The Wizard of Menlo Park

by Randall E. Stross

  Edison did not fully appreciate: Ibid., 4:856.

  he and his wife did not correspond: I am mindful of the old adage “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” and know that, theoretically, the two could have corresponded and the letters subsequently lost or destroyed. Based on the documentary record, this seems most unlikely.

  Mrs. E’s health is not: Stockton Griffin to TAE, 5 August 1878, PTAED, D7802ZUQ.

  Barker formally presented Edison: “Science at St. Louis,” New York Daily Herald, 24 August 1878, PTAED, SB032055c.

  “The people”: “Edison’s Trip and Inventions.”

  His trip had been “bang-up”: “Tom Edison Back Again,” NYW, 27 August 1878, PTAED, SB032075a.

  read a letter from an inventor: “Tom Edison Back Again.”

  He returned with lots of dazzling ideas: “Four Hours with Edison,” NYS, 29 August 1878.

  “Did you get”: “Tom Edison Back Again.”

  It was also the very day: Laboratory notebook, 27 August 1878, PTAED, NV16006.

  CHAPTER 4. GETTING AHEAD

  In 1808, Humphry Davy: Friedel and Israel, Edison’s Electric Light, 7.

  An experimental installation: Wolfgang Schivelbusch, Disenchanted Night: The Industrialization of Light in the Nineteenth Century (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), 55.

  Robert Louis Stevenson: Quoted in Al Parsons, Lightning in the Sun: A History of Florida Power Corporation, 1899–1974 (St. Petersburg, Fla.: Florida Power Corporation, 1974), 33.

  When an inventor: Mel Gorman, “Charles F. Brush and the First Public Electric Street Lighting System in America,” Ohio Historical Quarterly, April 1961, 133–134.

  The New York Times described: “The Electric Light,” NYT, 22 April 1878.

  J. W. Starr: Friedel and Israel, Edison’s Electric Light, 8. Friedel and Israel point out that Starr’s inventions simply were not practical. Then again, I would add, neither were Edison’s first attempts at designing a practical bulb.

  on his trip out west: Ibid., 4.

  a curiously ghoulish thought: “A Great Triumph,” New York Mall, 10 September 1878, PTAED, SB032119a. The original article appeared in the New York Sun. The Mall reprinted it the same day, and it was the clipping from the Mall that Batchelor preserved in his scrapbook.

  Mr. Edison was enraptured: Ibid. The excitement of the visitor brings to mind Apple’s Steve Jobs’s storied visit to Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center in 1979, when he glimpsed the first personal computers with software featuring Windows and guided by mice. Five years later, Apple introduced the Macintosh. In the view of Xerox PARC’s later regretful director, George Pake, the significance of the visit was that it convinced Jobs that such a computer was “doable.” Pake likened it to the Soviets’ building of their first atomic bomb: “They developed it very quickly once they knew it was doable.” See Douglas K. Smith and Robert C. Alexander, Fumbling the Future: How Xerox Invented, then Ignored, the First Personal Computer (New York: William Morrow, 1988), 242.

  “so simple”: “Edison’s Electric Light,” NYS, 20 October 1878, PTAED, MBSB20963.

  he recorded his excitement: Laboratory pocket notebook, 1 January 1871, PTAED, NP002A1.

  set a far more ambitious goal: William H. Bishop, “A Night with Edison,” Scribner’s, November 1878, 99.

  “I don’t care”: “Mr. Edison’s Use of Electricity,” New York Tribune, 28 September 1878, PTAED, SB032142a.

  On the following Saturday: “Edison’s Newest Marvel,” NYS, 16 September 1878, PTAED, SB032123a.

  He wrote Theodore Puskas: TAE to Theodore Puskas, 22 September 1878, PTAED, D7802ZZBL.

  When Edison missed a meeting: Stockton Griffin to Grosvenor Lowrey, 24 September 1878, PTAED, D7820K.

