinations, and upon the completion of two instruments fully demonstrating the perfection of the instruments for the purpose designed, to the satisfaction of the parties of the second part, the said part of the first part, agrees to prepare or have prepared an application for Letters Patent from the United states Government, and convey by an assignment at the Patent office of the United states to the parties of the second part— Nine tenths (9/10) of the interest of the party of first part in said invention6 upon the following conditions to wit:
The parties of the second part shall well and truly pay to the said party of the first part the sum of Seven (7000) thousand dollars in full payment for the said nine tenths (9/10) when the Patent for the instrument above described shall have been allowed, by the Patent office.7 And the said party of the first part of the first part further agrees that he will lease to the said parties of the second part from the date of said Patent, the remaining one tenth interest in said invention for Seventeen years from the date of the patent for a sum not exceeding one dollar per annum. And the parties of the second part shall by a special agreement agree not to re = issue said patent during its validity or Seventeen years with out the consent of the party of the first part, and shall pay the bills for the construction of the two instruments above referred to not to exceed the sum of two hundred & fifty dollars.
This Contract is assignable, and the agreements are obligatory upon the heirs or assigns of the parties herewithunto.
In witness whereof the parties have hereunto set their hands & seals the day and year aforesaid
Thomas. A. Edison
In presence of AM Kidderc
In addition to the above agreement .I. agree to include my services as C Electrician for one year from date of the application for Letters patent for the above named instrument, 8 for the consideration named in the above writing. I also agree to assign the above named parties any future improvement inPage 153 mechanical Printing Telegraph instruments which are applicable to directly to quoting the prices of Gold & Stocks or any [scheme?] of telegraphing where a number of instruments are worked in connection with one anotherd in the United States which I may devise
Thomas A. Edison
DS (copy), NjWOE, LS (TAEM 28:931). In George Field’s hand. aDate taken from text, form altered. bRepresentation of wax seal drawn next to each signature. cAfter this, text is in Edison’s hand. d“Canceled words interlined above.
1. George Baker Field (n.d.) succeeded Elisha Andrews (see n. 2) as president of the Gold and Stock Telegraph Co. on 13 July 1868. He became a director of the company on 7 September 1869 and was replaced as president by Marshall Lefferts in March 1870. Reid 1879, 607–8; Hotchkiss 1969, 437.
2. Elisha Whittelsey Andrews (n.d.), a New York stockbroker and original stockholder in Gold and Stock, served as president of Gold and Stock from 19 September 1867 to 13 July 1868, when he was elected to the company’s board of directors. In 1870 he traveled to England, seeking to introduce Gold and Stock instruments there (see Chapter 7 introduction). Two years later he helped found the American District Telegraph Co., which provided alarm and messenger services (see Doc. 226, n. 2). Incorporation agreement of Gold and Stock Telegraph Co., exhibit in G&S v. Pearce; Reid 1879, 607, 635; Hotchkiss 1969, 434; Calahan 1901c.
3. Although Gold and Stock is not mentioned in this document, Field and Andrews were acting in the company’s interest. They assigned this agreement to the company in late spring. G&S Minutes 1867–70, 126–30.
4. Edward Calahan’s printing telegraph (U.S. Pat. 76,993), which was introduced in brokers’ offices in New York at the end of 1867, was the first to have two independent typewheels—one for letters and one for numbers. It was the mainstay of the Gold and Stock inventory of printers until Edison’s universal stock printer superseded it in the early 1870s (G&S Minutes 1870–79, 86; William Orton to S. G. Lynch, 22 Oct. 1872, LBO). Pope and Edison, like many other inventors, sought unsuccessfully to find anticipations of Calahan’s design with two independent wheels so that they could circumvent his patent. All litigation concerning infringements of Calahan’s design was decided in favor of Gold and Stock. The principal advantage of two typewheels was the ready legibility of the printed tape, which was considered “extremely important” by Gold and Stock and its customers. Because each wheel had a blank space (or a dot), there was no need for an extra mechanism to block one while printing with the other (as Edison later provided for his cotton instrument and universal stock printer). In addition the lower inertia and smaller circumference of the two independent typewheels allowed greater speed than either a single, large typewheel—which was Edison’s solution in this case—or two coupled typewheels. See Doc. 116 for sketches of two other attempted solutions. Affidavit of Frank L. Pope, 5 Nov. 1883, G&S v. Pearce; George Scott’s testimony, 12 Feb. 1884, ibid.; G&S v. Wiley. Page 154
The Edward Calahan stock printer used by the Gold and Stock Telegraph Co.: (left) side view; (right) front view.
5. The number of parts in Calahan’s and Edison’s printers is uncertain. The “iron and steel” qualification was probably economic. Brass had the advantages of being nonmagnetic and nonrusting but was at the time about six times as expensive as iron and 33 percent more expensive than steel. See invoices, 70–006, DF ( TAEM 12:156–98).
6. The patent for the printer designed under this contract was executed on 24 May 1870 and issued as U.S. Pat. 128,608 (G&S Minutes 1867–70, 126–30). The entire right to the patent was assigned to Gold and Stock on 30 October 1872 (Digest Pat. E-2:209). This machine was never used. Edison made an amendment to the patent application that placed the application in interference with another machine, and the application was not allowed for a year. After finally amending the application to remove the interference, Edison neglected it for another year before paying for its issuance. U.S. Patent Office 1872, 80–81; Pat. App. 128,608. See also Doc. 124, n. 1.
The instrument Edison designed to satisfy his 10 February 1870 contract with George Field and Elisha Andrews.
7. This payment was fulfilled in different terms under the agreement of 26 May 1871 (Doc. 164).
8. Edison filed the patent application (see n. 6) on 27 May 1870. The next year on May 26 he signed an agreement making him the company’s “Consulting Electrician and Mechanician” for five years (Doc. 164).
