The Nascent Inventor
March-December 1868
In early 1868 Edison moved from Port Huron to Boston, a city of some 200,000 inhabitants and a bustling center of telegraphy.1 During the next year the city provided ample resources for Edison’s transition from operator to inventor, manufacturer, and entrepreneur, and special opportunities for his participation in a widening circle of technical and business communities. When he arrived in 1868, there were two telegraph companies, each employing a large number of operators, both male and female. The Western Union Telegraph Company had four Boston offices, and the recently founded Franklin Telegraph Company, with lines from Washington to Boston, had three.2 Boston also boasted two major telegraph manufacturers—Charles Williams, Jr., and Edmands and Hamblet—and a number of minor ones. Several highly acclaimed telegraph inventors lived there, among them Joseph Stearns, president of the Franklin Telegraph Company and inventor of a duplex telegraph system; Moses Farmer, perhaps the most prominent electrical inventor of the day; and George Milliken, manager of Western Union’s main office.3
George Milliken, manager of Western Union’s Boston office and inventor of a much-used repeater and other telegraph apparatus.
Edison’s friend from his Cincinnati days, Milton Adams, introduced him to Milliken, who hired Edison because of his experience in handling press reports. Edison worked nights at Western Union’s main office principally as a receiver on the “Number 1 wire,” a press wire from New York City. He seems to have found the working conditions there more congenial than those in many of his previous jobs and to have found Milliken particularly appreciative of his consuming interest in telegraph invention.4 Edison visited the city’s telegraph and electrical manufacturers and wrote about them for the Telegrapher. Page 52 These articles and others about his own inventions brought Edison to the attention of the wider telegraph community.
Little is known of Edison’s personal life in this period. He recalled living first in a windowless hall bedroom and then in a series of boarding houses. Much of the time Adams, who was usually broke, lived with him.5 At work Edison appears to have gotten along well with his fellow operators, on one occasion being placed in charge of collecting a large sum of money for a gift for a departing employee.6 His co-workers remembered him not only for his ceaseless experimentation and his clever inventions for easing his life in the workplace7 but also for his conversational ability and good humor. On occasion Edison ignored his own work in order to listen to one operator—a Harvard Law School student—engage others in heated arguments.8
All through 1868 Edison sought backers for his experiments and inventions. He found at least three: Dewitt Roberts, a fellow telegrapher; E. Baker Welch, a merchant and director of the Franklin Telegraph Company; and John Lane, a New York banker formerly in the telegraph business. Edison tried his hand in quick succession at nearly every form of telegraph apparatus: a double transmitter, a self-adjusting relay, a method of automatic telegraphy, a stock printer, a fire alarm telegraph, a facsimile telegraph, and an electric vote recorder. These early efforts were largely unsuccessful; either he discovered that his inventions were not new or he was unable to develop them sufficiently to acquire a patent. In October 1868 he executed his first successful patent application—for an electric vote recorder for legislative bodies, a device that no one would use. However, prior to October he had filed a caveat on a fire alarm telegraph and tried to patent several other inventions. Nevertheless, Edison was making progress. By December he was advertising another of his double transmitters for sale and had obtained space in Charles Williams’s shop in order to work on his inventions. 9 A month later he resigned his position at Western Union to devote himself to his inventions.
Edison’s success depended on more than his technical abilities; it also depended on his proximity to urban centers of telegraphy and finance.10 He began inventing while working in the larger cities of the Midwest and was to achieve his early successes in Boston, New York, and Newark. These cities offered substantial technical communities located in the largePage 53 main telegraph offices and in the precision machine shops of telegraph manufacturers. In the machine shops skilled mechanics translated his ideas into actual devices.11 Edison also needed institutional and financial support. Manufacturers such as Charles Williams, Jr., provided a place to experiment and extended credit for work and materials, while local entrepreneurs and company officials offered more direct financial support. Edison and other inventors attracted local entrepreneurs to the newly emerging urban telegraph inventions for fire and burglar alarms, market reporting and private-line services, and messenger services. These small-scale systems required only limited capital, and Edison obtained such support from entrepreneurs who helped him establish new companies in Boston for providing gold reports and private-line telegraphs.
Renewed competition between Western Union and a growing number of intercity telegraph companies focused attention on increasing the speed of message transmission and the capacity of telegraph lines. Companies started to support two types of inventions that might accomplish these goals. The first type—“minor” improvements—were designed to increase the efficiency and standardization of established systems. Western Union, in particular, focused on “minor” improvements as it consolidated the myriad lines acquired from former competitors and improved the quality of its service to western cities. 12 The second type—new systems such as multiple and automatic telegraphs—were designed to increase either the number of messages that could be transmitted over a single wire or the speed of transmission.13 Edison received money to develop his double transmitter from a backer who hoped that one of Western Union’s competitors would adopt it.
Inventors working on new systems to increase transmission speed and line capacity in long-distance telegraphy usually required a greater knowledge of electricity than did those making improvements in existing components. Electricity provided the motive force for telegraph operations, but precision mechanical design dominated telegraph technology. Accordingly, detailed knowledge of mechanical movements was often more valuable to inventors than advanced knowledge of the science of electricity. Even mechanics who were unschooled in electrical science produced important improvements in electrical devices when the problem was primarily mechanical. Those working on improvements in batteries or chemicalPage 54 recording telegraphs also required some knowledge of chemistry. The elite of telegraph inventors, however, enjoyed proficiency in all facets of telegraph design. These men often worked on a variety of telegraph systems. Edison, for example, made important improvements in printing telegraphs, the mechanical movements of which were a principal element in instrument design. He also invented multiple and, later, automatic telegraphs that required sophisticated electrical techniques or chemical investigations. This combination of chemical, electrical, and mechanical ingenuity gave Edison great versatility and allowed him to do important work that in a few years would be second to none in the field of telegraphy.
1. Edison apparently arrived in Boston in March. App. 1.A18; Doc. 36, n. 1.
2. Boston Directory 1868, 720; ibid. 1869, 876.
3. See Docs. 34, 41, and 44.
4. App. 1.A19-23; “The Napoleon of Science,” New York Sun, 10 Mar. 1878, Cat. 1240, Batchelor (TAEM 94: 119-20). For descriptions of both the Western Union office at 83 State St. and the conditions of employment there, see “Commendatory,” Telegr. 5 (1868-69): 70; “A Visit to Boston,” ibid., 400-401; “Enlarged and Improved Accommodations,” ibid. 6 (1869-70): 122; “The New Western Union Office at Boston,” ibid., 151; and Frank Whittlesey to TAE, 3 Aug. 1908, GF.
5. App. 1.A15. The 1868 city directory gives Edison’s address as 4 Bulfinch St. (Boston Directory 1868, 213); the 1869 directory supplied only his business address, 9 Wilson Lane (ibid. 1869, 216). A fellow operator, George Newton, recalled that he, Edison, and Adams lived together in Exeter Pl. (Newton to TAE, 7 May 1878, DF [TAEM 15:615]), and another correspondent remembered that Edison boarded at 44 Cambridge St. (W. E. Sharren to TAE, 31 July 1878, DF [TAEM 15:1015]).
6. Corey List, 1 Dec. 1868, DF (TAEM 12:12).
7. App. 1A.22; H. S. Martin to TAE, 18 May 1888, GF; Charles Sherman to TAE, 18 Sept. 1916, GF.
8. On the student—Patrick Burns—see Telegr. 6 (1869-70): 192, 303,304; and TAE marginalia, Charles Sherman to TAE, 8 Sept. 1916, GF. W. E. Sharren, a student at M.I.T. who boarded in the same house as Edison, recalled many conversations in which Edison did most of the talking (Sharren to TAE, 31 July 1878, DF [TAEM 15:1015]). For recollections of Edison at the Western Union office, see Phillips 1897, 178-80; Charles Sherman to TAE, 18 Sept. 1916, GF; Dewitt Roberts to TAE, 20 Jan. 1911, GF; and “The Napoleon of Science,” New York Sun, 10 Mar. 1878, Cat. 1240, Batchelor ( TAEM 94:119-20).
9. App. 1.A25.
10. The majority of telegraph inventors lived in small towns, but the careers of leading telegraph inventors reflected the importance of major urban centers in cultivating and motivating technical creativity. Paul Israel has completed a dissertation, “The Telegraph Industry and the Changing Context of Invention in Ninenteenth-Century America,” inPage 55 the History Department of Rutgers University. According to his study of residences listed on telegraph patents issued between 1866 and 1886, nearly 80 percent of inventors who had five or more patents resided in or within commuting distance of New York City, the center of the American telegraph industry. Other prominent telegraph inventors lived and worked in Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago.
Edison’s residence, 4 Bullfinch St., in Boston.
11. Israel 1984, 7-8; Jenkins and Israel 1984, 74-75.
12. In 1870 Western Union established an electrician’s office, which was responsible for standardizing the company’s technical operations and for reporting on new inventions.
13. Israel 1986 (see abstract, History of Science in America, News and Views 4 [Nov./Dec. 1986]: 7).
Editorial Notice in the Telegrapher1
New York, April 4, 1868.
T. A. Edison, formerly of the W.U. Co.’s office,2 has accepted a position, and is now with the same Company’s office, Boston, Mass.
PD, Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 258.
1. This notice is from the “Personal” column, where news of operators regularly appeared.
2. Two weeks later the Telegrapher noted that “T. A. Edison, whose appointment to Western Union Company’s Boston Office, was noticed week before last was from same company’s Cincinnati office” (4 [1867-68]: 275).
Article in the Telegrapher
New York, April 11, 1868.1
(Written for the Telegrapher.) 2
edison’s double transmitter. 3
By means of this ingenious arrangement, two communications may be transmitted in opposite directions at the same time on a single wire. This result is accomplished by the use of rheostats, and the neutralization of the effect of the current from the transmitting station, upon the receiving instrument at the same station.
In the diagram two stations are represented, with the necessary connections for working in this manner. M N and M′ N′ are fine wire helices of the usual construction, placed opposite to each other. K and K′ are the transmitting keys, arranged to close two circuits at the same time, as shown in the diagram. R R′ and X X′ are adjustable rheostats or resistances. S and S′ are retracting springs, whose tension is adjusted according to the strength of the main-line current.
Page 57The arrangement of the wires may be readily seen by reference to the diagram. The rheostats R R′, when both in circuit, should offer such a resistance that the main-line current will not be of sufficient strength to overcome the tension of the springs and work the instruments. The resistance at X is made equal to that of the main line L, added to that of the helix N′ and the resistance R.′ Similarly X′ is made equal to L × N × R.4
By inspection of the diagram, it will be seen that when the instruments are at rest there will be a constant current over the line,5 passing through battery B, rheostat R, helix N, line L, helix N′, rheostat R′ and battery B′; but, as above stated, owing to the resistance of the rheostats R R′, it will be insufficient to affect the instruments.
Now, if the key at K be closed, the rheostat at R is cut out, and the current on the main line is increased to, say 50, passing through the helix N. At the same time, a current of equal strength passes through the other helix M and the rheostat X; the resistance of this circuit being equal to that via L and R’, therefore the effect upon the armature of the relay M N at the transmitting station will be null.
Suppose the tension of the springs s and s′ to equal 20, the armature of the relay M′ N′ will be drawn towards N′ with a force of 50, less the tension (20) of the spring s ′, there being no current through M′.
If now the key at K′ be also closed, the main-line current is increased to 100 by the cutting out of the second rheostat R′; but the effect of the additional current of 50 is neutralized at M′ N′, as in the former case. The current through N will now be 100, while that through M remains at 50; therefore the armature will be attracted towards N with a force of 30 (100 less the attraction of M, which is 50, and the tension of the spring s, which is 20), and will remain attracted as long as the key at K′ remains closed.
If the key K be now opened, the current in the helix N is reduced to 50, and that in M to nothing, and the difference being the same as before, the relay remains closed. But the current at N′ also being reduced to 50, while that in M′ remains at 50, as before, the two attractions neutralize each other, and the spring s′ draws back the armature.