  When Lowrey tried again: TAE to Grosvenor Lowrey, 26 September 1878, PTAED, D7820N.

  Drawing on his experience: Friedel and Israel, Edison’s Electric Light, 23.

  He had not yet succeeded: Charles Bazerman, The Languages of Edison’s Light (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1999), 161.

  He cabled George Gouraud: TAE to George Gouraud, draft of cable, 8 October 1878, PTAED, D7821G.

  “panic in gas shares”: George Gouraud to TAE, cable, 7 October 1878, PTAED, D7821F.

  Gouraud wished: George Gouraud to TAE, 16 October 1878, PTAED, D7802ZZFC.

  The British equivalent: George Gouraud to TAE, 24 October 1878, PTAED, D7821U.

  When the New York Herald arrived: “Edison’s Electric Light,” NYH, 12 October 1878, PTAED, MBSB20949.

  Running the sham demonstration: “Edison’s New Light,” NYDG, 21 October 1878, PTAED, MBSB20960.

  reporter from a third newspaper: “Edison’s Electric Light,” NYH, 12 October 1878, PTAED, MBSB20949.

  For another newspaper: “Edison’s Electric Light,” NYS.

  The time sheets from his laboratory: PTAE, 4:567n1.

  The exhibition model’s best month: PTAE, 4:572n1.

  netting Edison a commission: Charles Bailey to TAE, 8 October 1878, PTAED, D7831C.

  The treasurer: Charles Bailey to TAE, 8 October 1878, PTAED, D7831C.

  A couple of months later: “Two Hours at Menlo Park,” NYDG, 28 December 1878, PTAED, MBSB21091.

  William Vanderbilt and his friends: TAE to Theodore Puskas, 5 October 1878, PTAE, 4:562.

  At the beginning of the nineteenth century: Schivelbusch, Disenchanted Night, 51.

  It was also expensive: Thomas J. Schlereth, Victorian America: Transformations in Everyday Life (New York: HarperPerennial, 1992), 114.

  The New York Times: “Gas Stocks and Light,” NYT, 27 October 1878.

  Edison credited the gas monopoly: “Edison’s Electric Light,” NYS.

  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle: “Revenge Is Sweet,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1 December 1878, PTAED, MBSB21072X.

  An “enormous abandonment”: “Gas Stocks and Light,” NYT, 27 October 1878.

  The previous month: Gorman, “Charles F. Brush,” 135–136.

  William Sharon: Charles M. Coleman, P.G. & E. of California: The Centennial Story of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 1852–1952 (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1952), 55.

  The gas-industry conventioneers: “Gas Men in Council,” NYT, 19 October 1878.

  Speakers at the gas-industry convention: Ibid.

  Edison had sent Charles Batchelor: “Edison’s New Light,” NYDG.

  One independent observer: [Albert Salomon von Rothschild] to August Belmont, 25 October 1878, PTAED, D7821ZAW.

  He blamed his reticence: Lemuel Serrell to TAE, 16 December 1878, PTAED, D7828ZFB. The phrase “than they are worth” was crossed out in the letter, but is restored here, as Serrell left it in perfectly legible form.

  Not so easily put off: George Barker to TAE, 23 October 1878, PTAED, D7819ZAT.

  had not yet signed: Barker wrote Edison on 23 October 1878, but Edison did not sign his agreement with the company until 15 November.

  “Positively No Admittance”: “Edison’s New Light,” NYDG.

  Professor Barker would not be denied: George Barker to TAE, 23 October 1878, PTAED, D7819ZAT.

  In the event: George Barker to TAE, 22 November 1878, PTAED, D7819ZCJ.

  publicly covered for him: PTAED, 4:726n5.

  privately indulged with Edison: George Barker to TAE, 22 November 1878, PTAED, D7819ZCJ.

  The press was fascinated: “Edison’s Electric Light,” NYS.