Agreement with George Field and Elisha Andrews
[New York?,] February 10, 1870a
This article of agreement made and entered into this tenth (10)b day of February 1870 by and between Thomas A Edison of Elizabeth New Jersey, party of the first part, and George B Field, of the city county and State of New York and Elisha W Andrews of the town of Englewood Bergen County New Jerseyc parties of this second part witnesses as follows, that the said party of the first part hereby agrees with the said parties of the second part, to invent and perfect an Autographic or Fac Simile Telegraph instrument which shall
| 1 St | Equal the average speed of Morse |
| 2nd | Be, simple, reliable, practical |
| 3d | Transmit hieroglyphical characters, short hand, and messages in any written Language |
| 4h | Transmit outline Photographs. |
| 5h | Have a speed greater than the average Morse orn ond Press Telegrams. |
| 6h | Have no elaborate preparation of the message to be sent. |
| 7h | Drop copies at any point on circuits not excessively long. |
| 8h | Be able to retransmit from chemical strip. |
| 9h | Not conflict with any existing patent valid in the United States. |
| 10h | Have a United States patent, clear, and po[s]itive. |
And upon the completion of two instruments fully demonstrating thee practical working of said invention, to the satisfaction of the parties of the second part, the said party of the first part agrees to convey by an assignment to the parties of the second part Two-Thirds ⅔ds interest in his invention, and to have the same secured by letters patent of the United States. The parties of the second part agree to pay to the party of the first part, in consideration of said assignment the sum of Three Thousand $3000. dollars. And farther the parties of the second shall furnish a good comfortable room at a rent not exceeding ten dollars per month, and all the necessary tools, and machinery to make experiments for and Construct said apparatus, the tools not to exceed a cost of four hundred dollars $400., and to pay a first class mechanic to be employed by said party of the first part until said instruments shall be completed, not to exceed six months working time, and for the stock to be used in their construction and the incidental expenses pertaining thereto.—1
Page 156All bills to be presented to the party of the second part, by the party of the first part. And no bill to be contracted amounting to over the sum of Ten (10)b dollars without the consent of the parties of the second part. The parties of the second part shall pay all patent fees for securing Letters patent and upon fulfilling the conditions above recited, and by securing by special agreement to the party of the first part, one third of all profits oaccurruing from said invention, the parties of the second part, shall become owners of two thirds of said invention and the parties of the first the owner of one third ⅓ interest in said patent or patents.2 It is hereby agreed that the obligations in this contract between the parties herinto are obligatory upon their heirs and assignees
In witness whereof the parties have hereinto set their hands & seals, the day and year aforesaidf
Thomas. A. Edison
In Presence of A. M. Kidder3
DS (copy), NjWOE, LS (TAEM 28:928). aDate taken from text, form altered. bCircled. cTo this point, written in Edison’s hand. dInterlined above in Edison’s hand. e“of two ... the” repeated upside down, over-struck, at bottom of page, f“hereby agreed ... aforesaid” written in Edison’s hand. gRepresentation of wax seal next to each signature.
1. Under this provision, Edison established the Newark Telegraph Works in conjunction with William Unger (1850–1878), a Newark machinist. Unger and Edison were partners in the Newark Telegraph Works until 3 July 1872 (see Doc. 264). Unger then moved to New York City and manufactured telegraph instruments, light machinery, and models at a shop over the New Haven Railroad Freight Depot on Franklin St. After a fire at this shop in February 1873, he went into partnership manufacturing electrical and telegraph instruments and other machinery with Hamilton Towle at 30 Cortland St. Unger later joined his brothers—Herman, George, Frederick, and Eugene—in the firm of Unger Brothers in Newark, manufacturing pocket knives and hardware specialties. In 1878 George, Frederick, and William Unger died. William Unger advertisement, Telegr. 8 (1871–72): 445; “Scorched But Not Destroyed,” ibid. 9 (1873): 59; Rainwater 1975, 175–76.
On 15 February, Edison and Unger rented a room for $13.50 at 15 Railroad Ave. in Newark (70–008, DF [ TAEM 12:206]), and by the end of April they had spent about $400 on machinery and tools (70–006, DF [TAEM 12:159–66]). The firm’s accounts for experimental work on the facsimile telegraph began in May, after the shop had been equipped (70-005, DF [TAEM 12:144]). The establishment of the American Telegraph Works in October 1870 (see Doc. 109) provided Edison with a much larger and better-equipped machine shop, but he and Unger continued to operate the Newark Telegraph Works, where much experimental work was done.Page 157
2. Apparently Andrews, Field, and Marshall Lefferts (who acquired an interest in the autographic telegraph) continued to pay for these experiments for over a year, although Edison claimed that he bore the expenses after the six months stipulated here. As late as 1876 Edison still sought to collect money he claimed was due him. He continued to experiment periodically on facsimile telegraphs, finally patenting a system in 1881. Cat. 1183:2–13, Accts. (TAEM 20:861–66); Andrews to TAE, 20 June 1870, DF (TAEM 12:618); TAE to Andrews, 21 June 1876, DF (TAEM 13:1136).
3. A. M. Kidder, of the banking and brokerage firm of A. M. Kidder & Co., specialized in the trading of railroad stocks and bonds. He became a member of the newly consolidated New York Stock Exchange on 1 May 1869. New York Times, 27 Apr. 1903, 7; New York City 417:193, RGD; membership records, NNYSE.
Franklin Pope to Montgomery Livingston 1
NY Mar 17 1870.
Dear Sir,
I have examined the patent of E. A. Calahan2 referred to by the Examiner in our case,3 and in reference to the same would remark as follows:
In working a printing telegraph by electricity, two distinct operations are involved.— 1. That of bringing the type wheel into a proper position, and 2. That of taking an impression from said wheel after having been thus moved.
