Edison’s Electric Light: The Art of Invention (review)

Edison’s Electric Light is a rerelease of a revered classic, first published in 1986. After reading this new edition, I feel like an audiophile listening to an MP3 player who laments that “It still sounds better on vinyl.” Like the original, the new edition successfully draws on the extraordinary archival record of the Thomas A. Edison Papers to chronicle the invention of the incandescent electric lighting and power system from 1878–82. In fact, there is a kind of archival purity to the book, which makes only a few brief citations to the secondary literature. The text itself features only a few minor changes. For example, there is more explanation of the advantages of high-resistance lamps; additional details about Edison’s discarded designs for an electromechanical regulator to protect against overheated filaments; and better elucidation of his “electric light law,” which specified the relationship between filament geometry and incandescent candlepower (pp. 201–2).

What’s really different is the packaging. The 1986 edition was a wide-format hardback that allowed for over one hundred images, reproduced documents, and notebook sketches to complement the text. The new edition is a slim paperback with only twenty images that directs readers to a pair of companion websites to see the rest. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the advertised Edison and His World website (or any other companion site) ostensibly hosted by the Johns Hopkins University Press, though I was able to successfully download images from the digital edition of the Thomas A. Edison Papers. This new edition—like the MP3 format—is more portable and cheaper to produce, but you miss the immediate experience of seeing the extra “liner notes” and groovy photos that accompanied the album-like first edition.

For Edison, the fundamental technical problem with incandescent lighting involved passing current through a filament, and heating it to the point of glowing, without melting it. Economically, an incandescent lamp would also have to supplant two incumbent (but flawed) technologies: the overly bright carbon arc lamps, which were better suited for outdoor use, and flickering gas lamps, still a dangerous fire hazard. Undaunted, Edison unleashed his remarkable Menlo Park team, led by Charles Batchelor, a meticulous experimenter; Francis Upton, a European-trained theorist; and John Kruesi, a master machinist. While acknowledging Edison’s extraordinary creativity and talent, the authors dismiss any notion of invention as marked by discrete “Eureka!” moments of individual genius. Rather, they show that invention is a long, torturous, and utterly social process attended by many setbacks.

Technically, Edison eventually succeeded by building an electrical system that featured high-resistance carbon-filament lamps housed in high-vacuum glass bulbs, connected in parallel by an underground feeder-and-main distribution system, and powered by highly efficient, constant-voltage dynamos. Inspired by the gas-lighting system, Edison also developed end-user components like wall fixtures, meters, and safety devices. In fact, the economics of gas lamps inspired many technical decisions, as Edison strove to build an electrical service that was cheaper than his primary competition.

The book also describes the financial, organizational, and political challenges of commercializing Edison’s system. The authors argue that Edison succeeded where others failed because he could marshal extraordinary resources, including the financial backing of J. P. Morgan and the Vander-bilts, a team of loyal and talented assistants, and one of the world’s finest laboratories at Menlo Park. Edison also proved to be a savvy master of local politics and publicity, staging highly choreographed demonstrations for New York City’s aldermen to obtain city permits, while leaking details to the local newspapers to keep the public engaged. Meanwhile, Edison’s attorney, Grosvenor Lowery, calmed the venture’s impatient financiers while stroking the Wizard’s fragile ego whenever they doubted him. Lowery also established half-a-dozen operating and utility companies to manufacture the electrical equipment and deliver the electrical service. Altogether, it took Edison four years to realize his...