  Talking at such length: Edwin Fox to TAE, 20 October 1878, PTAED, D7805ZDW.

  write two volumes of bestselling memoirs: Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant (New York: C. J. Webster, 1885–1886).

  Days after he wrote this: Edwin Fox to TAE, 5 November 1878, PTAED, D7805ZEG.

  A speed record in sycophancy: “Edison’s Baby,” NYT, 27 October 1878. The story suggested that the two hours of struggle over being dressed may have been masculine reaction to effeminate attire—“the daintiest muslin, with ruffles and furbelows, such as only a mother’s fancy can imagine.”

&
nbsp; Without being privy: George Barker to TAE, 3 November 1878, PTAED, D7802ZZJD.

  Edison had a different theory: “Two Hours at Menlo Park.” The article does not mention that he was hurt by arc lights, but only arc lights could produce the intense light described here, and it is known from other sources that Edison rigged up arc lights for experimental purposes in the laboratory at this time. See Friedel and Israel, Edison’s Electric Light, 48–49.

  Now claims to have solved: R. G. Dun & Co. Credit Report, 10 December 1878, PTAE, 4:773.

  When R. G. Dun wrote him: R. G. Dun & Co. to TAE, 4 February 1881, PTAED, D8123E.

  He left negotiations: TAE to Grosvenor P. Lowrey, 3 October 1878, PTAED, LB003390.

  Lowrey, in turn: Grosvenor P. Lowrey to Hamilton Twombly, 1 October 1878, PTAED, D7820ZAC. The lead investors in the Edison Electric Light Company included Twombly (whose father-in-law was William Vanderbilt), Tracy Edson, Norvin Green, and James Banker, associated with Western Union; Robert Cutting Jr., a law partner of Lowrey’s; and Egisto Fabbri, representing the interests of Drexel, Morgan. The incorporation papers were filed on 16 October 1878 and are found in PTAED, QD012B0208.

  On 15 November: Edison Electric Light Company and TAE, Agreement, 15 November 1878, PTAED, HM780053.

  A few days later: Grosvenor Lowrey to TAE, 25 November 1878, PTAED, D7820ZCA.

  Lowrey again labored: Grosvenor Lowrey to TAE, 10 December 1878, PTAED, D7821ZBR.

  In a matter of just a few weeks: Grosvenor Lowrey to TAE, 23 December 1878, PTAED, D7820ZDI.

  In his telling: “Invention by Accident,” NYW, 17 November 1878, PTAED, MBSB21019X.

  “I have begun”: “Two Hours at Menlo Park.”

  In January 1879: Calvin Goddard to TAE, 22 January 1879, PTAED, D7920M.

  Not having heard: William Croffut to TAE, 3 February 1879, PTAED, D7920W.

  note that Fox sent to Edison: Edwin Fox to TAE, 26 January 1879, PTAED, D7920R.

  Francis Upton, a twenty-six-year-old physicist: PTAE, 5:141n1.

  at Princeton: Upton studied at Princeton’s Green School of Science from 1875 to 1877, becoming the first student to receive an M.S. from Princeton. The university archives do not have information about his thesis, or whether one was submitted.

  in the Astor Library: Francis Upton to Charles Farley, 29 December 1878, PTAED, MU005.

  In November 1878: Francis Upton to Charles Farley, 22 November 1878, PTAED, MU002. Accepting the offer to move to Menlo Park meant Upton could not return to Germany to resume his postgraduate studies. Life in Germany would have been “extremely pleasant,” he wrote his mother, but “there I would only learn how to spend money. Here I will learn how to earn it.” Francis Upton to Lucy Upton, 7 November 1878, PTAED, MU001.

  Upon arrival in Menlo Park: “Two Hours at Menlo Park.” Edison referred in a latter to working with “6 experimental assistants.” TAE to Theodore Puskas, 3 January 1879, PTAED, LB004079. Upton arrived on 13 or 14 December, and two weeks later was “learning how to sleep daytimes.” Francis Upton to Charles Farley, 29 December 1878, PTAED, MU005.