In the House, Hughes, and a similar class of instruments, a single line wire is uemployed, in conjunction with local mechanical power applied separately to each recieving instrument, and this is an indispensable condition of their action. The movement of the type wheel is governed by a combination of mechanical and electrical power, while the impression is taken exclusively by mechanical power, or the reverse. In Calahan’s patent Apr 18 18684 the type wheel is moved by one main circuit, and the impression taken by a second main circuit. He also describes arranging a number of of instruments in this way,— all the type wheel magnets being placed in one main circuit, and all the printing magnets placed in another main circuit. G. M. Phelps, (Pat June 22 1869) uses a main and local circuit,5 the latter for giving the impression Others use a single main circuit, combined with locals, or with mechanical power or both.
We therefore wish to restrict our claim6 to the arrangement of a number of automatic printing instruments working simultaneously ion one wire, or in one circuit, when the power is derived exclusively from the main battery.7
Page 158We were the first to practically work instruments in this way by the main circuit on any number of wires, and believe ourselves to be the first and only inventors who have accomplished it upon one wire.
The value of this improvement over previous methods, is we think sufficiently obvious. Yours truly,
ALS, Pat. App. 102,320. Letterhead of Frank Pope.
1. Montgomery M. Livingston (n.d.), a New York attorney specializing in patents, served as solicitor for the two Pope and Edison joint patents and for Edison’s U.S. Patent 103,035.
2. See Doc. 91, n. 4.
3. The application executed on 16 September 1869 by Pope and Edison had been filed at the U.S. Patent Office on 27 October. The Patent Office failed to act on it, however, and on 3 February 1870 Livingston wrote to the commissioner of patents to inform him that Pope and Edison were “quite anxious concerning it, an early decision will therefore much oblige.” In reply, on 17 February the examiner in charge of the case declared that Calahan’s patent—owned by the Gold and Stock Telegraph Co.—and “the Dial Telegraph of Siemens & Halskie” anticipated the application. Consequently, several of Pope and Edison’s claims were withdrawn, including all references to multiple-wire machines. The interference with Calahan resulted from the exaggerated breadth of Pope and Edison’s original claims. Pat. App. 102,320; for the Siemens and Halske instrument, see Sabine 1872, 156–63.
4. Actually 21 April.
5. George Phelps’s patent of 22 June 1869 (U.S. Pat. 99,662) was his fourth relating to the combination printer.
6. As finally amended, the application included several claims for new mechanical arrangements. Here Pope is amending the first claim of the original application and thereby removing the interference with Calahan.
7. This reliance on the main battery eliminated the need for local batteries and for contending with acid spills that could sometimes be damaging and dangerous. Because local batteries had already proved to be a nuisance to subscribers, Gold and Stock had replaced them with a single, large battery in a centrally located building. Hotchkiss 1969, 435.
To Joel Hills and William Plummet
New York, March 23rd 1870a
Gentlemen
This will introduce Mr. J. N. Ashley who is who proposes to visit Boston on business, and will call upon you.
I have authorized him to arrange with you in regard to the Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars which you were to pay me when the patent for the printer assigned to you was issued. 1 Any arrangement that he may agreed to and any release orPage 159 other legal document that he may sign on my behalf will be recognised by me as good and valid as if signed or executed by myself.2 Yours truly
LS, MiDbEI, EP&RI. Letterhead of the Telegrapher. a“New York ,” and “18” preprinted.
1. See Docs. 51, 53, and 82.
2. The Gold and Stock Telegraph Co. had been talking with Pope, Edison & Co. about patent infringement since February (see Doc. 93, n. 3). On 15 March, Gold and Stock’s directors had requested newly elected president Marshall Lefferts “to take prompt action in relation to” a recent communication. On 12 April, Gold and Stock resolved to “purchase the lines, instruments and property of Pope, Edison & Co.” Repurchase of this patent claim from Hills and Plummer was part of the settlement. See Docs. 95 and 97; and G&S Minutes 1867–70, 101–2, 115, 118.
James Ashley Draft Agreement with Joel Hills and William Plummer
[New York, March 1870?]1
Agreementa
Whereas, Letters Patent of the United States for certain new and useful Improvements in Printing Telegraph Instruments, were, on the twenty second day of June, one thousand eight hundred and sixty nine, issued in due form of law to Jeseph Joelb H. Hills and William E. Plummer as sole assignees of Thomas A Edison the inventor of said improvements; which said Letters Patent are numbered 91527.
And Whereas, the said Joseph H. Hills and William E. Plummer, by an instrument in writing under their hands and seals and duly executed and delivered, and bearing even date herewith did assign sell and set over unto James N. Ashley of the city of Brooklyn, in the state of New York, and unto his executors administrators and assigns the entire right title and interest in and to the said invention and the Letters Patent therefor, for and during the entire residue of the term for which the said Letters Patent are granted.
Now therefore this Agreement made and entered into by and between the said Jesephoelc H. Hills and William E. Plummer parties of the first part, and the said James N. Ashley party of the second part
Witnesseth:— That for and in consideration of the above referred to assignment the said party of the second part covenants and agrees for himself and for his executors, administrators and assigns that he will promptly pay to them the said parties of the first part the sum of Twelve Hundred Dollars inPage 160 quarterly installments in the following manner, to wit: The said party of the second part will pay unto the said parties of the first part the sum of Three Hundred Dollars on the First day of May one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and the sum of Three Hundred Dollars on the first day of August of the same year; and the sum of Three Hundred Dollars on the First day of November in the same year; and the sum of Three Hundred Dollars on the First day of February, one thousand eight hundred and seventy one; making a total of Twelve Hundred Dollars as aforesaid.
And the said party of the second part further covenants and agrees for himself and for his executors, administrators and assigns that he will satisfy all just and legal claims which the said Thomas A Edison may have against them the parties of the first part for or on account of the purchase of the said invention by them the said parties of the first part from him the said Edison.