Thus, it will be seen that the writing from the key K will only affect the relay M′ N′, and vice versa.
Local circuits can be attached to the keys for convenience in writing, or a key and sounder may be placed in a local circuit,Page 58 and the lever of the sounder made use of to work the main circuit instead of the key, as shown in the diagram.
A repeater may also be arranged to work on this system, if required.
The inventor of this arrangement is Mr. Thomas A. Edison, of the Western Union Telegraph Office, Boston, Mass.
PD, Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 265.
1. Edison had sent a manuscript to the Telegrapher in January (see Doc. 26). In the journal’s 18 April issue, editor James Ashley wrote, “The drawing and description of Mr. Edison’s instrument was forwarded to us nearly three months since, but was unfortunately mislaid, which prevented it from appearing in our columns at an earlier date.” “Miscellanea: Correction,” Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 275.
2. The authorship is attributed to Edison on the basis of the information given in note 1. The editor usually wrote lead articles such as this, but occasionally other contributors submitted articles. James Ashley probably edited Edison’s manuscript. Edison wrote seven articles or letters for the Telegrapher in 1868 (Docs. 28, 30, 32, 34, 40, 41, and 44).
3. Edison claimed that he devised this duplex in Cincinnati in 1865. He said that he thought at the time his invention was original but later discovered it was not. Edison’s duplex differed from others of the period in its use of closed circuits and the addition of a pair of rheostats (R R′)-Testimony for Edison, 22-23, Nicholson v. Edison; see also Doc. 23.
4. This should read “L + N + R.” That correction was made in “Miscellanea: Correction,” Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 275.
5. The polarity signs for battery B are reversed in the diagram.
Editorial Notice in the Journal of the Telegraph 1
New York, April 15, 1868.
Double Transmitter.a
Mr. Thomas A. Edison, of the Western Union Telegraph Office, Boston, has invented a mode of transmission both ways over a single wire at the same time, which is interesting, simple, and ingenious. Double transmission is not new and has been used for many years in Germany, but Mr. Edison has simplified the process by which it is effected. We will refer to it again.2
PD, J. Teleg. 1 (15 Apr. 1868): 4. aFollowed by centered horizontal rule.
1. The Journal of the Telegraph, begun in 1867 and published biweekly in New York, was the house organ of Western Union. Edited by James Reid, the journal contained company announcements, business information on other companies, technical articles, and personal news of managers and operators.
2. No further description of Edison’s instrument appeared.
To the Editor of the Telegrapher
[Boston,]a April 25, 1868.
The Induction Relay.
To the Editor of the Telegrapher.
In the Journal of the Telegraph for April 15th, an “Induction Relay” is described, which is claimed to be self-adjusting.1 Some years ago, I experimented with an arrangement similar to this, using an Induction Coil;2 the primary coil being of fine, instead of large wire, as is generally used, was connected with the line, and the secondary coil with a Siemen’s “polarized relay.”3
It worked well where there was no escape;4 but when placed on a line where the escape was considerable, the increase and decrease in the strength of the magnetism in the iron bar of the induction coil, caused by the variability of the escape current, constantly induced currents of different polarities in the wire passing through the polarized relay.
To make my meaning clearer, suppose that the escape current be represented by 15, and the current from the distant battery by 5, then the magnetism in the iron core of the induction coil would be equal to 20. Now, by taking off the battery at the distant end, it is decreased to 15, and this decrease in the strength of the magnetism induces a current through the helix of the polarized relay of sufficient strength to work the armature.
Now, while the battery from the distant end is off, suppose that the escape increased to 20, this increase would induce a current of different polarity in the helix of the polarized relay from that induced by decreasing the strength of the magnetism, and this increase of the escape current would act precisely in the same manner as if the magnetism was increased by putting on the distant battery.
PD, Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 282. aPlace not that of publication.
1. Elisha Gray, “The Induction Relay,” J. Teleg. 1 (15 Apr. 1868): 1. During Edison’s second stay in Cincinnati in 1867, he and Charles Summers, superintendent of telegraphs for the Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Lafayette Railroad, worked on a self-adjusting relay based on an induction coil (App. 1.D219). On self-adjusting relays see headnote, p. 30; “A Self-Adjusting Telegraph Instrument Wanted,” Telegr. 3 (1866-67): 120; and Pope 1867.
2. Induction coils consist of two separate, concentric coils—primary and secondary. Any change in the current of the primary coil induces a current in the secondary. Until the 1870s the coil was most often used to produce a high-voltage spark for medical treatment, mining, or scientific experiments. Shiers 1971.Page 60
3. See Doc. 12, n. 1.
4. Leakage due to imperfect insulation. Most of the escape occurred at the points where the wire came in contact with support structures such as telegraph poles. Knight 1876-77, s.v. “Escape”; “Self-Adjusting Relays,” Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 397.
5. Authors of articles or letters in the telegraph journals usually signed their articles with initials or a pseudonym. Edison signed his contributions either “T. A. E.” or simply “E.” See Doc. 34, n. 10.
Patent Assignment to Dewitt Roberts 1
Dated Boston April 28. 1868.
I do hereby assign forever to Dewitt C. Roberts2 of Boston Mass. one third interest in my “Stockbroker Printing Instrument” 3 provided that the said Dewitt C. Roberts shall furnish or cause to be furnished sufficient money to patent and manufacture one or more of the said Stockbroker Printing Instruments.a
Witnessed by. O. J. Waddell.4
D (transcript), MdSuFR, Libers Pat. P-10:322. a“Recorded June 25th 1868. I.B.P.” written in left margin. bRepresentation of 5¢ Internal Revenue stamp canceled with “T. A. E. April 29, 1868”; “100” written at bottom.
1. This is Edison’s earliest recorded patent assignment. Typically, an inventor signed and sent the original document of assignment to the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. There it was copied into the Libers of Patent Assignments. A patent office clerk entered a summary of the assignment into the Digest of Patent Assignments under the name of the inventor and returned the original assignment to the assignee. Patent attorneys Crosby, Halstead, and Gould of Boston handled Edison’s assignment. Apparently the Patent Office rejected Edison’s application as no patent was issued. Digest Pat. E-2:78; Boston Directory 1868, 344, 464.
2. Dewitt C. Roberts (n.d.), a telegraph operator for Western Union in Boston since at least 1865, was an active member of the Boston district of the National Telegraphic Union. Edison assigned Roberts a half interest in his electric vote recorder (Doc. 43) in October 1868. In November 1868 Roberts entered the flour business in upstate New York. Boston Directory 1868, 502; “Boston District,” Telegr. 1 (1864-65): 94; “Personal,” ibid. 5 (1868-69): 95; Dewitt Roberts to TAE, 28 May 1877, DF (TAEM 14:63); Dewitt Roberts to TAE, 16 July 1896 and 20 Jan. 1911, GF.
3. Stockbrokers’ printing instruments were telegraph receivers. They were leased to brokers and supplied current prices of gold and stocks from a central office. See Doc. 51; Doc. 91, n. 4; and Chapter 4 introduction.
4. Orin Waddell was Edison’s fellow telegrapher at the main office of Western Union in Boston. He boarded at the same location as Edison, 4 Bulfinch St. Boston Directory 1868, 590; Taltavall 1893, 347.
Article in the Telegrapher
New York, May 9, 1868.
edison’s combination repeater.
In repeating the rapid vibrations of the combination printing instrument1 from one circuit to another, it is of the utmost importance that there should be the least possible loss of time in the transmission of each signal. The repeaters in general use on the Morse lines have been unable to repeat these vibrations with the accuracy, in respect to time, that is necessary for the successful working of the instrument, owing to the use of repeating sounders and spring points, which occasion a considerable loss of time between the closing of the relay and sounder, respectively.
The annexed diagram represents a repeater on a new principle, which is so arranged as to be free from the objections above mentioned, and which, although especially intended for lines on which the combination printer is used, can be arranged to work on the ordinary closed circuit of the Morse lines with equal facility.
In the diagram A and B represent the two main lines, which, for the sake of convenience in description, may be designated as the eastern and western circuits. These wires are connected through the helices of their respective relays, magnets M and M′ to the contact of the armature levers of the opposite relays, as shown at m and m.′ There is, also, an insulated point upon the back of each armature lever, which is connected with the main battery E, the other pole of which is to the ground G. The screw points n, n are connected, respectively, with the main line wires A and B before entering the relays.
The magnets M, M′ are of peculiar construction. The cores are of magnetized steel instead of soft iron, or they may be made of soft iron and kept constantly polarized by contact with a large permanent magnet. Thus it will be seen that whenPage 62 no current is passing the armature will be strongly attracted towards m by the permanent magnetism of the cores. The retracting spring s s′ are adjusted to a tension just sufficient to allow the armature to be drawn forward towards the cores of the magnet when the main circuits are open.
If we suppose the holding force of the permanent magnetism in the relay cores to equal, say 20, and the tension of the spiral springs to be 18, the armatures will be retained in contact with the points m m′ with a force of 2, and both lines will be connected through the relays direct to the ground, as shown in the figure.
Now, if a current is sent from the distant station over the line A, leaving a force, say of 5, it will pass through the relay M and the point m′ direct to the ground at G. The relay being so wound that the magnetism induced by its coils is in opposition to the permanent magnetism existing in the cores, the force of the latter will be reduced from 20 to 15, and the spring having a tension of 18 would draw back the armature lever and close the circuit at n, placing the main battery E in connection with the line B, and thus repeating the signal over that circuit. The other magnet being cut out from the main line, and the current sent around it will not be in any manner affected. If a current be sent in the opposite direction over the line B the reverse action takes place.
This repeater, as will be seen, is very simple in its construction and arrangement, and the inventor states that the principle on which the relays is constructed renders them less liable to be thrown out of adjustment than the ordinary kind. It can be adjusted to work with a current so feeble that its action would not be perceptible upon a Morse relay.
Parties desiring further information upon the subject may address the inventor, Mr. F. A. Edison, at 83 State street, Boston, Mass.2
PD, Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 298.
1. In 1859 George Phelps patented the combination printing telegraph (U.S. Pat. 26,003), so named because it combined features of the earlier printing telegraphs of David Hughes and Royal House. This instrument superseded the older printing telegraphs and was quickly placed on several major lines of the American Telegraph Co. The operator of Phelps’s instrument transmitted characters by depressing keys on a piano-like keyboard connected to a revolving cylinder that was synchronized with a continuously revolving typewheel in the receiving instrument. The typewheel printed messages in roman characters on a thin strip of paper. Edison here describes a repeater for use with such aPage 63 system. He did not receive a patent on this invention. Prescott 1863, 144-55; idem 1877, 642-47.
George Phelps’s “combination” printing telegraph, which was used primarily between major cities on lines that did not require repeaters.
2. As in Doc. 28, authorship of the article is attributed to Edison, but with the recognition that James Ashley probably edited the manuscript. The address given for Edison was that of the main Western Union office in Boston.
Milton Adams Article in the Journal of the Telegraph
Boston, May 25a [1868].
Automatic Telegraphing.b
by m. f. adams. 1
In a late number of the Telegraphic Journal, I noticed a long and interesting article on improvements in Automatic Telegraphing,2 the innovation of M.M. Chaudassaignes and Lambrigat, two French telegraphers. The system is similar to that of Mr. Alexander Bain (i.e.) the decomposition of salts upon chemically prepared paper, but has more of a resemblance to the system of Mr. Hummiston a New York gentlemen, who in 1855 tried his apparatus between that city and Boston. 3
In this arrangement a long band of paper was punched out in Morse signals by means of a very complicated and ingenious machine, operated by a key board similar to that of a combination printing instrument.4
This paper was passed between two metallic rollers moved by clock work, one of the rollers being in connection with a battery. The line wire was connected with a spring which pressed against the paper and was thus prevented from coming in contact with the roller beneath, but when a fissure in the paper occurred the spring came in contact with the roller and placed the battery upon the line which produced a bluePage 64 mark upon the chemically prepared paper at the other terminal of a certain length, according to the length of the fissure in the transmitting paper. Owing to a defect in the machinery this invention did not prove as successful as expected.