  When a tornado: “The Electric Light,” NYH, 11 December 1878, PTAED, MBSB21048X.

  when Edison was coming to the realization: Friedel and Israel, Edison’s Electric Light, 51.

  Even when he decided: Grosvenor Lowrey to TAE, 25 January 1879, PTAED, D7920Q.

  The investors did stand by the inventor: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 23 February 1879, PTAED, MU007.

  At times: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 2 March 1879, PTAED, MU008.

  A few weeks later: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 23 March [1879], PTAED, MU009.

  In May: Francis Upton to TAE, 19 May 1879, PTAED, D7919ZAP.

  Inexperience with the world: Francis Upton to TAE, 19 May 1879, PTAED, D7919ZAQ. Upton sent his note with the correct figures on the same day as he had sent the first note to Edison.

  Edison made his offer: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 15 June 1879, PTAED, MU017. In Silicon Valley in the 1990s, equity in the form of stock options became the most important component of compensation at technology-based start-up companies. For a good description of the “options culture,” see Justin Fox, “The Next Best Thing to Free Money,” Fortune, 7 July 1997, 70–84.

  In writing about his quandary: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 22 June 1879, PTAED, MU018.

  Upton elected: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 6 July 1879, PTAED, MU021.

  He immediately felt: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 7 September 1879, PTAED, MU030.

  As time passed: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 19 October 1879, PTAED, MU031.

  his laboratory colleague: Jehl, Reminiscences, 351–356.

  Batchelor wrote: Charles Batchelor, laboratory notebook, 22 October 1879, PTAED, N052105.

  He did tell the New York Times: “Edison’s Electric Light,” NYT, 21 October 1879.

  “He is always sanguine”: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 2 November 1879, PTAED, MU033.

  “Continual trouble”: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 9 November 1879, PTAED, MU034.

  in mid-November: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 22 November 1879, PTAED, MU036.

  Upton, however, did not have to wait: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 30 November 1879, PTAED, MU037.

  CHAPTER 5. STAGECRAFT

  Occasionally, on a Saturday night: Jehl, Reminiscences, 503.

  one New York paper: “Edison’s Life,” NYH, 10 January 1880, PTAED, MBSB21414X.

  French actress and singer: On the occasion of the opening in December 2005 of an exhibition, Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama, at the Jewish Museum in New York, the New York Times art critic Edward Rothstein said contemporaneous accounts of Bernhardt’s voice described it as being “almost animalistic.” See “A Celebrity Extraordinaire Who Rivaled Eiffel Tower,” NYT, 2 December 2005.

  Bernhardt’s original plan: Sarah Bernhardt, My Double Life: The Memoirs of Sarah Bernhardt (Albany: State University of New York, 1999), 261–264; Dyer and Martin, Edison, 737.

  By that time: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 7 December 1879, PTAED, MU038. Lizzie Upton came up with the idea of decorating the lamps with ribbons and flowers. Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 21 December 1879, PTAED, MU040.

  was given exclusive access: Jehl, Reminiscences, 380. Fox knew he would be able to paint a much better “pen picture” if he could gain access to the laboratory and witness events for himself rather than rely upon someone else’s account obtained through an interview. In a letter he had sent Edison a year earlier, he wrote, “A man may sit down and open out words by the hour descriptive, say, if you please of the beauty of some picturesque landscape, yet unless his eyes have feasted upon the glory he describes his words fall flat and aimless.” Edwin Fox to TAE, 5 November 1878, PTAED, D7805ZEG.

