An Interview with Edison.

Otago Witness, Issue 1581, 11 March 1882, Page 29

An Interview with Edison.

A correspondent of the South Australian Register, whilst in New York, interviewed Mr Thomas A. Edison, who, he says, may fairly be described as the most inventive genius of the age. The following are extracts from his account of the interview : —

To the question, "Isitnottruethatyou arenow laying down ' mains ' to supply a portion of the city of New York— a mile square— with electric light and electric motive power?" Mr Edison replied: "Yes, quite true. All arrangements will soon be completed, 60 per cent, of the residents in that _ square mile having agreed to take the electric light. It will be supplied to them just the same as gas — by meter. The large wires are nearly all down — under the streets,— the connections with every house are approaching completion, and the electric light will be supplied in every room. The residents will pay for what they use and no more. They can turn off the electricity at the meter if they like, and they can turn it off and on • in each room and at each light. The electricity will be generated at one central station, ' and supplied direct to the consumers through the underground mains. Everything precisely the same as gas, except that the light will be more brilliant — really 16 candle-power to each lamp — and that the price will be a little cheaper perhaps. We think, however, 1 thab if we charge ffche same as gas our electric lights will be preferred. If not, we can fight the gas companies in regard to price, and can beat them out-and-out. There is no doubt about that, I went into it most carefully before I promoted the Edison Electric Illuminating Company, which is doing the work on the square-mile block now. We are to have 1140 consumers, 14 miles of mains, and 16,500 lights in that one district, besides which we have arranged to sell 400-horse power, in motors varying fronri five horse-power to onetenth of a horse-power. This motive power will be supplied same as the lighting, and paid for by meter. I anticipate a great consumption of electric motive-power in small factories, printing-offices, and such places where force is wanted only for a short time per day, and where it is desirable not to allow power to run to waste." I may here say in parenthesis that the Edison Company's offices are lighted with the electric lights split up into sixteen-candle lamps and distributed in all kinds of candelabra, and in single, double, and triple lights, and that the effect is wonderful. The lights are perfectly steady, which is much more than could be said_ of the olectric lights before the British Association at their jubilee meeting at York. They are turned on and off just the same as gas, except that no match is re- j quired to liglit the carbon inside the lamp. The carbon is simply a split piece of bamboo- j cane, perhaps three inches long, and bent into something like the shape ot a horseshoe. It is on the whole of this surface that the electric ] light plays or rests, for it is a misnomer to ' spnak of so quiet a thin^ aq at play. Many ! people., t v,m told, mistake 11 m lie-lit for gas. Thi', electricity ifc generated by a, L"i-hor.se power atoam-engino in the cellar of tbo hoiwu ; but, as already stated, Mr Edison's idea when supply- 1

ing light on a grand scale is to have a' central engine and dynamo house, and send the electricity thence in all directions, and into a thousand houses, , On the subject of electric railways Mr Edison was particularly confident, He said the success of them was assured already. His own at Menlo Park had satisfied him of the feasibility of making electric railways pay, and He was rio'vyf bunding dne three miles long instead of the old dhe.wHitiH w/tt only a quarter of a mile. A few month's HeticeV perhaps by February next, he hoped to have the motor completed, and to run it on his own railway to make tests— running cars backward and forward, weighing the coal at the stations, and calculating the wear and tear, the differences of power required on varying gradients, and the Idas df poWer under certain circumstances. Mr Edison added: "I like to start on the basis of economy, which must come sooner or later. I have already got an offer from the Pennsylvaman Railroad Company offering their line on which to run my electric motors, and I have got an . order from the chairman of the Northern Pacific railroad to commence an electric railway there on a large scale to open up the vast WheatfieldS which abound there. These railways will go right and left into these oceans of wheatfields, and act as feeders to the main trunk lines. They would be just the thing for Australia, where, as I understand, plenty of wheat is grown, where the distances to market are great, and where the railway i traffic, except in the wheat season, is small. This is the plan to be adopted on the Northern Pacific— 3ft 6in gauge, iron rails 161b to the yard. This will be quite heavy enough, as the electric engine will not weigh more than three tons, instead of 20, 30, or 40 tons, as the locomotive steam-engine often weighs. The trains to carry not more than 30 tons of paying freight each net, or an equivalent of passenger cars. One man only will be required for each train, and he can be trained all he needs to know in two hours. Any man who can drive two mules can be taught in two hours to drive one of these engines. The skilled labour will be required at the stations. These will be 10 miles apart. Here the electric force will be generated, and sent alsng the lines to move the train along. The speea I have calculated for on the Pacific wheat lines is eight miles an hour ; but in Australia if you carried passengers the speed could be increased to 40 miles an hour with the same engine and rolling-stock. I have already run an electric engine at the rate of 100 miles an hour. The cost of such lines— rolling-stock and engines and stations complete— will be about 8150 dollars per mile on the Pacific ; say 3500 dollars, or £700 per mile in Australia, if the country be not hilly. lam certain electric railways, to answer all the purposes I have named, could be built in Australia for the price stated, The stationary engines at the station will be 50-horse power ; and I estimate that for every 20-horse power used by the motor on the railway 30-horse power will have to be put into the stationary engine,"