And the said party of the second part further agrees that in default of the payment of the said sum of Twelve Hundred Dollars the right and interest in and to the said invention and the Letters Patent therefor shall revert to them the said parties of the first part.
In Witness Whereof we the parties hereto hereunto set our hands and affix our seals this day of one thousand eight hundred and seventy.d
Df (copy), MiDbEI, EP&RI. a“Copy” written in left margin above. bInterlined above in a different hand. c“oel” interlined above in a different hand. dWax seals affixed for signatures.
1. This document may have been prepared for negotiations before Ashley’s first visit to Boston (see Doc. 94).
GOLD PRINTER Doc. 96
The gold printer,1 so called because the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company used it to report gold sales, was the second joint invention of Edison and Franklin Pope. Although at the time of application they made no assignment of rights, within a week they sold partial rights to Gold and Stock, which employed it on gold-reporting circuits at least through the 1880s.2
The gold printer reflected Edison and Pope’s experience with printing telegraphs. They modified elements from bothPage 161 the Boston instrument and the Financial and Commercial instrument, and they also designed a unison stop to synchronize all the printers on a circuit. Edison had worked with a unison stop when he redesigned Samuel Laws’s printer in 1869. That one, however, was mechanical, whereas the new unison was electrical. Like the Boston instrument, the gold printer required only one line and incorporated a polar relay as a switch. Unlike the Boston instrument (whose polar relay cut out either the typewheel or the printing electromagnet), the gold printer used its polar relay to cut out either the typewheel and printing mechanisms together or the unison stop. As with the Financial and Commercial instrument, the length of the transmitted signal determined whether the typewheel advanced or the instrument printed. This arrangement had led to problems because the available breakwheels could not be depended upon to generate impulses sufficiently short to avoid activating the printing mechanism.3 Edison and Pope hoped to prevent that difficulty in the gold printer by shunting the current around the printing electromagnet during the first part of an impulse, thereby rendering the printing mechanism insensitive to all but deliberately lengthened signals.
An 1872 notebook containing Edison’s drawings of escapement mechanisms includes this design used in the Edison-Pope gold printer.
The production instrument shown in Doc. 96 has been modified somewhat from the design specified in Edison and Pope’s U.S. Patent 103,924. It has four binding posts instead of two, and there is no polar relay mounted on the instrument’s base. These alterations suggest a variety of possible circuits. The polar relay could have been placed underneath the base,4 designed as a separate piece of apparatus,5 or simply eliminated because of its fallibility.6 In the last case the machine would have required two circuits. Alternatively, although the original design did not call for a local battery, one may have been used with this particular machine. This artifact also exhibits two minor mechanical deviations from the patent specification: the retracting spring for the printing lever has been moved away from the lever’s fulcrum, and there is a crudely cut slot in the base through which the paper strip for printing emerged.
1. An annotated duplicate of the album in which the photographs in Doc. 96 are found identifies this instrument as such. Cat. 66-42, Box 44, WU Coll.
2. Reid 1879, 614, 621.
3. See Doc. 76 headnote, n. 5, for a discussion of breakwheels.
4. Edison placed a polar relay under the base of the Chicago instrument, which he developed at the end of 1870.Page 162
5. Pope’s U.S. Patent 103,077 combined a Morse and a polar relay and was used by Pope, Edison & Co. later in 1870 with the instrument of the American Printing Telegraph Co.
6. See Doc. 54 headnote. James Reid’s 1879 description of the gold printer omits any mention of the unison and details a circuit similar to that of the Boston instrument. He notes that the polarized relay was eliminated by 1879, the gold printer then employing two wires. Reid 1879, 620–21.
And Franklin Pope Production Model: Printing Telegraphy 1
M (historic photograph) (est. 12 cm dia. × 18 cm), NjWOE, Cat. 551:16, 31. See Doc. 54 textnotc. On design alterations in this instrument, see headnote preceding this document.Page 163
And Franklin Pope and James Ashley Agreement with Gold and Stock Telegraph Co.
New York, April 30, 1870a
This Memorandum of an agreement made and entered into this 18th day of April 1870,1 by and between “The Gold and Stock Telegraph Company of the City of New York” party hereto of the first part, and Frank L. Pope , Jamesb N. Ashley, and Thomas A. Edison, parties hereto of the second part, jointly and severally witnesseth
That, for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar to them in hand paid by said party of the first part (the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged) and of the covenants and agreements of the party of the first part hereinafter expressed, the said Francis L. Pope, Jamesc N. Ashley, and Thomas A. Edison, parties hereto of the second part, jointly agree and each of them separately for himself agrees, as follows:
First: to sell, assign, transfer and convey (and they hereby do sell, assign, transfer and convey) to “The Gold and Stock Telegraph Company of the City of New York,” each, every, and (except as is hereinafter excepted and reserved) all the right, title and interest, in, to, and under, each any and all of the inventions and improvements by said parties of the second part, either or any of them heretofore made or hereafter to be made, and of the patents therefor heretofore issued to and secured by, or hereafter to be issued, or re-issued to and secured by, said parties of the second part, either or any of them, for printing telegraph instruments, apparatus, and methods— and also each, every, and (with the same exceptions and reservations as are above referred to) all their right, title, and interest, and the right, title and interest of each and any of them, as the assignee or assignees of any patent, or license under any patent, to any other person or persons issued, or to be issued, or reissued, for any printing telegraph instrument apparatus or method.