  On Sunday: “Edison’s Light,” NYH, 28 December 1879, PTAED, MBSB21395X.

  catching Edison by surprise: Upton assumed that Fox had deliberately broken his agreement with Edison, selling out “at a good price.” Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 21 December 1879, PTAED, MU040; Jehl’s later account told a different story: that the Herald had been given clearance by someone at the laboratory, but not by Edison. Jehl repeatedly refers to Edwin Fox as “Marshall Fox.” Jehl, Reminiscences, 380–381.

  A New York Herald editorial: “Edison’s Eureka—the Electric Light at Last,” NYH, 21 December 1879, PTAED, MBSB21378X.

  William Sawyer: “Edison’s Electric Light,” NYW, 24 December 1879, PTAED, QD012G4172.

  He dared Edison: William Sawyer, “Electrician Sawyer’s Challenge to Electrician Edison,” NYS, 22 December 1879, PTAED, CC014016.

  Edison returned the challenge: “Edison’s Horseshoe Light,” NYS, 23 December 1879, PTAED, MBSB21390.

  the publicity: “Edison’s Electric Light.”

  At that time, Edison bragged: “Edison’s Lamp Yet Burning,” NYS, 24 December 1879, PTAED, MBSB21392X.

  He responded with a public promise: “Edison’s Horseshoe Light.”

  On 26 De
cember: Egisto Fabbri to TAE, 26 December 1879, PTAED, D7920ZBO.

  He did not openly defy: “Edison’s Light,” NYH, 28 December 1879, PTAED, MBSB21395X.

  The next night: [article title omitted], NYH, 29 December 1879, cited in Jehl, Reminiscences, 411.

  more arrived the next night: “Electricity and Gas,” NYH, 30 December 1879, PTAED, MBSB21401X.

  Two and then four more: “A Night with Edison,” NYH, 31 December 1879, PTAED, MBSB21402b. Sarah Jordan was Mary Edison’s stepsister.

  Edison Electric Light Company: Grosvenor Lowrey to TAE, 13 November 1879, PTAED, D7920ZBI.

  Company stock: Francis Upton to Elijah Upton, 28 December 1879, PTAED, MU041.

  The spike in prices: “Edison and the Skeptics,” NYT, 4 January 1880.

  On New Year’s Eve: “Edison’s Great Work,” NYH, 1 January 1880, PTAED, MBSB21405a.

  When he appeared: “Crowding Edison,” NYH, 2 January 1880, PTAED, MBSB21407a.

  lab assistants were convinced: PTAE, 5:540.

  the printed condemnation: “Crowding Edison.”

  Their vigilance was needed: TAE reminiscence, “Second Batch,” n.d., PTAE, 5:1025–1026.

  the New York Tribune: “A Malicious Visitor,” New York Tribune, 2 January 1880, PTAED, MBSB21407b.

  What a happy man: “The Great Edison Scare,” Journal of Gas Lighting, 20 January 1880, PTAED, MBSB21440X. Reprinted from the Saturday Review published in England on 10 January 1880.

  The price of Edison Electric Light Company stock: “Mr. Edison and His Critics,” NYS, 24 January 1880, PTAED, MBSB21450X.

  At this moment Edison: “The Coming Light,” Philadelphia Record, 12 February 1880, PTAED, SM014034.

  Edward Johnson sighed: Edward Johnson to Uriah Painter, 10 December 1880, PTAE, 5:492–493n5.

  Edison took what solace he could: “The Coming Light.”

  A professional snoop: Jehl, Reminiscences, 700–703.

  The company directors were willing: Ibid., 558–559, 562–563.

  “Be thou to me”: Grosvenor Lowrey to Kate Armour, n.d. [May 1880], HFM & GVRC, Box 10, Folder 34.

  Lowrey also told his beloved: Grosvenor Lowrey to Kate Armour [written in Menlo Park, New Jersey], 30 April 1880, HFM & GVRC, Box 10, Folder 34.

  When Lowrey showed Edison: Grosvenor Lowrey to Kate Armour, 14 March 1880, HFM & GVRC, Box 10, Folder 34.