BIRTH OF ELECTRIC LIGHT

Evening Star, Issue 20315, 25 October 1929, Page 1

BIRTH OF ELECTRIC LIGHT

EDISON'S FIRST STATION IN NEW YORK New York was hardly more than ad overgrown village in 1882 when Thomas A. Edison opened the first central station to sell his new incandescent! light to a doubting public. The metropolis of crowds' and tower* of 1929 was a horse-car town, then Not a single skyscraper had as yeti reared its head. Homes were lighted' for the most part by gas. The cluster; of globes, the daily evening round with' a lighted wax taper, the lamplighter on the streets, the spluttering arclights, I are still familiar memories. Hotels still I displayed in their rooms the warning “Don’t blow out the gas.” I To-day there is in progress Light's Golden Jubilee, a series of celebrations of stupendous proportions in honour of Thomas Edison and his incandescent light. For it was that light which prompted the first central station, and was the origin not only of New York City’s present electrical system, but also of an advance in every field of civilised effort that has no equal in any other period of history. After Mr Edison had sufficiently perfooted his incandescent lamp for commercial purposes in the Menlo Park, N.J., laboratories, lie organised the Edison Electric Illuminating Company, on December 17, 1880, and prepared to establish a central station in New York City, NO OVERHEAD WIRES. The station was to serve a district about a square mile in all. Edison ordered a thorough canvas, and before the station opened he knew the exact number of gas jots in every building, how many hours they burned, and the cost. He knew every consumer of power and just how much was used. Edison would consider nothing but au underground system. He was building for permanency, and be didn’t propose to add his electric light system to the existing confusion of overhead wire. Ns the underground system was planned, many intricate problems arose and many were the devices Edison invented to solve them. Edison was not only forced to design his equipment, but lie also had to manufacture it,,At the same time the business of wiring customer’s premises for lamps and meters went on. In those days Edison worked day and night with the energy for which Jk* has become famous. Monday, September 4, 1882, was the eventful day of the official opening. Aril p.m. steam was admitted to the engine of one Jumbo generator, current was generated, turned into the thirteen miles of underground conductors, the electric light system was started and a new art introduced to the world. At the end of the first month the station had fifty-nine customers. By the first year the number had readied 445.- Light, was supplied free for three months while the meter system was thoroughly tested. The first bill for 50.40d0l was collected from the Anaconda Brass and Copper Company. CHECKING THE METER. An interesting incident in connection with the early operation of the meter system concerns J. P. Morgan, the international financier, whose firm was among the first customers. Mr Morgan doubted the accuracy of Hie meters. Whereupon Mr Edison devised a check by- suggesting that cards be hung oneach -fixture noting the- number of lights and the time they were turned on and off. At the end of a month, when these, figures were cheeked against those of the meter, there was a considerable discrepancy. Another month’s test was made, and again an overcharge seemed apparent. Mr 'Edison, quite disturbed, made a personal call at the offices of Dreifel Morgan and Company to investigate. Ho asked when the office was cleaned, :md_ was informed this was done at night.Further inquiry showed that the lights used by the janitor had escaped the record. The next mouth’s test included the janitor’s light, and the results tallied almost to the penny with the meter. Mr Morgan was satisfied, and Mr Edison’s meter system was vindicated. The first plant was a huge success,lb supplied about 400 lamps at tha start, lint within a few years tlier® wore eleven Jumbo generators, nearly 1,000 consumers, and more than 14,000 lamps in circuit. The station ran for eight years steadily, stopping only a few days because of fire. One ot the original Jumbos is still in existence, having been preserved by the company for historical purposes.