Second: to sell, assign, and transfer, (and they hereby do sell assign and transfer) to said party of the first part, each, every, and all the right, title, and interest, in, and to, the lines of telegraph with the wires, poles, insulators, instruments, batteries and fixtures, and every thing to said lines of telegraph pertaining, now in the possession and under the controlPage 164 of said parties of the second part—either, or any of them (covenanting hereby that they, or either or any of them who may have the same in possession or under control, has, and have a good and absolute right and title to the same.) and to surrender and turn over (and they hereby do surrender and turn over) the same in working order, and free and clear of all incumbrances and liens whatsoever, to said party of the first part with all subscribers to quotations of gold, stocks, and commercial news by said lines of telegraph, and all subscriptions due, and to become due from said subscribers on or after the 18th day of April 1870.2
Third: To make, execute, and deliver to said party of the first part, their successors or assigns, on demand, any and all proper instruments in writing which may be required to effectuate or express the sales, assignments, and transfers, either or any of them, hereby made or agreed to be made.
Fourth: That they will not for a period of ten years from the date of execution of these presents, engage, either directly or indirectly, as individuals, or by association, in any telegraphing which is in effect in rivalry or opposition to the business of the party of the first part, and that they will not infringe any patent rights of party of the first part, but will by all means in their power, discourage others from such rivalry, opposition and infringements, and will assist the party of the first part in maintaining its rights and business against any and all persons who may attempt such rivalry, opposition or infringement.
Fifth: that said parties of the second part hereby covenant that they, or some or one of them, has, or have a good and absolute right and title in and to, each and all of the property, and rights of property, hereby assigned and transferred to the party of the first part;— and further, that they (and any particular one or two of them as the case may be, and as may be required) will make and complete any and every assignment and transfer hereby agreed to be hereafter made to the party of the first part, their successors or assigns, free and clear of any and every incumbrance, claim and lien whatsoever.
For and in consideration of said covenants, sales, assignments and transfers, and of the full and faithful performance of the agreements above expressed, said party of the first part agrees:
First: to pay said Francis L. Pope, J N. Ashley, and Thomas A. Edison on order, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars, in payments as follows: to wit: Five thousand dollars at and upon the execution and delivery of these presents: FivePage 165 thousand dollars as soon as said Pope and Edison shall have obtained and assigned to said party of the first part letters patent of the United States (four new-patents and one re-issue)3 covering claims substantially as per memorandum this day furnished by said Pope to party of the first part (hereto annexed) and the further sum of Five thousand dollars in three equal payments to be made on the first days of September, October, and November 1870, respectively.
Second: to perform the agreements heretofore made by the parties of the second part with their present subscribers to furnish quotations of gold, for one year from the date of each of such agreements, at the rate of two dollars per week. It is however mutually understood and agreed that the parties of the second part have and reserve to themselves the right to manufacture and use, and to sell to others to be used, each, any, and all of the apparatus, instruments and methods for which patents are hereby assigned, or agreed to be assigned, for the specific purpose of transmitting over what are known as “private” lines of telegraph, messages other than commercial quotations, and quotations of the prices of gold and stocks4—but that said parties of the second part will not sell to be used, or allow to be used, any ofd such instruments or apparatus, except upon receipt of an agreement in writing, to be made, executed and delivered, by each and every of the persons who may purchase the same for any such “private” line of telegraph, that they will not use or permit others to use the same for any other purpose than that for which said particular “private” line, for which the purchase is made, was originally intended. And that there may be no misapprehension as to what is herein meant by á “private” line of telegraph, it is mutually understood and agreed that the following is an example of one.
A.B. being either an individual, firm or corporation doing business, has a line of telegraph connecting AB’s officesd shops, offices, or factories, or any of them, where ABs proper ore usual business is carried on, such line is a “private” line, provided that the messages transmitted over it are for the use of, and used by A.B. only, and not by the public generally, or persons other than A.B., his or their agents and employees in said business.
It is further mutually agreed that should any of the instruments, apparatus or methods, for which patents or licenses have been obtained, or are to be obtained, and which are hereby assigned or agreed to be assigned to said party of thePage 166 first part, prove available for use upon long lines of telegraph between distant cities, the same may be so used by either of the parties hereto, but only after thirty days notice in writing first to be given by the party so desiring to use the same, to the other party, accompanied in each particular case by a statement of the nature and extent of the proposed enterprise and of the estimated expense thereof, and also by an offer of [-] option to such other party to come in and contribute one half of the actual cost or expense of such enterprise as a joint undertaking, and that, in case such contribution is, within saidd thirty days, made, or satisfactorily secured, the party so contributing shall be entitled to one half the profits of the enterprise—the object of the parties hereto being to make if possible, a joint enterprise of each and every undertaking attempted under the terms of this clause of their agreement, and to conduct the same in friendship and harmony as partners.
It is further mutually agreed that in case any disagreement or dispute shall arise between the parties hereto, or their assigns as to the true intent and meaning of this agreement, or of any clause or provision thereof, such disagreement or dispute shall be referred to the arbitration of three arbiters, of whom one shall be the president for the time being of the Chamber of Commerce of the City of New York City, and one shall be chosen by each of the parties hereto—and that the decision of such arbiters, or any two of them shall be conclusive.5
In witness whereof the parties hereto have sealed and delivered these presents this 30th day of April 1870.
Gold & Stock Telegraph Co by M. Lefferts6 Presdtf
Frank L Popef
Witness T F Goodrich7g
(1) F. L. Pope and T. A. Edison Imp’t in
Printing Telegraphs8
We do not claim distinctively the placing of an electro magnet for operating the type wheel of a printing instrument in the same circuit as the electro magnet that actuates the printing hammer, as this is not new, neither do we claim the use of a unison stop in general. We claim
Principle of Closed ckt instrumenth
1. In a printing telegraph instrument, the arrangment ofPage 167 two electro-magnets in the same electrical circuits, anone being employed to rotate the type wheel, and the other to actuate the printing mechanism, when the action of the latter is controlled by that of the former, by means of a branch circuit and mechanical shunt or cut off, or its equivalent constructed and operated substantially as described.