The difference between this arrangement and that of the Messrs. Chaudassaignes and Lambrigat is that they transmit the signals by means of a metallic band prepared with insulating ink which opens and closes the main line circuit and produces Morse characters upon chemically prepared paper at the distant station, but with the exception of their method of preparing the transmitting paper it will be seen that these two systems are identical.
The trouble of preparing the paper for transmitting signals and the translation of these signals has been the great drawback to the usefulness of this mode of Telegraphing, and I am of the opinion that these methods will never come into genuine use, at least not in America.
Mr. T. A. Edison of Boston, has recently invented a very practical automatic apparatus which is both ingenious and curious; the arrangement is very simple and not so liable to get out of order as the methods described above. The arrangement is as follows: A transmitting Morse Register5 is placed at one end of the line, and a receiving register at the other, the first register has no battery attached, but is merely used for the purpose of running the paper through. The front standard of this register is connected with a battery, and the armature with the line, the transmitting paper is prepared by operators upon registers placed in local circuits, and when thus prepared, they are cut off in suitable lengths and run through the transmitting instrument at a very rapid rate. This paper in passing between the rollers of the transmitting register by its thickness prevents the armature from touching the standard, but when an indenture in the paper occurs, the pen of the register passes into the groove which allows the armature to come into contact with the standard and places the battery upon the main line, reproducing the Morse signals at the other terminal; this paper is passed through as rapidly as it can be prepared by two operators upon registers as local circuits.
The indented paper at the other end of the line, is then cut off in suitable lengths and passed at a slow pace through two re-writing registers similar to the Morse line transmitting registers, with the exception that the armature and standards are connected with a sounder and local battery, and the writing isPage 65 received by sound. It will be seen that the indentures in the paper depress the armature and act as a key upon a main or local circuit: thus nearly eighty words per minute can be sent and received upon sounders by two operators at each end of the wire, which is, I think a more convenient mode of transmitting and translating than of the Messrs. Chaudassaigne and Lambrigat.
Milton Adams, one of Edison’s fellow operators at Cincinnati in 1865 and at Boston in 1868.
PD, J. Teleg. 1 (1 June 1868): 3. aPlace, month, and day not those of publication. bFollowed by horizontal line.
1. Milton F. Adams (1844-1910), described by a contemporary as “a typical bohemian,” served in the U.S. Military Telegraph during the Civil War and worked as a telegrapher in a number of cities, including Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, New York, Boston, and San Francisco. Edison met him in Cincinnati in 1865 and through him obtained a job in Boston in 1868. Soon afterwards Adams was laid off and moved into Edison’s meager lodgings. In 1869 Adams left for San Francisco and began an odyssey that took him to Latin America, South Africa, Europe, and Great Britain. In 1883 Edison hired him to sell electric lighting systems in South America. “Career of the Late Milton F. Adams,” Teleg. and Tel., 16 Nov. 1910, 755-56; Taltavall 1893, 221; App. 1.A15-19; “District Proceedings,” Telegr. 2 (1865-66): 15.
2. “Improvements in Automatic Telegraphy,” J. Teleg. 1 (15 Apr. 1868): 1. Adams was referring to the Journal ofthe Telegraph by the name of its predecessor, the Telegraphic Journal, edited by Jerry Borst and privately published from March to November 1867. J. Teleg. 1 (2 Dec. 1867): 4.
Alexander Bain’s automatic chemical recording telegraph, first introduced into the United States in 1848.
3. As the pressure of increased traffic mounted, automatic telegraphy became desirable as a means to increase the speed of transmission and decrease the need to “break” because of faulty manual sending. Most automatic telegraphs were variations on the pioneering developments by Scotsman Alexander Bain during the 1840s. With Bain’s automatic, anPage 66 operator perforated messages on a paper strip, the coded holes representing letters. As the paper strip ran through the transmitting device, an electrical contact passed over the paper and closed a circuit at each perforation. At the other end of the line the signals electrically decomposed chemicals soaked into a paper strip or disk. The preparation of the perforated paper strip before transmission meant that an operator’s skill did not limit the speed of transmission. Sabine 1872, 199-201; DNB, s.v. “Bain, Alexander”; Prescott 1870, 292.
The system of automatic telegraphy developed during the 1860s by Paul Chauvassaignes and Jacques Lambrigot of the French Telegraph Administration recorded dots and dashes with insulating ink on a strip of conductive metallic paper for transmission and used a Bain-like receiver. This system achieved some success in 1867-68 on a line between Paris and Lyons. Chauvassaignes and Lambrigot patented their telegraph in the United States in 1868 (U.S. Pat. 80,452). “Le rapide télé-graphe electro-chimique de MM. Chauvassaignes et Lambrigot,” J. des télég. 3 (Nov. 1868): 6-8.
John Humaston of Connecticut patented an apparatus for perforating paper strips for transmission in automatic telegraphy in 1857 (U.S. Pat. 18,149), but the device was too slow and complicated to be commercially valuable. Prescott 1877, 701; idem 1870, 292. See also Chapter 6 introduction.
4. George Phelps’s combination printing telegraph.
5. Morse registers were normally used only for receiving messages. However, Edison had previously used one as a transmitter (see Doc. 10). C. Westbrook of Harrisburg, Pa., filed a caveat for the use of a Morse register as a transmitter before Adams’s article appeared, and received U.S. Patent 88,248. App. 1.D201; C. Westbrook to the Editor of the Telegrapher, Telegr. 6 (1869-70): 26; ibid., 42; Prescott 1877, 740.
To the Editor of the Telegrapher
Boston, Mass., June 2a [1868].
To the Editor of the Telegrapher.
A Telegraph line has just been built over the Dover and Winnepisseogee branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad, from Dover to Alton Bay, a distance of 30 miles. 1
The wire used upon this line was manufactured by the “American Compound Wire Company,”2 of this city, and is composed of a steel core and a copper covering, No. 14 in size, and having a conducting power equal to that of No. 8 iron wire.3
There seems to be several important advantages in the use of this wire, and one in particular, which is, that on account of the great strength of the steel core, a reduction in the number of posts can be made, and a consequent diminution in the escape of the current.
In a recent experiment upon this line it was found that thePage 67 use of a single carbon element4 was sufficient to work six relays, each having a resistance of 12 miles, No. 8 iron wire.
The city government have adopted this wire on the Roxbury extension of the fire-alarm,5 and it is also to be used by the Boston Commercial Telegraph, recently organized.6
The building occupied by Mr. Charles Williams, Jr., 7 Telegraphic Instrument maker of this city, was destroyed by fire on Thursday last. Mr. W illiams had a large stock of electrical apparatus, nearly all of which was badly damaged. His loss is estimated at about $2,000. Insurance $5,000.
The Laboratory of Moses G. Farmer,8 the well known Electrician, which contained an immense quantity of valuable electrical and experimental apparatus, was also badly damaged. Loss, several thousand dollars. His insurance was light. The same building was also occupied by W. H. Remington, manufacturer of Farmer’s Thermo-Electric batteries, 9 of which a large number were damaged. Loss probably $2,500. No insurance.
PD, Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 334. aPlace, month, and day not those of publication.
1. Dover and Alton Bay are towns in southern New Hampshire.
2. See Doc. 44.
3. The gauge refers to wire size according to the Brown and Sharp system. The most commonly used gauge in the United States at this time was no. 8. The diameter of this gauge was 128.490 mils (about 3.25 mm), while that of no. 14 was 64.084 mils (about 1.6 mm). Before agreement on an international standard unit of electrical resistance (the ohm), electricians customarily made measurements in terms of the known resistance of standard wire for a given number of miles. Maver 1892,511— 12,514,515.
4. A “single carbon element” refers to a single zinc-carbon cell.
5. The first fire alarm telegraph was installed for the city of Boston in 1852 (see n. 8). Call boxes were located throughout the city and connected by wires to a central office in City Hall. Boston annexed the town of Roxbury in January 1868. Maver 1892, 437-39; Boston Directory 1868, 4, 770.
6. The Boston Commercial Telegraph Co. does not appear in the 1868 or 1869 city directories; it may have been the company established to exploit Edison’s “stock printing instrument” (see Doc. 31).
The Channing-Farmer fire alarm call box, first used in Boston in 1852.
7. Charles Williams, Jr. (1830-1908), electrical manufacturer, had a shop on the third floor and in the attic of 109 Court St., Boston. Inventors like Edison, Bell, and Moses Farmer had custom work done in Williams’s shop. Williams also rented work space to electrical inventors; Bell and Thomas Watson did much of their work on the development of the telephone on Williams’s premises. A native of Claremont, N.H., Williams began in the early 1840s as a partner in Hinds and Williams, aPage 68 Boston manufacturer of electrical equipment and supplies, and continued alone after Hinds retired. In 1868 he employed about ten men and primarily manufactured telegraphic equipment. Moses Farmer worked in a corner of the shop, and Edison had acquired space for his experiments by the end of 1868. “Death of the Oldest Telephone Manufacturer (Charles Williams, Jr.)—1908,” Box 1071, AT&T; Watson 1926, 30-34, 47-48, 52-54; Bruce 1973, 92.
Charles Williams Jr.’s telegraph instrument manufacturing firm, located at 109 Court St. in Boston.
8. Moses Gerrish Farmer (1820-1893) was one of the period’s most prolific electrical inventors. He and William Channing developed a fire alarm telegraph system that was installed in Boston in 1852. He also invented a duplex telegraph, a multiplex telegraph, a method of aluminum electrometallurgy, an electric clock, a battery-powered electric light with a platinum filament, a self-exciting dynamo, and compound wire (with George Milliken). In 1852 Farmer built for the U.S. Coast Survey a telegraph line that connected Harvard University’s Cambridge observatory with the Boston office of the Magnetic Telegraph Co. Reid 1879, 370-76; DAB, s.v. “Farmer, Moses Gerrish.”
9. W. H. Remington manufactured electrical apparatus. A “thermoelectric battery,” or thermopile, was a battery of thermocouples that converted heat directly into electricity. In Farmer’s thermopile, jets of burning coal gas heated a pile of alternating sections of antimony and copper. Remington advertisement, Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 189; “Miscellanea: A Novelty in Telegraphing,” ibid., 195; “The American Compound Wire Company,” ibid. 5 (1868-69): 167; Boston Directory 1869, 514; Knight 1876-77, s.v. “Thermoelectric Battery.”
10. This document and others published in the Telegrapher in 1868 and 1869 under the initial “E.” are attributed to Edison (see Docs. 41, 44, and 81). The three written in 1868 are datelined Boston or concern topics that center in Boston—Edison’s location in 1868. They reflect Edison’s interests in electrical manufacturing in Boston and mention people he knew, such as George Milliken (his employer) and Charles Williams, Jr. The document from 1869 is from the fall, when Edison was in New York. The topics of that letter have nothing to do with Boston,Page 69 but they reflect Edison’s humor and his interest in induction coils. No articles or letters signed “E.” appeared in the Telegrapher before or after these four.