Unison Cut offb
2. The electrical unison cut off, whereby at a given point in the revolution of a rachet or type wheel a shunt or branch circuit may be brought into action and the electrical current diverted from the electro magnet operating the said rachet or type wheel so that the movement of the latter will be arrested at said given point, the same being constructed and operated substantially as specified.i
Polarized switchb
3. The Electro magnet R’.R’,9 soft iron bar T polarized steel bar N.S. and stops zz’, combined arranged, and operated as set forth.
Paper feedb
4. The standard M. screws 0.0’, pawl arm N, Spurs q, and bed plate O, or their equivalents combined and arranged substantially as described, and for the purposes specified (paper feed)
Escapementb
5d The combination of the lever E, pawls F and F’, stops J and K and toothed wheel G or their equivalents, arranged and operated substantially as specified.
Combination of polarized switch (3) with unison stop (2)b
6. The electro magnet RR’, soft iron bar T. polarized steel bar N.S, or their equivalents, in combination with the spring X, insulating collar V and pin or stud w, or their equivalents, arranged and operated in the manner set forth, and for the purpose specified.
7 The three duplicate characters arranged upon the type wheel in the manner described and for the purpose specified.
(2) F. L. Pope and Thos. A. Edison Improvement in printing Telegraphs10
Working instruments in main circuit on one wire.b
Page 1681. The combination of a number of automatic printing telegraph instruments, arranged in one main circuit, and operating simultaneously in unison when the electro motive power used in operating the same, is derived exclusively from one or more main batteries placed in such main circuits without the aid of secondary or local batteries or of mechanism, actuated by springs, or weights, or otherwise, sSubstantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.
2. The combination of a polarized magnet with an electro magnet placed in the same electrical circuit and operated substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.
Escapementb
3. The combination of the rachet wheel I, bar F’, pawls hh’, stops i.i’ and type wheel T, bar arranged and operating substantially as and for the purpose herein specified
4. The combination of an electro magnet with the rachet wheel, bar pawls, stops, and polarized magnet substantially as and for the purpose specified.
5. The arrangement of the permanent magnet N.S. polarized magnet E, electro magnet M, tongue C, arm D, bar E, pawls hh’, stops ii’ springs jj’, rachet wheel H, type wheel T, and standards A.K. all constructed arranged and operated substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.
Paper feedb
6 The roller t serrated wheel g, paul s, rachet wheel r, click x, and standard p, in combination with the polarized magnets E and the electro magnet M, and their appurtenances for the purposes set forth.
7. the screw stops dd’ upon the standard A, in combination with the type wheel T substantially as herein specified
8 The arrangement of the tongue G with slot O, of the permanent magnet N.S, by means of a pivot a and screw 0 for the purpose specified.
3)T. A. Edison Improvement in Telegraphic Apparatus11
1 the switch n’s or its equivalent in combination with two electro magnets E and M constructed arranged and operated substantially as described and for the purpose specified.
2 The keys P and N, constructed as described, in combination with the switch N.S. or equivalent and the Electromagnets’ E and M for the purpose specifiedkPage 169
4)— T. A. Edison Electro motor escapement12
Edisons patent sold to Hall and of Boston Mass, purchased by Pope & Co, is dated June 22/69, and is referred to in Edisons patent for polarized switch No 968681—assigned to SLaws—dated 9 Nov. 186913
Also patent of [-]T. A. Edison June 22, 1869 and assigned to [-]Joel E. Hills and William E. Plummer of Boston, and purchased by Pope Edison & Co. to be reissuedl
The above is a description of the patents referred to in the above agreement.
ADDENDAn
Recd from the Gold & Stock Telegraph Co. Five thousand dollars, being the first mentioned sum in the forgoing agreement14
$5000—
Received from the Gold & Stock Tel Co. Two thousand dollars be on within agreement—
$2000.
Received from the Gold & Stock Tel Co.—Three thousand dollars—on within Contract—15
$3000.00
U.S. Patent Office Recd for record July 2 1870 and recorded in Liber G 13 page 113 of Transfers of Patents. In testimony whereof I have caused the Seal of the Patent Office to be hereunto affixed. <Exd. C. E. L.>q
Received from the Gold & Stock Tel. Co.—Sixteen hundred & fifty dollars—being the last payments—(others notPage 170 endorsed) and in full for all claims and demand under this agreement—
D (photographic transcript), MiDbEI, EP&RI. Each sheet of agreement has a canceled 5¢ Internal Revenue stamp affixed in the upper left corner. aPlace taken from notarization; date taken from text, form altered. bWritten in left margin. cExtra space on either side of name. dInterlined above. e“proper or” interlined above. fSeal affixed next to signature. gFollowed by notarization of signatures of both parties. hWritten in left margin; brace spans following paragraph. iFollowed by “(over)” to indicate page turn, j“and the Electro-” interlined above. kFollowed by line drawn across page. lFollowed by centered horizontal line. mSignature; preceding sentence written in Pope’s hand. nFirst three addenda have canceled 2¢ Internal Revenue stamps affixed in left margin. oThis addendum is a D; apparently written by Lefferts, company name written by Pope. pThis addendum is a DS; written in an unknown hand; date taken from text. qMarginalia written in an unknown hand.
1. Although Pope, Ashley, Edison, and Lefferts reached an oral agreement on 18 April, they did not sign this memorandum of agreement until 30 April. The parties had been negotiating since at least mid-March. G&S Minutes 1867–70, 101–2, 115, 118.
2. This paragraph refers to the property and business of the Financial and Commercial Telegraph Co.
3. See n. 13.
4. These reserved rights were the basis for the 1 July formation of the American Printing Telegraph Co. See Doc. 130.
5. It was common practice to refer commercial disputes to the New York Chamber of Commerce for arbitration. The Chamber had established arbitration procedures as early as 1768; from 1861 to 1873, by legislative order, decisions of the Chamber’s Committee on Arbitration could be entered as judgments in courts of record. Bishop 1918, 120–27, 262.