Patent Assignment to John Lane
New York, June 22, 1868a
These presents entered into by and between Thomas A. Edison of the City of Boston, State of Massachusetts, of the first part, and John W. Lane,1 of the City, County and State of New York, of the second part, on this twenty second day of June ad 1868 at said City of New York, witnesseth as follows:—
1st. Said first party has invented a new and useful machine for Telegraphic printing by electro-magnetism, between distant points, and simultaneously between intermediate points, in Roman letters, embracing all letters and figures of The Roman Alphabet, which he calls “Edison’s Improved Automatic Printing Telegraph,” and upon and for which he proposes to obtain “Letters Patent” under the laws of the United States, and foreign governments embracing a combination of two electro-magnets in one circuit, to be acted upon seperately or together, by currents of different intensities passing in one circuit, and simultaneously moving a ribbon of paper in synchronism with the revolving Type wheel, by means of a peculiarly arranged ratchet wheel and a combination therewith, of a polarized-magnet in the same circuit, by which the circuit can be shortened, or restored at pleasure, so as to include or exclude the magnet so as above named, combined to imprint upon the moving paper aforesaid.2
2nd Said Edison agrees to convey by any needful additional instrument in writing, and hereby conveys absolutely, for a valuable consideration, named in another writing, 3 signed by the said Lane, and bearing even date with these presents, and to the heirs and assignees of said Lane, one undivided half part of said invention, and of all letters patent that shall be obtained therefor, either within or without the limits of the United States of America and in reissue, renewal, or extension of the same, and of and for any improvement of said invention that I, the said Edison shall hereafter make, or discover, to have and hold, or dispose of the same, at his and their pleasure.
3d—And in consideration of the aforesaid additional Instrument, and of the payments and promises, and understandings of the said Lane therein contained, the said EdisonPage 70 hereby constitutes and appoints the said Lane, sole and exclusive attorney of himself, The said Edison, for the sale of said invention and of any and all letters patent that shall be hereafter obtained therefor, or any improvement thereon, within or without the limits of the United States, or in renewal or extension or reissue of such patents, with like full and ample powers, to sell, negotiate and by lawful deeds or assignments to convey all and parts at the discretion of said Lane of said Edison’s rights property and interests therein conjunctively with the rights interests and property of the said Lane therein and not otherwise said Lane accounting to the said Edison his heirs and legal representatives for one (1) moiety of the proceeds of all and every such sale as is fully provided and agreed in and by the aforesaid additional instrument bearing even date herewith and signed by said parties hereby ratifying and confirming whatever my said attorney shall do or perform in the premises as herein contemplated & hereby making said power irrevocable by me during the existance of any Letters Patent in force herein contemplated.
In testimony whereof said parties each for himself hereunto subscribes his name and affixes his Seal on the day and year first mentioned above.b
In the Presence of G. A. Arnouxc
D (transcript), MdSuFR, Libers Pat. M-10:429. aPlace and date taken from text; form of date altered. bRepresentation of Internal Revenue stamp in margin. cFollowed by copy of notarization. dFollowed by representation of seal.
1. John W. Lane (n.d.), telegraph entrepreneur of Portland, Me., built an independent telegraph line from Boston to Springfield, Mass., that merged with the Franklin Telegraph Co. in November 1865. Under Lane’s presidency, the Franklin Company’s Boston-New York line was completed and opened for business in January 1866. Joseph Stearns replaced Lane as president in March 1867, and in November of that year Lane sold out. Reid 1879, 590-92.
2. Many of the features mentioned in this patent assignment appeared in Edison’s Boston instrument (Doc. 51); he did not receive a patent for the invention assigned to Lane.
3. Not found.
Receipt for E. Baker Welch
Boston, July 11th, 1868.
$5.50
Received of E. B. Welch1 five 50/100 dollars in consideration of which I hereby agree to assign to said Welch one-half undivided interest in polarized and vibrating double transmittersPage 71 for use on telegraph lines of companies, private firms, or individuals.2
TD (transcript), MWalFAR, Welch v. Edison. Welch submitted typed copies of many documents; though sworn to be accurate, there are indications that they contain errors.
1. Ebenezer Baker Welch (1821?-?1902), a commission merchant in Boston, had become one of nine directors of the Franklin Telegraph Co. on 26 November 1867. He claimed to have met Edison in Boston “on or about 26 March 1868.” In the course of Edison’s year in Boston, Welch provided funds for him to experiment with fire alarm telegraphs, dial telegraph instruments, and a new form of double transmitter. None of these was patented. Testimony for Anders, p. 9, Anders v. Warner; Massachusetts, Middlesex County 1912, 910; Boston Directory 1868, 602; Reid 1879, 592; Plaintiff’s Answer to Defendant’s Interrogatories, 18 Dec. 1889, Welch v. Edison.
2. This $5.50 was only the first installment of funds provided by Welch for this invention. Edison signed a more formal agreement with Welch on 7 April 1869 (Doc. 61).
Caveat: Fire Alarm 1
[Boston,]a July 27— 1868
Caveat
To the Commissioner of Patents.
The Petition of Thomas A. Edison, of Boston in the County of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts Respectfully represents: That he has made certain improvements in Indicating Fire alarm telegraph and that he is now engaged in making experiments for the purpose of perfecting the same preparatory to his applying for Letters Patent therefor. He therefore prays that the subjoined description of his invention may be filed as a Caveat in the confidential archives of the Patent Office, agreeably to the provisions of the Act of Congress, in that case made and provided, he having paid ten dollars into the Treasury of the United States, and complied with the other provisions of the said Act.
And he hereby authorizes Joseph H. Adams,2 of Boston, Mass. to act as Attorney in the matter of the said Caveat, and to receive the certificate of deposit for the same.
The nature of my invention consists in so arranging the apparatus of a Telegraphic Alarm, that the number of the box and its location will be shown upon an Indicator in printed characters. An arm is connected with the Indicater in such aPage 72 manner that when an alarm is given the striking arm or hammer is released and rings the bell for several minutes for the purpose of calling attention to the locality of the fire, as shown upon the Indicater.
Witnesses.b J. H. Adamsc Inventor. Thomas A Edisonc
Page 73In the accompanying sketch, D, in fig. 1, represents an end view of the indicating cylinder. To Upon the cylinder are attached printed slips d, d, &c. one of which is shown at B,x, in fig. 2, l,3 in fig. 1, is a drum upon which is wound a cord having a weight W, attached to its end— D′, in fig. 3, represents the opposite end of the indicating cylinder having an escapement m,m, attached which latter is controlled by means of the electro-magnet F, arm E, and pallets f, f′,—the arm E, being pivoted at G′, and made adjustable with the spiral spring S′—
c in fig. 1, on the cylinder D is an indentation into which a projection on the upper portion of the arm or lever M, is drawn by the action of the spring S,S. The arm or lever M is pivoted at n, and is provided at its lower end with a catch h, which engages with a projection r on the wheel m, and serves to detain the latter— On the side of the wheel m, are projections or teeth x, x, &c. which serve to raise the bell striking arm or hammer PP, and allow the same to fall back upon the succeeding tooth.
A quick motion is given to the arm PP, by means of the spring S.
Motion is imparted to the wheel m, by means of weight W′, attached to a cord passing over the pulley N— It is released by turning the indicating cylinder D, so that the lever M, will be thrown out of the indentation cd in the and the catch h , will release the projection r.
B, fig. 1, is the alarm bell. wWhen the electro-magnet F, fig. 3, is active, the pallet f, is in connection with the tooth e, which prevents the cylinder D′, from moving—and when the electro-magnet F, loses its magnetism the arm or lever E will be drawn back by the action of the spring S′— the pallet f, then releases the tooth e, and the opposite pallet catches upon the tooth c,c, and holds it until the magnet becomes active, and so the operation continues—
Upon releasing two other teeth, one of the printed slips on the cylinder will appear at the opening in the box as shown in fig. 2—
Fig. 4, represents an alarm circuit with one alarm and indicating apparatus, four transmitting boxes and a battery B,B′.
The printed strips are placed upon the indicating cylinder, corresponding in number with the teeth on the transmitting boxes, 1, 2, 3, 4—
Box 1—for instance has three teeth, the wheel is made of metal and is connected with one end of the wire and thePage 74 spring y, with the other— These teeth break the circuit three times, which by the action of the electro-magnet F, allows the escapement to be released six times, and consequently the third printed slip upon the cylinder appears at the opening of the box as shown in fig. 2.
Box no. 2, having four teeth, then the fourth strip will be shown and so on.
Two movements of the escapement m,m, backward and forward are necessary to move the cylinder the space of one strip, i.e. when the arm E falls back it moves the strip half the distance and when it is drawn up again to the magnet the strip is moved the other half—)
g, g′, are ground wires, the circuit being shown by the arrows—
ADDENDUMc
Boston, July 28, 1868f
Oath
Boston, County of Suffolk State of Massachusettsg
On this twenty eighth day of July a.d., 1868 before me, the subscriber, a Justice of the Peace, in and for the County & State aforesaid, personally appeared the within-named Thomas A. Edison, and made solemn oath that he verily believes himself to be the original and first inventor of the within-described Indicating Fire Alarm Telegraph and that he does not know or believe that the same was ever before known or used; and that he is citizen of the United States.
D (transcript) and DS, DSI-NMAH, WU Coll. Page with drawings and accompanying signatures is original. aPlace taken from text. bDrawing has heading “T. A. Edison Caveat. Filed Aug. 1, 1868”; “Witnesses.” and “Inventor.” written in unknown hand. cSignature. dInterlined above. eAddendum is a D (transcript). fPlace and date taken from text; form of date altered. gRepresentation of stamp at right. h“Ex. J. A. W.” written in left margin; “L.S.” circled.
1. Edison’s petition and oath, together with the specification for this caveat, provide an example of the full caveat application form.
2. Joseph Adams was a solicitor of patents with offices at 33 School St., Boston. Boston Directory 1869, 45.
3. Should be “I.”
4. “L.S.,” for locus sigilli, means “the place of the seal.”
Patent Assignment to E. Baker Welch 1
Boston Massachusetts, July 28th 1868.
In consideration of Twenty dollars to me paid by Ebenezer B. Welch of Cambridge Massachusetts, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, I Thomas A. Edison of Boston Massachusetts, do hereby assign, transfer and convey to said Ebenezer B. Welch one undivided half interest in an “Indicating Fire Alarm Telegraph”2 invented by me and for which I have this day made application for a Caveat3 through the Agency of Joseph H. Adams Esq of Boston. And I do hereby assign and convey to said E. B. Welch, the right and title to one undivided half interest in any improvements I may at any time invent or make to the said Indicating Fire Alarm Telegraph.a
Witness my hand and seal the day and year before written Witness: Jos. H. Adams
D (transcript), MdSuFR, Libers Pat. Q-10:391-92. aRepresentation of canceled 5¢ Internal Revenue stamp in left margin.
1. This assignment was recorded at the Patent Office on 3 August 1868. Edison did not receive a patent on the invention. Digest Pat. E-2:81.
2. By 1868 there were at least six U.S. patents on fire alarm telegraphs. George Newton, Edison’s fellow operator at Western Union, later recalled that he, Edison, and telegrapher Patrick Burns had gone to Cambridge to try to interest that city in Edison’s fire alarm telegraph but had been rebuffed. The contract was instead given to Gamewell and Co., which had installed a number of other fire alarm systems. The Telegrapher called Gamewell’s telegraph “doubtless the best and most effective system as yet brought into practical operation in the world.” Prescott 1877, 237-45; George Newton to TAE, 7 May 1878, DF (TAEM 15:615); “Fire Alarm Telegraph,” Telegr. 6 (1869-70): 11.
3. See Appendix 4.
Editorial Notice in the Telegrapher
Page 76
New York, August 1, 1868.
Chirography.
Mr. T. A. Edison, of the Western Union Boston office, is about the finest writer we know of. We have received a specimen of press report sheet written by him as the news came over the wire from New York at the usual speed. The sheet is five inches by eight inches, and there are 647 words upon it.1 Each letter is separate from the other, which is one of the peculiarities of Mr. Edison’s chirography, and the whole plain as print—with the diamond type so fashionable in Boston.2
PD, Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 400.
1. Edison had made a deliberate effort to perfect the art of taking clear and rapid copy by writing small and disconnected letters. One evening the night manager at the Boston office discovered that none of the press report was usable “for the reason that Edison had copied between fifteen hundred and two thousand words of stock and other market reports in a hand so small that he had only filled a third of a page.” App. 1.A20; Phillips 1897, 179; Taltavall 1893, 336.
2. Diamond type is a very small type size (approximately 17 lines to the inch). Knight 1876-77, s.vv. “Diamond,” “Type.”
Article in the Telegrapher
New York, August 8, 1868.
Self-Adjusting Relays.1
It is a well-known law of magnetism that there is a limit to the magnetic attraction which can be induced in a soft iron bar, and this law may be taken advantage of in the construction of a self-adjusting relay magnet for Telegraphic purposes, simple both in principle and form.
The diagram will convey a good idea as to the size of the helix and core, when compared with the ordinary form of relay magnets.
The cores of this magnet are composed of bars of soft iron, one sixteenth of an inch in diameter. It will be seen, by referring to the diagram, that the helix is quite short and thick, 2½ inches by 2 inches, which is another adaptation of a well known law of electro-magnetism, to wit: that short and thick electro-magnets receive and lose their magnetism with morePage 77 facility than those of greater length, although both may have the same retentive power.
The cores being very small, and wound with a great number of convolutions of fine wire, become magnetized to their fullest extent by a current whose action would scarcely be perceptible upon the ordinary form of magnets.
As before stated, there is a certain limit to the amount of magnetism that can be induced in a soft iron bar, and it will, therefore, be seen that currents of different tensions may pass through the helix, but only a small portion of each will produce an effect upon the core.
To illustrate more clearly, suppose that the smallest force which an ordinary instrument can be worked on be represented by 5, and the strongest by 100, then the force of 5 from the distant battery passes through the helix and thence to the ground (this magnet must necessarily be worked on the open circuit principle).2 The little cores become magnetized to their highest limit. If the force be now increased to 100, this increase will produce no effect, as the force of 5 had already produced all the power obtainable.
This little core, being always intensely magnetized by the passage of the current through the helix, allows a considerable tension to be placed upon the spiral spring, which tends to make the armature act quick. As no change in the strength of the magnet ever occurs, the armature is drawn up to the core with an uniform force.
Article in the Telegrapher
New York, August 15, 1868.
(Written for The Telegrapher.)
The Manufacture of Electrical Apparatus in Boston. 1
A Description of the different establishments devoted to the manufacture of electrical and Telegraphic apparatus in Boston will doubtless prove interesting to many readers of The T elegrapher, especially as that city has obtained an enviable reputation among Telegraphers and electricians for the superior quality and finish of the work turned out by some of its leading manufacturers. One of the principal firms engaged in this business is that of Edmands & Hamblet,2 at No. 40Page 78 Hanover Street, who are well known to the public and Telegraphic fraternity as the manufacturers of the “Magneto-electric Alphabetical Dial Telegraphs,” of which a large number are used upon private lines in different parts of the country.3 This Telegraph is constructed upon the magneto-electrical principle, dispensing entirely with the voltaic battery. The following is a brief description of this admirable apparatus: The transmittor is contained in a small square box, upon which there is a dial plate, with a circle of thirty equidistant keys or buttons radiating from the same centre. Upon the dial plate are marked the alphabet, three points of punctuation and an asterisk; in an inner circle are the numerals. A pointer in the circle revolves in connection with the handle of the rotating armature, and is stopped at any letter by depressing one of the buttons. Four soft iron cores, with their enveloping helices of fine wire, are fixed upon the poles of a compound permanent magnet, these cores being placed at equal distances from each other in the circumference of a circle. On an axis passing through the centre of this circle, in connection with the handle, revolves a soft iron armature, whose breadth is a little greater than the distance between two adjacent cores. When the armature revolves it approaches one pole as it recedes from the one diagonally opposite, and induces simultaneously in the two coils currents having the same polarity. Immediately under the transmittor is an arm, upon the same axis as the pointer above, whose motion is arrested when a button or key is depressed, and the current which would otherwise pass over the wire is “short-circuited.”
The face of the indicator is similar to that of the transmittor, having a small pointer, which is thrown around from letter to letter by a very curious and delicate escapement in connection with a polarized magnet, similar to that invented by Siemens, and which is actuated by currents of different polarities, generated by the permanent magnets.4
The coils of the indicator and permanent magnets are connected in one common circuit. When the armature of the magnets is turned around by means of the handle, if the pointer is free to move round the dial, a current traverses the line at every letter which the pointer passes, and moves the hand of the indicator correspondingly, but as soon as the carrier-arm on the same axis as the transmitting pointer is stopped, by coming in contact with a depressed key, the currents which would follow are “short-circuited.” The pointers of the transmittor and indicator, therefore, stand still upon thePage 79 same letter until the key is raised and the “short-circuit” removed. Alarm or call bells are also attached in such a manner that when no communication is being sent the indicators are cut out and the call bells put in circuit, and vice versa.
In operating this instrument no knowledge of the usual Telegraphic signs or sounds are necessary; the operator simply places his fingers upon the letters of the alphabet which compose the Telegram, and the person receiving simply takes notice of the letters as they are successively pointed out upon the indicator at the other terminus.
Several trials have been made with this instrument over the wires between Boston and New York, to determine their applicability for railroad lines, all of which have proved highly successful. The working of this beautiful instrument, as well as the neatness with which it is constructed, and its advantages over the clumsy apparatus for similar purposes of a foreign manufacture, cannot be too highly spoken of, as it shows that America can successfully compete with Europe in the manufacture of Telegraphic apparatus, even if they are turned out of the shops of a Froment 5 or Siemens-Halske.
This firm also manufacture another piece of curious electrical mechanism, which is called “Hamblet’s Electro-magnetic Watch-clock,” which is in use in nearly all of the fire alarm offices, hospitals, and prisons in the Union, and in a large number of the principal manufacturing establishments of New England.
It is for recording the rounds of a night watchman every hour, or half hour, which it does upon a paper dial, marked with the hours and subdivisions of time similar to the dial of a common time-piece, and which is made to revolve in such a manner as to receive the impress of a lead pencil bearing thereupon, which, as time passes, makes its mark upon the paper.
The electric current being in the quiescent state of the electrical mechanism, open (i.e not actuated at the point of operation), will cause the pencil to make a regular continuous line, which in twelve hours would form a perfect and unbroken circle round the dial.
The instant that the watchman touches a simple piece of mechanism at any point upon his beat—upon which there are several—he causes the circuit to be opened and closed, and the pencil advances a degree towards the centre of the paper dial, leaving its impress as it advances, and then commences its mark on a new concentric parallel, and this action is repeatedPage 80 as often as, and whenever the apparatus is operated upon at different points in the circuit. An angular record is thus produced, which, on comparison of the angles with the marks of subdivision of time, will show not only that watch duty has been done, but will also show the exact time that each point has been visited. When a watchman operates the last point on his round the pencil falls back to its original level, and is ready for the next round.
If the pencil marks are all regular and similar in the different hours, it is proof that the twelve hours’ watch duty have been performed; if, on the contrary, there are irregularities in the angles, they will be evidence that something has occurred requiring investigation.
This apparatus may be seem in nearly every Fire Alarm Telegraph office in this country—where, perhaps, many of our readers have observed it in operation.
In this establishment is also made the “Electric Plural Time Dial,” an ingenious contrivance, by which the time indicated by one standard regulator clock is shown upon any number of duplicate time dials or electric clocks, situated at any distance from each other, and all connected in one electric circuit. The most curious part of this system is that the duplicate clocks have neither springs, weights, nor trains of wheels, to produce a movement of the index, but contain a simple though curious escapement, operated by an electro-magnet in the regulating circuit; they, therefore, require no winding up or attention. Another curious piece of electrical mechanism is also manufactured by this firm, called the “Electric Pendulum Gauge,” for measuring and recording the varying heights, depths, and quantities of gas or water in reservoirs, but is of too complicated a nature for an accurate description without the aid of drawings. This apparatus has, after a series of severe tests, been adopted by the Boston Gas Co.
Electric Wind Indicators, Astronomical Clocks and Apparatus, Chronographs, Printing Telegraph Instruments, Repeaters, Galvanometers, Electrometers, Philosophical Apparatus, 6 Fire Alarms, and every variety of magneto-electric and electro-magnetic mechanism, are also manufactured by this firm—all of which compare favorably with, if they do not excel any similar mechanism of foreign manufacture. Twelve persons are employed here, among whom are several of the best mechanicans in the country. Telegraphers visiting the “Hub”7 would do well to call at the office of Messrs. Edmands & Hamblet, where all of the apparatus described may be seen in actual operation.
Page 81The next on the list is that of Charles W illiams, Jr. The establishment of Mr. Williams is located at 109 Court Street, and though but a short time since damaged by fire, is again in full blast. Very little apparatus, except that used for Telegraphic purposes, is manufactured here, and in this particular branch the work is of a most excellent character, consisting of Repeaters, Switch-boards, Relays, Registers, Sounders, Keys, Rheostats, Galvanometers and batteries, all of which are made in large quantities. The most noticeable instrument manufactured here is the well known “Boston Relay,” of which an large number are turned out weekly, mostly for use on railroad wires.8 Ten men are employed here. The office of the well known electrician and Telegraph inventor, Moses G. Farmer, is also at this establishment.
The next is H. B. & W. O. Chamberlain,9 manufacturers, dealers, and importers of Mathematical, Astronomical, Chemical, Electrical and Philosophical Apparatus, at 310 Washington Street. This establishment is probably the largest and best of its kind in the United States. Every conceivable form of experimental apparatus appertaining to the above mentioned sciences can be found here. This firm have recently imported a large number of monster induction coils from the shops of Rhumkoff,10 of Paris, one of which is probably the largest in this country.
The next is Ritchie & Sons,11 of 149 Tremont Street, manufacturers and importers of Philosophical and Electrical Apparatus, similar to that of the Messrs. Chamberlain. Mr. Ritchie is known to the scientific public as the inventor of several important improvements on the original form of the Rhumkoff, or Page 12 Induction Coil, and as the maker of the largest and most powerful induction coil hitherto constructed, now in the possession of M. Gassoit.13 A description of this coil may be found in “Noad ’s Manual of Electricity,” page 326, and in the “Philosophical Magazine,” vol. xv, page 466.14
The last is Thomas Hall.15
Very little Telegraphic mechanism is manufactured at this establishment at the present time, it being almost exclusively devoted to the manufacture of Electrical Toys and Medical Electrical Machines.
Mr. Hall’s shop is situated at No. 19 Bromfield St.
PD, Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 413-14.
1. This is the featured article on the first page of the issue.Page 82
2. Benjamin Edmands and James Hamblet, Jr., manufacturers of clocks and telegraph apparatus in Boston from 1862 to 1870, patented an electric clock in 1864 (U.S. Pat. 41,217) and a magneto-electric dial telegraph in 1868 (U.S. Pat. 79,741). Edison had instruments made at Edmands and Hamblet’s shop, and in 1869 joined in a business venture with one of Hamblet’s assistants, George Anders (see Chapter 3 introduction). Boston Directory 1868, 213, 278, 1069; Taltavall 1893, 96; Elec. W. 35 (1900): 56; App. 1.A26.
3. Private lines were owned or leased by individuals or companies, in contrast to lines owned by the telegraph companies for their regular business. After the Civil War, a market for telegraphy developed among merchants who wanted rapid intracity communication between distant offices or offices and warehouse. Before the development of small, reliable printing telegraphs (see Docs. 97 and 130), such lines used dial telegraphs, on which a pointer indicated transmitted letters. British inventor and scientist Charles Wheatstone patented the first dial telegraph in 1840. Although used widely in Europe, dial telegraphs were not common in the United States. In 1869 Edison invented his own magneto-electric dial telegraph, the magnetograph (see Chapter 3 introduction). DSB, s.v. “Wheatstone, Charles”; Prescott 1877, 562-602; App. 1.A26.
4. Werner Siemens received patents in almost all areas of telegraphy. One of his earliest inventions was his 1846 improvement of Wheat-stone’s dial telegraph. Ten years later he invented a magneto-electric dial telegraph that employed a polarized relay. In 1847 Siemens, his brother Johann, and Johann Halske formed Telegraphenbauanstalt von Siemens & Halske to manufacture telegraphs, electromedical devices, electrical meters, and railway signaling equipment. They later moved into electric power generation and distribution. Siemens’s inventive and business activities made him a major force in the worldwide development of electrical industries during the late nineteenth century. Siemens 1968, 130, 160; Weiher and Goetzeler 1977; DSB, s.v. “Siemens, Ernst Werner von.”