Marshall Lefferts, president of the Gold and Stock Telegraph Co.
6. Marshall Lefferts (1821–1876), who introduced the Bain automatic telegraph system to the United States in 1849, was a leading telegraph engineer and entrepreneur. From 1861 to 1866 he was general manager and engineer of the American Telegraph Co., on whose lines he tested John Humaston’s automatic system for possible commercial use. Franklin Pope served as his assistant between 1862 and 1864. When this company merged with Western Union in July 1866, Lefferts assumed the posts of engineer and superintendent of Western Union’s Commercial News Department. He became president of Gold and Stock in March 1870 but did not resign from his position as a Western Union engineer until the following January. Gold and Stock grew rapidly under Lefferts, and he remained president when Western Union took over the company in 1871. DAB, s.v. “Lefferts, Marshall”; NCAB, 10:243; “Obituary. Marshall Lefferts,” Telegr. 12 (1876): 168; “Resignation of Gen. Lefferts,” J. Teleg. 4 (1871): 47; Reid 1879, 421–22, 426, 566, 608, 653.
Lefferts was widely known and respected among inventors and investors interested in telegraphy. He became president of the American Printing Telegraph Co. (see Doc. 130), adopted Edison as a protégé,Page 171 and backed him in several ventures over the next few years, including Edison’s work on the electric pen. Henry van Hoevenbergh to Ralph Pope, 24 July 1908, GF; “Edison’s Electric Pen” folder, Telegraphy Series, Lefferts.
7. Thomas Goodrich was a notary public and insurance agent with an office at 135 Broadway. Wilson 1870, 423.
8. This section of the Pope memorandum reproduces the claims in U.S. Patent 103,924, the design for the second Pope-Edison printer (Doc. 96). The letters identify elements in the patent drawings.
9. “RR’” in printed patent.
Patent drawing of Franklin Pope’s switch for using local batteries with a polar relay (U.S. Pat. 103,077).
10. This section summarizes the claims in U.S. Patent 102,320, the design for the first Pope-Edison printer (Doc. 76). In claim 5, bar E should read F according to the patent specification; slot O in claim 8 should be slot b. Claim 8 is abbreviated here.
11. This is actually Pope’s U.S. Patent 103,077. Pope’s relay switch allowed the incorporation of a local battery into the Boston instrument circuitry, which made the operation of the individual printers more dependable by having the main circuit transmit only signals to trigger the mechanism and not the power to move it. Later in 1870 Pope and Edison used this design in the American Printing instrument. Pope executed the application on 5 April and filed it on 11 April, the same day on which Edison filed his escapement application (see n. 12).
12. Edison’s U.S. Patent 103,035. The novelty of this escapement lay in the fact that the stops were an integral part of the lever arm, which obviated problems of adjustment that had plagued earlier devices. The patent was granted on 17 May 1870. Edison executed the application on 5 February, assigned it to Ashley as trustee on 15 March, filed the application with the Patent Office on 11 April, and registered the assignment on 24June. Pat. App. 103,035; Digest Pat. E-2:143, 144.
(Left): Patent drawing of Edison’s electro-motor escapement used in printing telegraphs (U.S. Pat. 103,035). (Right): The model submitted with Edison’s application for a patent.
13. This paragraph and the next one refer to the Boston instrument (Doc. 54). Pope, Ashley, and Edison did not in fact repurchase the patent until 11 May (see Doc. 100, n. 1). This was the patent referred to in the payment schedule as the “one re-issue.” Reissue 4,166 was executed on 6 September and granted on 25 October 1870.
14. Edison later claimed that Ashley had tried to keep all the money from him and that Lefferts had personally given him his share (App.Page 172 1.A31). The date of this payment coincides with the date of the first entry in the accounts for the Newark Telegraph Works. 70–005, DF (TAEM 12:144).
15. The agreement called for a second payment of $5,000 upon assignment of all patents. U.S. Patents 103, 035,103, 077, and 91, 527 were assigned to Gold and Stock on 1 July. Digest Pat. E-2:144.
Financial Statement from Mrs. Ebenezer Pope and Franklin Pope
[Elizabeth, N.J.,] May 7 1870.
T. A. Edison To Mrs E L Pope1 D[ebto]r.
To. 32 weeks board, Sept 12 1869 to Apr 23 1870,
| at $5 per week. | $160 |
| Deduct $ 10 paid__________ | 10 |
| $150. |
Also to F. L. Pope for sundry small sums of money as follows: 2
| October | 15 | .50 | December | 4 | 5.00 | |
| " | 23 | 2.00 | 10 | .50 | ||
| " | 28 | 1.00 | 11 | 50 | ||
| " | 30 | .50 | 15 | 1.00 | ||
| November | 5 | 1.00 | 20 | 1.00 | ||
| " | 9 | .25 | 22 | .50 | ||
| " | 12 | 2.00 | 28 | 2.00 | ||
| " | 15 | 50 | 30 | .50 | ||
| " | 18 | 50 | ||||
| " | 20 | 25 | $ 20.50 | |||
| " | 21 | 1.00 | ||||
| $170.50 |
D, NjWOE, DF (TAEM 12:40). Apparently written by Franklin Pope.
1. Mrs. Ebenezer L. (Electra Wainwright) Pope was Franklin Pope’s mother. Other members of the household in 1869–70 included Franklin’s younger brothers, Henry and Ralph, both of whom were telegraph operators. Boyd and Boyd 1868, 207; Elizabeth Directory 1869, 164; ibid. 1870, 166–67.