5. Gustave Froment, a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique, was a prominent Parisian manufacturer of scientific instruments. He manufactured Giovanni Caselli’s facsimile telegraph, David Hughes’s printing telegraph, and battery-powered electric motors of his own design. Dict. des Bio., s.v. “Gustave Froment”; Laussedat 1865; “Le pouvoir et la science,” Le Cosmos 10 (1857): 495-97; and “Mort de M. Froment, membre du Conseil de la Société d’encouragement,” Bull. Soc. l’ind. nat. 64 (1865): 74-80.
6. “Philosophical Apparatus” meant scientific instruments.
7. Boston.
8. Charles Williams’s relay is pictured in Pope 1869, opp. p. 31.
9. Henry and Walter Chamberlain. Boston Directory 1868, 133, 880.
10. Heinrich Ruhmkorff, the eponymous German maker of induction coils, had in fact improved the device invented by several others, including American physicist and physician Charles Page. Page’s long and bitter priority fight over the invention is detailed in Post 1976. See also DSB, s.v. “Ruhmkorff, Heinrich Daniel.”
11. Ritchie & Sons comprised Edward Ritchie and his sons T. P. and John. In 1857 Ritchie improved the induction coil by changing the method of wrapping wire around the core from overlaid longitudinal spirals Page 83 to projecting spirals placed side by side. Boston Directory 1868, 501; DSB, s.v. “Ruhmkorff, Heinrich Daniel.”
12. See n. 10.
13. John Gassiot, a wealthy English merchant and physicist, used the induction coil to study the phenomena of striated discharges. DSB, s.v. “Gassiot, John Peter.”
14. Edison made an error in the first citation. On page 326 of his copy of Noad 1859 there is a reference not to Edward Ritchie but to the English physicist William Ritchie and his torsion galvanometer. The second citation is to John Gassiot, “Description of a Ruhmkorff’s induction Apparatus, constructed for John P. Gassiot, V.P.R.S., by Mr. Ritchie, Philosophical Instrument Maker, Boston, U.S.”
15. Thomas Hall ran one of the oldest telegraph manufacturing shops in Boston. He began working in 1840 for Daniel Davis, who made the instruments for Samuel Morse’s Baltimore-Washington line. When Davis retired in 1849, Hall acquired part of the business and in 1857 took over as sole proprietor. Boston Directory 1868, 277, 884; Hall 1874, 7-8.
16. Authorship attributed to Edison. See Doc. 34, n. 10.
To John Van Duzer 1
Boston AuSept 5—68
Dear Sir
Your favor of the 5th Recd I have for nearly 3 years been experimenting on a “fac simile” which I intend to use for Transmitting Chinese Characters2 It will probably be several months before I will be able to Bring it out, as experiments are rather Costly and there is a scarcity of funds = Have done nothing with it for nearly 3 weeks: being engaged on my automatic Printers, of which four 4 have Already been made by Williams
John Van Duzer, who first met Edison in Memphis while working as a military telegrapher, corresponded with him in 1868 regarding Edison’s proposed invention of a facsimile telegraph and a method of secret singaling.
My system of “facsimile” is entirely different from the systems of Bain Bakewell Casselli and Bronelli as the messages do not have to be prepared before Tramission, and does not require a syncroneous movement[-] as in all others excepting Brouneli who uses 5 wires =3 I use but one = I hope to attain A speed of from 100 to 125 messages per hour =
Would be happy to hear from you as to what the prospects are; have had Liv some encouragement from Isaac Liver-more—Burlingames Bro-in law4 who is rather incredulous and also from the East India Telegraph Co5 73—to you6— Respy
ALS, PPAmP, MM Coll. a“83 state st” written below.
1. John Clark Van Duzer (1827-1898), whom Edison met in Memphis, was a civilian electrician in the U.S. Signal Corps from the summerPage 84 of 1868 to September 1869. As a young man he had edited and published newspapers before beginning telegraph work in 1848. During the Civil War he was second assistant superintendent of the U.S. Military Telegraphs and achieved the rank of captain. Around the time of this letter he did some work for the East India Telegraph Co. (see n. 2). Van Duzer correspondence, Sig. Corps; Plum 1882, 1:303-5, 2:293, 340, 342, 348; Taltavall 1893, 305-6; Boston Transcript, 7 Mar. 1898, 5.
2. A facsimile telegraph transmitted messages or pictures as written or drawn by the sender (see Doc. 46). Edison’s special interest in transmitting Chinese characters may have stemmed from the highly publicized visit of a Chinese delegation to Boston in August 1868. The visit was organized by Anson Burlingame (see n. 4), who had recently obtained a contract from the Chinese government for the East India Telegraph Co., an American concern, to connect several of China’s major seaports by cable. Prescott 1877, 741-67; “The East India Telegraph Company,” Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 392. On the visit of the Chinese delegation, see issues of the Boston Traveller from 20 August 1868 to 2 September 1868.
3. The facsimile systems of Alexander Bain, F. C. Bakewell, Giovanni Caselli, and Gaetano Bonelli are described in Doc. 46.
4. An Isaac Livermore served as treasurer of the Michigan Central Railroad Co., with offices at City Exchange in Boston. Anson Burlingame, lawyer, congressman, and diplomat, was minister to China from 1860 to 1867. When he resigned, the Chinese government made him the head of an official delegation to seek diplomatic recognition from the United States and Europe. Burlingame married Jane Cornelia Liver-more, whose father was Isaac Livermore of Cambridge, Mass. Whether she had a brother named Isaac is not known. Boston Directory 1868, 369, 785; DAB, s.v. “Burlingame, Anson.”
5. See n. 2.
6. “73” was the commonly used telegraphic abbreviation for “Compliments of sender.” Pope 1871a, 16.
ELECTRIC VOTE RECORDER Doc. 43
Edison invented the electric vote recorder for use by legislative bodies. He may have been spurred by reports in the Telegrapher that the Washington, D.C., City Council planned to install an electric vote recorder and that the New York State legislature was considering one as well.1 In Edison’s system, each legislator moved a switch to either a yes or a no position, thus transmitting a signal to a central recorder that listed the names of the members in two columns of metal type headed “Yes” and “No.” The recording clerk then placed a sheet of chemically prepared paper over the columns of type and moved a metallic roller over the paper and type. As the current passed through the paper, the chemicals decomposed, leavingPage 85 the imprint of the name in a manner similar to that of chemical recording automatic telegraphs.2 Dials on either side of the machine recorded the total number of yeas and nays. Edison was issued a patent—his first—on 1 June 1869, but the vote recorder was never used.3
Model of Edison’s electric vote recorder, which includes clockwork-driven dials for recording yeas and nays as well as an electrochemical recorder.
1. “Voting by Machinery,” Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 155; “Miscellanea: An Electrical Voting Machine,” ibid., 304.
2. See Doc. 33.
3. U.S. Pat. 90,646. Edison later claimed that the device failed to gain commercial acceptance because legislatures commonly made political use of the roll-call process and consequently had no interest in instantaneous vote recording. Lathrop 1890, 431.
Article in the Telegrapher
New York, October 17, 1868.
american compound telegraph wire. 1
Probably no more important and valuable improvement in the science of Telegraphy has been made for a number of years, and certainly none that will effect a greater stride towards perfection in this science, than the wire manufactured by the American Compound Telegraph Wire Company. 2
The employment of a steel core with a copper covering was a happy thought on the part of its inventors, Messrs. Farmer and Milliken,3 of Boston.
The superiority of copper as a conductor, and the great strength of steel, produce, when combined together, as perfect a line wire as could be desired.
The many advantages which will accrue by the adoption of this wire by our Telegraph companies, and the merits which itPage 87 undoubtedly possesses, deserves the attention of all interested in the progress of the Telegraph.
In this wire the composite parts are steel and copper, the steel forming the core, and serving mainly for strength, while copper is used more especially for its superior conductivity.
The method of manufacture is quite simple—the steel wire, which is first tinned, is covered by being drawn through the plate together with a long thin strip of sheet copper, which in its turn is tinned. The second coating of tin is used for the purpose of preventing moisture from contact with the steel.
The following tables, prepared by Mr. Farmer, from the results of a large number of experiments made during a space of five years, may be relied upon as acurate in every respect:
| TABLES. | |||||
| weight per mile. | Tensile strength | Conductivity. | Conductivity compared with. | ||
| Table No. 1 | 375 | 1.091 | 1,331 | 1 | |
| Table No. 2 | Steel, Copper, Compound, | 56 56 112 | 418 96 614 | 147 1,288 1,436 | .... .... 1.07 |
| Table No. 3 | Steel, Copper, Compound, | 187 188 375 | 1,397 326 1,722 | 490 4,324 4,814 | .... .... 3.61 |
| Table No. 4 | Steel, Copper, Compound, | 119 119 238 | 889 205 1.094 | 311 2,737 3,048 | .... .... 2.29 |
| Table No. 5 | Steel Copper Compound, | 52 52 104 | 388 89 477 | 136 1,196 1,196 | .... .... 1 |
| Table No. 6 | Steel Copper Compound, | 78 297 375 | 583 611 1.094 | 204 6,831 7,036 | .... .... 5.28 |
| Table No. 7 | Steel, Copper, Compound, | 357 18 376 | 2,768 31 2,799 | 935 414 1,349 | .... .... 1 |
| Table No. 8 | Steel, Copper, Compound, | 136 43 179 | 1,016 74 1,090 | 356 989 1,345 | .... .... 1 |
Table No. 1 contains the elements for the average of No. 8 galvanized iron wire.4
Table No. 2 is the ordinary equivalent of the compound wire to No. 8 galvanized iron wire. The decrease in the tensile strength of the compound wire, when compared with the iron wire, is regained, owing to its lightness, both having the same “relative strength.”* Also, a small increase in conductivity.
Page 88Table No. 3 is the compound wire, having the same weight per mile as the iron wire. In this form it will be noticed that the tensile strength of the wire has increased nearly double, and an increased conducting capacity three times greater than that of the iron wire.
Table No. 4 is the compound wire, with the same strength as the iron wire, but considerably lighter, and with more than double the conducting capacity.
Table No. 5 shows a compound wire of equal conductivity, weighing three times less, and possessing the same relative strength.
Table No. 6 shows a compound wire having the same weight and tensile strength, but with a conductivity five times greater than that of the iron wire.
Table No. 7 shows a compound wire having the same weight and conductivity, but with nearly three times the tensile strength.
Table No. 8 shows a compound wire of the same tensile strength and conductivity, and weighing but 179 pounds to the mile.
It will be seen, by referring to these tables, that the compound wire need have only about one third the weight of the galvanized iron wire, to be relatively stronger, and at the same time possess an equal or greater conducting capacity. It is evident why this should be so, since the best commercial copper possesses more than six times the average conductivity of galvanized iron wire, and the steel wire has nearly three times the tensile strength of galvanized iron wire of the same size.
The relative strength of the best steel wire averages 7.47, that of copper 1.72, while the average strength of galvanized iron wire, as found by testing various samples, is only 2.9.
It is evident that, by varying the proportions of steel and copper in the combination, any desired relative strength can be given between the limits of 1.72 and 7.47, and at the same time, any desired conductivity can be had along with it.
The impossibility of drawing steel into wire containing flaws, which is not the case with iron, prevents the breakages which occur so frequently when iron is used.
The great advantage which this wire has over iron wire is, that its lightness will admit of an average of ten poles to the mile less than would otherwise be necessary; which, according to Mr. Farmer, will effect a decrease of twenty-five percent or more in the escape of the current—besides, a reduction in the number of poles will conduce to economy in construction.5
Page 89Another point in favor of this wire, and there seems to be many, is the imperishable nature of copper, which is the exposed metal, zinc coating of the galvanized iron wire being deteriorated near the sea, from the effects of gases, &c., while copper, under the same condition, is unimpaired.6
PD, Telegr. 5 (1868-69): 61.
*. Denotes the quotient obtained by dividing the strain which would break the wire by its own weight per mile.
1. The article is featured on the top left of the first page of the issue.
2. American compound wire was invented in 1865-66 by Moses Farmer and George Milliken (U.S. Pats. 47,940 and 59,673). The American Compound Telegraph Wire Co., set up in 1868 to market the invention, had its offices in New York City rather than Boston. Reid 1879, 374; American Compound Telegraph Wire Co. 1873.
3. George F. Milliken (b. 1834), formerly manager of the Boston office of the American Telegraph Co., became manager of the Boston office of Western Union when the two companies merged in 1866. Milliken held several telegraphic patents. He hired Edison to work for Western Union in Boston in 1868. Taltavall 1893, 265-66.
4. On wire gauge no. 8, see Doc. 34, n. 3.
5. Current leaked from the wires where they touched the poles. In 1870 Farmer stated that compound wire required only 15 poles per mile, whereas iron wire required 38 poles per mile. Farmer 1870.
6. Near the sea, airborne salts attacked the wire’s zinc coating. The “effects of gases” refers to the sulfur oxides released by the burning of coal and coal gas, which joined with atmospheric moisture to form acids that reacted with zinc. Culley 1871, 138; Maver 1892, 511.
7. Authorship attributed to Edison. See Doc. 34, n. 10.
Milton Adams Agreement with E. Baker Welch
Boston, Novem 24, 1868.
Agreed between Milton F. Adams & E. B. Welch that said Adams & Thomas A. Edison are to give E. B. Welch their joint note for one half the expenses incurred in making and experimenting with Printing Telegraph Instruments and to assign to said Welch a majority of interest in any Patent they may jointly or separately obtain for any Printing Telegraph Instrument or Transmitter for Telegraph purposes.1
TD (transcript), MWalFAR, Welch v. Edison. See Doc. 36 textnote.
1. On 21 July 1868 Adams had executed a caveat and signed an agreement with Welch to give Welch a half interest in an “automatic printing instrument.” On 5 December 1868 Adams officially assigned a half interest in the invention to Welch and applied for a patent. Edison’s name was crossed out both in the text of the assignment and in the patent application as an assignee. Adams received U.S. Patent 99,047 for an “Automatic Printing-Telegraph Apparatus,” a printing telegraph transmitter and receiver intended especially for “brokers, merchants, headsPage 90 of departments &c., to correspond directly and privately with their agents in distant parts.” Milton F. Adams, Memorandum of an Agreement with E. B. Welch, 21 July 1868, Welch v. Edison; Patent Assignment to E. Baker Welch, 5 Dec. 1868, Edison Coll.; Pat. App. 99,047.
To John Van Duzer
Boston Sunday, Dec. 6 1867[1868]1
Capt Van—
According to promise I herewith send a general description of the “Fac Simile”
In Casseli’s apparatus, There is a synchroneous principle, which is obtained by the vibration of a pendulum, one pendulum [is] so connected by mechanical devices that it passes over tin-foil written upon by an insulating ink, while the other pendulum, similiarly connected, passes over chemically prepared paper, both in unison = when the transmitting pendulum passes along the tinfoil the battery is “short circuited” and consequently no chemical change at the distant end takes place, but when the tramitting pendulum passes of a line of the insulating ink, the “short circuit” is removed an[d] chemical decomposition takes place at the other end— The objection to this system, is that it is not practical enough, on account of the impossibility of producing two pendulums that will vibrate in unision for any length of time, another objection, is that it is very complicated.2
Bronelli uses from 4 to 6 wires = and sets up the dispatches in Type— This system is dead, I believe =3
Bakewell and Bain use clockwork which is open to the same objection as Casseli4
Chavaussaignes and Lambrigot only transmit conventional signs— 5 These are The only system That amount to anything.
Now with these systems all before me, I conceived that an apparatus for tramitting writing, “fac simile,” to be of any practical value, must not depend upon synchronious movements, 2nd that it must be practical 3d simple, and 4th Rapid, 5th self acting, (ie) No operators & 6th No prepartion of messagesa You will see further on that the apparatus at one end is in reality only a part of the apparatus at the other end (ie) the transmittor and Receiver is but one machine, one part depending on the other just as the flywheel on a train of wheels depends on the drum, one cannot move without the other and if one move fast, the other must also = Now if I only use on[e] machine, there is no synchronism for to produce synchronism there must be two
Page 91The manner of tramitting messages without preparation, I think is the most novel part = I have several different methods but the one I describe I think is the best =
Graphite is a conductor, the purest graphite is used in Fabers No 1 pencil. Take one of these pencils and Make a mark, now take, say an intensity battery6 of say 12 cups, connect with a relay on a short Line, then connect each end or the extremities with two small thin plates of platinum seperated from each of by mica, draw it across the pencil mark and the relay will close. Thus you see than Lead pencil marks may be made to close an electric [-]circuit Metallic Ink could also be used.
IfWhen messages are written with a pencil, the receiving clerk does not have to prepare it for transmission but has merely to shove it in the hopper of the apparatus and its transmitted directly from the pencil marks
I suppose you understand the polarization of relays but for fear that you do not, Ill describe one
1 & 2 a[re] common magnets, the elron cores of which are permanently magnetized by the steel horse shoe magnets m’ and m. one iron core has North magnetism imparted to it, while the other has South. Now if a positive current be sent through both spools, (which are connected up in the same circuit) it neutralizes the induced magnetism in one spool say No 1 and adds to the other then the armature will be attracted to magnet No 2, and when the a negative current is used it will act vice versa etc when there is no current in the spools the armature will remain at either side, both forces being equal which they always are = when properly adjusted
This Little instrument might be called the piston rod of the “fac simile” as you will see= I will show these two instruments in one circuit working the apparatus. The drawing, is not anything Like what I intend the apparatus to be but one which you will be more apt to the get the idea from—b
Page 92
I suppose you are aware of The fact that if a bar of soft iron half way or less into a helix of wire, placed in circuit that it will be drawn in the full length of the helice. Now suppose we take two helices of wire, without Cores—but having a brass tubePage 93 fitted within. and suppose you take an iron bar a little smaller than the barass tube. place one end of the bar into one helix and the other end of the bar in the other helix—Now if a current is sent through one helix it will be drawn into this helix—and if this helix is discharged an the Current placed into the other helix it will be drawn from the other into the one having the current. Prof Pages engines were constructed this way and they are known to have been the most powerful ever constructed7 The strength is gained by the peculiar manner of opartially overcoming the Law of the increase and decrease of magnetism as the square of the distance. By these hollow helices several inches of play can be given to an armature, which [-] could not bec done by the ordinary core magnet and armature unless very poweroful
M′ S′ & M S as thus constructed— G′ and G figs 1 and 2 is an ared armatures connected to the sliding Cores P′ and P. The armature G′ Fig 2 is 2 long pieces of brass sinsulated from each other by hard rubber one on the end of this armature is a Little wheel composed of two pieces of platinum insulated frome each other by a very thin piece of mica. The thickness of this wheel is about the 100th part of an inch — each platinum portion of the platinum wheel is connected to either of the strips of brass forming the armature Thus
Transmitting armature
The Line cominges in and connectings with the brass strip n and one of the platinums of the wheel, and the other strip and platinum with the small battery (decomposing battery) = When the platinum wheel passes over a pencil mark the graphite being a conductor, connects the two sheets of Platinum composing the wheel, together which places the small battery on the Line, and decomposition takes place on thePage 94 paper at the other Terminal. You will Notice on the transmitting apparatus two strips of metal on each side of the armature. This is used for connecting the platinums of the wheel together and closing the circuit after passing the papere so that the Large batteries can be placed upon the Line to effect a simultaneous change of the armatures of both polarized relays =
Now I will try and Show how the two armatures move exactly together =
Suppose that both the armatures G′ and G had just left the points L and T. The the armatures of the polarized relays would be at the points n and K′ and conqsequently the bLocals mm and BB would actuate the helices S & M′ drawing both armatures over= Now the moment the platinum wheel touches one of the [-]metalic plates placed on both sides the continuity of the Line would be complete (the metalic plate connecting the two platinum parts of the wheel together) and then the main Line would be placed simultaneously on the Large positive battery. Negative at Fig 2 and Postive at Fig one Now this battery passing through the polarized relay being contrary to mapermanent magnetism there, Both armatures would fluy8 to points n′ and K together thus taking the Locald battery BB & mm of[f] of the magnets S & M′ and placing battys BB′ & mm′ in helices M & S′ which would throw the armatures G′ & G over to the points L′ & L and placing an negative-positive batty on the line which in its turn would throw the polarized armature to the other points, and so on to eternity. These large batteres are merely used to throw the armatures from one point to the other. It is like two men on each side of a swinging effigy one knocks it one way and the other knocks it backs = The writing is done by a smaller battery when neither armature is touching its points = You will easily see that these armatures must go together, for if some cause should one armature should Likg the 1000th of a second, the continuity of the Line would be interrupted and the one would have to wait tand both start of[f] together = a correction at every vibration =9
There is another magnet so arranged in the Local circuits (but which I have not show—) and alsod connected with a release escapement so that for every movement of the armature the paper of both machines is thrown ahead one Line awhich Line will average the breadth of a hair
I have only shown the generalities for fear of complicating it so you would not understand.
Page 95I have calculated that the speed would be about 125 messages per hour—and the cost of each set complete about $200. To perfect it will consume abut one year and from 500 to $800 dollars in money as I am quite certain, thatd to get it perfect 5 or moref machines would have to be constructed in different sha[-]pes before the perfect one could be reached besides a large amount of experimenting independent of the machine itself = With sufficient Tools and supplies I could do it nearly all myself=
Italian Giovanni Caselli’s autographic telegraph, which was known as the “pantelegraph.”
I am willing to try it one year or even two years providing, some one, furnishes the necessary funds
It can be done and it will be done and if I don’t do it some-body will
Will call in tomorrow and see Mr Smith10
Write me whatg you think = Will send you description of that signal Corps appartus as soon as I get time = 11 73 12 Yours Respy
ALS, PPAmP, MM Coll. aInterlined below. a“over” written at bottom right for page turn. c“could not be” interlined above. dInterlined above. e“after passing the paper” interlined above. f“or more” interlined above. gWritten over “ = ”. h“83 State St Boston Mass” written below.
1. Although Edison dated this letter 1867, its content logically follows that of Doc. 42. The editors have therefore chosen to place the letter in the 1868 chronology. Moreover, 6 December 1868 was a Sunday.
2. Giovanni Caselli, professor of physics at the University of Florence, invented the “Pantelegraph” in 1856. It was installed on a line between Paris and Marseilles in 1863 and extended to Lyons and Le Havre in 1865. The highest speed attained by Caselli’s system was the transmission in three and a half minutes of a message on a surface measuring 30 square centimeters. Caselli received U.S. patents for the invention in 1858 and 1863 (U.S. Pats. 20,698 and 37,563). Sabine 1867, 204-6; Prescott 1877, 744-56; Saint-Edme 1869, 502-4; DBI, s.v. “Caselli, Giovanni”; Annales télég., 2d ser., 8 (1865): 365.
3. Gaetano Bonelli, head of the Piedmont and Sardinian telegraph service, invented an instrument he called the typo-telegraph (“tipo-telegrafo”) because it used messages set in type. The type passed under a comb with five metallic teeth, each connected to a separate line wire.
The transmitter of Gaetano Bonelli’s automatic “typo-telegraph” which may have inspired Edison’s later design of a roman-letter automatic telegraph (see Doc. 186).