2. These small loans from Pope to Edison began shortly after the establishment of their partnership in October 1869. Pope rendered this bill on the date of the first payment by the Gold and Stock Telegraph Co. under the agreement of 30 April (Doc. 97).
To Samuel and Nancy Edison
New York, May 9 1870a
Dear Father and Mother =
I sent you another express package Saturday—enclosed you will find the receipts for same =
Page 173J C Edison 1 writes me that mother is’not very well and that you have to work very hard. I guess you had better take it easy after this— Dont do any hard work and get mother anything She desires = You can draw on me for money—write me and Say how much money you will need in June and I will Send the amount on the first of that month =2 give Love to all the Folks—and write me the town news—What is Pitt3 doing— Did you sell J. C. a Lot= is Truey4 still with you & How is she— Your Affec Son
ALS, MiDbEI, EP&RI. Letterhead of the Telegrapher. a“New York ,” and “18” preprinted.
1. Probably Jacob Edison, Thomas’s cousin. Jacob Edison to TAE, 13 Apr. 1874, DF (TAEM 13:20).
2. Edison wrote this letter two days after the first payment to Pope, Edison & Co. under the agreement of 30 April (Doc. 97). The next payment from Gold and Stock was due at the end of May.
3. William Pitt Edison.
4. Truey was the Edisons’ maidservant. Memorandum of Nellie Poyer, n.d., EBC.
Release from Agreement for Joel Hills and William Plummer
New York May 9th 1870
I hereby release Messrs. Joel H. Hills and Wm. E. Plummer from any claim that I may have upon them arising under my agreement with them for the assignmenta transfer of the patent for a Printing Telegraph Instrument issued to them as my assignees.1
DS, MiDbEI. aInterlined above.
1. James Ashley may have taken this note to Boston to conclude negotiations with Hills and Plummer. Ashley came to terms with Hills (to whom Plummer had signed over his interest the week before) on 11 May. At the time this note was written, neither Edison nor Ashley appears to have been aware that Plummer was no longer involved. Libers Pat. E-2:141.
Patent Application: Automatic Telegraphy
[New York?,]1 June 22, 1870a
1b To all whom it may concern.
Be it known that I, Thomas A. Edison, of Newark in the County of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented and made an Improved Telegraphic Transmitting Instrument, andPage 174 the following is declared to be a correct description of the said Invention.
2 In telegraphing, a perforated strip of paper has been employed to make and break the electrical circuit in transmitting the message.2
3 In transmitting instruments adapted to said paper there is a small disk or wire brush that closes the metallic circuit through the perforations, and the circuit is broken by the paper when the unperforated portion intervenes between the roller or plate and the disk or wire brush.
4 The transmission of pulsations of electricity being very rapid in this system of telegraphing, there is a difficulty that sometimes arises from the wire not clearing itself, and the pulsations are attenuated and do not distinctly reach the distant station.3
5 My invention consists in arranging the connections and portions of the instrument in such a manner that a reverse current shall be thrown upon the wire of the circuit by a motion derived from the thickness of the paper when the same is drawn in between the plate or roller and the brush or disk.
6 In the drawing the device in question is represented by a side view.
Thomas A. Edisonc
Witnesses, Chas. H. Smith4 Geo. D. Walker5
7 Let a. represent a plate, roller or metallic surface over which the strip of perforated paper s, is drawn, and b. represents a wire brush, stilus, or roller, these parts being of any known character for sending pulsations of electricity to a distant receiving instrument.
8 The battery is represented at c. and the ground wire at d. and the line wire at f. The current will therefore be sentPage 175 when the circuit is closed through the perforation of the paper, and when the unperforated portion of the paper is beneath the brush or stilus b. the end is lifted sufficiently to touch or nearly so the point i. that is adjustable and mounted in any convenient manner.
9 By the said movement the battery k is brought into action by closing the circuit between i and b. and a reverse current is thrown upon the telegraph line, thereby preventing the attenuation of the previous pulsation, clearing the wire and causing the mark at the receiving station to be clear and distinct.
I claim as my invention a circuit closer operated by the movement of the perforated paper in a telegraph transmitting instrument to throw a reverse circuit on the line, substantially as set forth Signed by me this 22nd day of June ad 18706
Witnesses Chas H. Smith Geo. T. Pinckney7
1. This application was prepared at Lemuel Serrell’s office, 119–21 Nassau St., New York; however, it may have been based on an original drafted by Edison in Newark.
2. On automatic telegraphy, see Doc. 33.
3. If the electrical potential of a telegraph line did not drop sufficiently between signals, the signals elongated and caused the recorded marks to run together. This effect was known as tailing. It was most noticeable either on long lines, which required more time to discharge, or when sending signals very rapidly. Because one of the principal advantages of automatic telegraphs was the greater speed of transmission, it was necessary to develop a method to discharge the line more rapidly (Prescott 1877, 689; Maver 1892, 288). Marshall Lefferts had encouraged the development of George Little’s system of automatic telegraphy and may have mentioned to Edison the importance of solving the tailing problem. At about this time both Lefferts and Little applied for patents on devices to prevent tailing (U.S. Pats. 114,692 and 108, 495). Their schemes also used reverse currents to neutralize the charge of the preceding signal.
4. Charles Smith witnessed and notarized many documents in Serrell’s office.
5. George Walker witnessed many documents in Serrell’s office.
6. The U.S. Patent Office approved Edison’s application on 11 July 1870, but he did not pay the final fee within the prescribed six months and therefore had to reapply for the patent on 16 January 1871. He was issued U.S. Patent 114,656 on 9 May 1871. Pat. App. 114,656.
7. George Pinckney witnessed many documents in Serrell’s office.
DS and PD, MDSUFR, RG-241, Pat. App. 114,656. Petition and oath omitted. aDate taken from text, form altered. bSection numbers written in left margin. cDrawing and accompanying signatures from printed patent.
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