Page 96At the receiving end, five metallic styli connected to the line wires passed over a strip of paper soaked with a chemical solution. Clockwork mechanisms advanced the metallic type and the strip of paper to provide synchronous movement between the sending and receiving devices. Although Bonelli’s system was a technical success, claiming speeds as high as 2,000 words a minute, it required ten wires and was therefore not considered practical. Bonelli patented his telegraph in the United States in 1863 (U.S. Pat. 37,331). Sabine 1872, 208-12; Prescott 1877, 763-67; DBI , s.v. “Bonelli, Gaetano.”
4. Alexander Bain modified his automatic telegraph in the 1840s to transmit handwriting. The message was written in insulating ink on a disk of metallic paper and a stylus passed over the revolving disk in a spiral, transmitting except when interrupted by the ink. At the receiving end, a disk of chemically prepared paper revolved by clockwork in synchrony with the first. As a stylus passed over that disk the current decomposed the chemicals, reproducing the message. Sabine 1867, 199-201; Prescott 1877, 690-92.
In 1850 F. C. Bakewell of London improved Bain’s system, replacing the disks with rotating cylinders. A metal stylus, moving on a threaded rod, described a continuous spiral line on the surface of the cylinder. Weight-driven clockwork with an electromagnetic governor maintained synchrony. Sabine 1867, 203-4; Prescott 1877, 741-44.
5. See Doc. 33, n. 3.
6. Batteries were commonly described as either intensity or quantity batteries, meaning that their component cells were wired either in series, to produce a high potential (or voltage), or in parallel, to produce a large amount of current. Voltage, amount of current, and resistance are quantitatively related in any circuit in that the voltage equals the product of the current and the resistance (V = IR). The German scientist Georg Ohm formulated this relationship in 1827; electrical experts were generally acquainted with Ohm’s law by midcentury.
Charles Page’s electric motor.
7. Beginning in 1844 Charles Page developed a form of electric motor that he called an “axial engine.” Page’s motor essentially comprised two solenoids through whose centers ran a common axial rod. As the switching of current alternately activated and deactivated each solenoid, the axial rod moved back and forth between them. Post 1976, 81-82.
8. Fly.
9. Edison’s system differs from all previous systems by transmitting not only the message but also the signals for synchronization of the apparatus at each end of the line.
10. Unidentified.
11. See Doc. 47.
12. See Doc. 42, n. 6.
To John Van Duzer
Boston, Dec 11 1868a
Capt Van—
It will be some time before I will be able to prepare a drawing and description of That “Secret Signalling Apparatus” if you think there is any money to be made out of it, I will have the instruments made.1 I suppose If the signal corps should buy it, they would not want it Patented.2
What it is and what I claim for it is this
1st The transmission of dot and dash signals over telegraph circuits between terminal stations in such a manner, that the magnets at the intermediate stations will always remain charged at a uniform strength while communications are passing between the terminals.3
2nd The use of only one current (ie) a current having but one polarity, which prevents the signals from being copied off at an intermediate station by means of polarized appartus or by any device known in Telegraphy =
3d The retransmission of the signals by the receiving apparatus oback to the transmitting apparatus over the same circuit and at nearly the same time, ensuring the positive receiption of the despatch =
34th = The instantaneous detection of a person tapping the wire, = simplicity = cheapness = etc
Will assign you ½ if you conclude to take hold of the thing = 4
Have been testing some Manganese Battys Today5—very busy Respy
ALS, PPAmP, MM Coll. Letterhead of Charles Williams, Jr. a“Boston,” and “186” preprinted.
1. The idea for a secret signaling apparatus had been suggested to Edison by George Ellsworth, telegrapher for the Confederate cavalry captain and raider John Morgan. While Edison was an operator in Cincinnati, Ellsworth approached him about protecting telegraph lines from being tapped. Edison later regarded one of his unsuccessful designs in this work as the first step toward his later invention of a quadruplex telegraph. Edison claimed to have kept a model of a successful design and to have installed it for a company on a private line sometime while he was at Menlo Park. Testimony and Exhibits on Behalf of T. A. Edison, pp. 3-4, Nicholson v. Edison; App. 1.D220; Telegr. 3 (1866-67): 255.
2. The issuance of a patent required public disclosure of the details through publication by the U.S. Patent Office.
3. This would prevent operators at intermediate stations from detecting signals. See Doc. 49, n. 2.
4. There is no evidence that Van Duzer financed the development of the invention.Page 98
5. Manganese batteries were a recent development, patented in 1867 (U.S. Pat. 64,113), by Georges Leclanché, a chemical engineer employed by a French railroad company. Leclanché’s battery had a zinc anode in a sal ammoniac solution separated by an earthenware partition from a carbon cathode resting in a mixture of manganese peroxide and other materials. It produced about 1.5 volts with a moderate current. The French telegraph service adopted this battery, and it was employed in the United States to power police and fire alarms because of its appropriateness for intermittent use. Knight 1876-77, s.v. “Leclanche Battery”; Schallenberg 1978, 348-51; “Constant Galvanic Batteries,” Telegr. 5 (1868-69): 53; King 1962a, 247; Moise and Daumas 1978, 4:315-16.
Editorial Notice in the Telegrapher
New York, December 12, 1868.
Edison’s Double Transmitter.
We would call attention to the advertisement in this paper of “Edison’s Double Transmitter.”1 We are assured that this is an entirely new and greatly improved instrument, and entirely different from any similar instrument heretofore described in our columns. We shall probably soon be able to publish a full illustrated description of this invention for the information and gratification of the readers of The Telegrapher.2
PD, Telegr. 5 (1868-69): 128.
1. Edison’s earliest known advertisement for an invention appeared in the Telegrapher from 12 December 1868 to 9 January 1869 (5:129, 137, 145, 153, 161) and in the Journal of the Telegraph from 15 December 1868 to 15 May 1869 (2:22, 43, 94, 115, 140). Although Edison claimed several “bona fide offers” (Doc. 68), there is no evidence that he sold any instruments. This is probably not the device described in Doc. 28.
Advertisement in the Telegrapher for Edison’s double transmitter.
2. No description appeared.
To John Van Duzer
Boston, Dec 18 1868a
Capt Van =
Yours of 14 Recd— The whole apparatus is containded in a box about 1 foot square =1 The actualb Cost will vary from $120 to $150 for a complete set (2) (ie) 60 to 75 dollars each. It will weight about 18 pounds. by turning a switch you can use the apparatus in the ordinary wayc (ie) suppose the operators were working Morse—one could notify the other to throw his switch over, they would still be working Morse but the circuit would be closed at Intermediate stations. There is no difference in the speed from ordinary apparatus. I use the ordinary batteries Positive at one end & Neg at the other or a single battery at one end. It is very simple.
The Same instruments Cannot be used at way-stations, except by making the it a Terminal byd groundinge the wire. This is instantly detected by both terminals, and each Terminal may allow him to receivere or not just as they wish It is done by Concentric Relays etc = 2
Suppose I have a set made. Respy
P.S. What length of circuit should I calculate the magnets for Should I get a set made E
ALS, PPAmP, MM Coll. Letterhead of Charles Williams, Jr. a“Boston,” and “186” preprinted. bInterlined above. cAdded in right margin. d“it a Terminal by” interlined above. e“ing” added below.
1. This was Edison’s proposed “secret signaling apparatus.” See Doc. 47.
2. Most likely a kind of induction coil arranged as a relay (see Doc. 30, n. 2; cf. also “Duplex No 12” in Doc. 285, and Doc. 310). The details of the design are not known, but Edison’s comments indicate that his envisaged system would have maintained a current on the line strong enough to keep all relays closed while using variations in current strength above that level for signaling, rather than opening and closing the circuit as was ordinarily done. Such variations would induce currents in coils wound around the ordinary relay coils, and these induced currents would activate the receiving devices. In addition Edison’s system apparently would have arranged the devices for duplex operation, with a repeater returning the signal to the sender as it was received.
Memorandum: Multiple Telegraphy 1
[Boston?, 1868?]2
Stearnes3—When not in use no battery is upon the line.
Edison—Battery always upon the line.
Stearnes—It is an open circuit.Page 100
Edison—It is a closed circuit.
Stearnes—Uses the neutralization of currents.
Edison—No neutralization used.
Stearnes uses one battery at each end.
Edison uses two disimilar battery at each end.4
Edison—Use rheostal5 for the purpose of increasing and decreasing the strength of the current.
Stearnes—Use rheostals prevent battery from being eaten up.
Stearnes—Is compelled to equate battery by rheostal buttons.
Edison—No equating principle used.
Stearnes—But one message can be exchanged. (i.e.) One can be sent from B to N.Y. and one from N.Y. to “B”, but two cannot be sent from Boston to N.Y.
Edison—B can send two messages at same time to N. York.6
Stearnes—No way offices can get a single word.
Edison—Way offices can receive and send as usual.
Stearnes—Breaks must be exchanged between sender and receiver vive voice.
Edison—Breaks come in the usual way.7
Stearnes—Is the incomplete parts of two lines.
Edison—Is one line complete, and one uncomplete.8
Stearnes—Increase and decrease used for extra wire.
Edison—Reversal of batteries and pulsations upon polarized relays.
Stearnes uses no polarized relay.
Edison uses polarized relay.
Stearnes—The currents can only be half the strength of each battery.
Edison—Full power of battery used.
Stearnes—Has no reversal key.
Edison—Has a reversal key.
In fact there is not the slightest similarity in any form, principle or manner.
Joseph Steams, president of the Franklin Telegraph Co.
TD (transcript), MWalFAR, Welch v. Edison. See Doc. 36 textnote.
1. This list compares Edison’s and Joseph Stearns’s multiple telegraph systems. No attribution or address is on the document. In his suit against Edison, E. Baker Welch entered it and other communications from Edison as exhibits.
This document illuminates the state of Edison’s thinking and work in multiple telegraphy during 1868-69. Regarding Edison’s system, the document may be a prospectus or may refer to devices already tried. The description of Edison’s system suggests Edison’s familiarity with methods and devices used in previous duplex and diplex designs by others.
2. Welch grouped this undated document with others of 1868-69.Page 101 Because Edison received money in Boston from Welch to support development of a double transmitter, Welch obtained a half interest in the results (see Docs. 36 and 61). As a director of the Franklin Telegraph Co., Welch knew Stearns’s duplex system and would have wanted assurance that Edison’s results would not duplicate it.
3. Joseph B. Stearns (1831-1895), Boston inventor, was president of the Franklin Telegraph Co. at this time. He had previously been superintendent of the Boston fire alarm telegraph for twelve years. In 1868 Stearns improved the well-known duplex design of Frischen, Siemens, and Halske (see headnote, pp. 31-32), incorporating local sounders for transmitting operators (U.S. Pats. 78,547 and 78,548), and put his innovation into operation on his company’s lines between Boston and New York. In 1872 he invented and patented an improved duplex system that used condensers and thereby rendered duplex telegraphy generally profitable. His breakthrough was the first significant step in dealing with static induction on land telegraph lines. Stearns sold his duplex innovations to Western Union in 1872. Boston Directory 1869, 575; Taltavall 1893, 354; “A Telegraphic Novelty,” Telegr. 4 (1867-68): 236; “Telegraphic Improvements,” ibid., 252; Elec. Engr. 20 (1895): 37; Boston Transcript, 5 July 1895, 7.
Wiring diagram for Stearns’s differential duplex.
4. Edison and others used such arrangements to vary current strength or to reverse polarity.
5. That is, rheostat, which is an adjustable resistance.
6. That is, diplex.
7. A “break” is defined as the interruption of a sender by a receiver. The “usual way” was for the receiver to open the circuit. On a duplexed line, a pair of operators—a receiver and a sender—worked simultaneously at each end. If a receiver wanted to break, using Stearns’s design (or nearly any other duplex), the sender at that end had to notify the receiver at the other end to stop the transmission.
8. When Edison calls Stearns’s lines incomplete, he apparently refers to the problem with breaks (see n. 7); using Edison’s system, one pair of operators could send and receive in either direction in the normal fashion, while the other pair could apparently transmit in one direction only.
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