Edison came first to New York in 1868, with his early stock printer, which he tried unsuccessfully to sell. He went back to Boston, and quite undismayed got up a duplex telegraph. "Toward the end of my stay in Boston," he says, "I obtained a loan of money, amounting to $800, to build a peculiar12 kind of duplex telegraph for sending two messages over a single wire simultaneously13. The apparatus14 was built, and I left the Western union employ and went to Rochester, New York, to test the apparatus on the lines of the Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph between that city and New York. But the assistant at the other end could not be made to understand anything, notwithstanding I had written out a very minute description of just what to do. After trying for a week I gave it up and returned to New York with but a few cents in my pocket." Thus he who has never speculated in a stock in his life was destined15 to make the beginnings of his own fortune by providing for others the apparatus that should bring to the eye, all over a great city, the momentary16 fluctuations17 of stocks and bonds. No one could have been in direr poverty than he when the steamboat landed him in New York in 1869. He was in debt, and his few belongings18 in books and instruments had to be left behind. He was not far from starving. Mr. W. S. Mallory, an associate of many years, quotes directly from him on this point: "Some years ago we had a business negotiation19 in New York which made it necessary for Mr. Edison and me to visit the city five or six times within a comparatively short period. It was our custom to leave Orange about 11 A.M., and on arrival in New York to get our lunch before keeping the appointments, which were usually made for two o'clock. Several of these lunches were had at Delmonico's, Sherry's, and other places of similar character, but one day, while en route, Mr. Edison said: 'I have been to lunch with you several times; now to-day I am going to take you to lunch with me, and give you the finest lunch you ever had.' When we arrived in Hoboken, we took the downtown ferry across the Hudson, and when we arrived on the Manhattan side Mr. Edison led the way to Smith & McNell's, opposite Washington Market, and well known to old New Yorkers. We went inside and as soon as the waiter appeared Mr. Edison ordered apple dumplings and a cup of coffee for himself. He consumed his share of the lunch with the greatest possible pleasure. Then, as soon as he had finished, he went to the cigar counter and purchased cigars. As we walked to keep the appointment he gave me the following reminiscence: When he left Boston and decided20 to come to New York he had only money enough for the trip. After leaving the boat his first thought was of breakfast; but he was without money to obtain it. However, in passing a wholesale21 tea-house he saw a man tasting tea, so he went in and asked the 'taster' if he might have some of the tea. This the man gave him, and thus he obtained his first breakfast in New York. He knew a telegraph operator here, and on him he depended for a loan to tide him over until such time as he should secure a position. During the day he succeeded in locating this operator, but found that he also was out of a job, and that the best he could do was to loan him one dollar, which he did. This small sum of money represented both food and lodging22 until such time as work could be obtained. Edison said that as the result of the time consumed and the exercise in walking while he found his friend, he was extremely hungry, and that he gave most serious consideration as to what he should buy in the way of food, and what particular kind of food would be most satisfying and filling. The result was that at Smith & McNell's he decided on apple dumplings and a cup of coffee, than which he never ate anything more appetizing. It was not long before he was at work and was able to live in a normal manner."
During the Civil War, with its enormous increase in the national debt and the volume of paper money, gold had gone to a high premium23; and, as ever, by its fluctuations in price the value of all other commodities was determined24. This led to the creation of a "Gold Room" in Wall Street, where the precious metal could be dealt in; while for dealings in stocks there also existed the "Regular Board," the "Open Board," and the "Long Room." Devoted26 to one, but the leading object of speculation, the "Gold Room" was the very focus of all the financial and gambling27 activity of the time, and its quotations29 governed trade and commerce. At first notations30 in chalk on a blackboard sufficed, but seeing their inadequacy31, Dr. S. S. Laws, vice-president and actual presiding officer of the Gold Exchange, devised and introduced what was popularly known as the "gold indicator32." This exhibited merely the prevailing33 price of gold; but as its quotations changed from instant to instant, it was in a most literal sense "the cynosure34 of neighboring eyes." One indicator looked upon the Gold Room; the other opened toward the street. Within the exchange the face could easily be seen high up on the west wall of the room, and the machine was operated by Mr. Mersereau, the official registrar35 of the Gold Board.
Doctor Laws, who afterward36 became President of the State University of Missouri, was an inventor of unusual ability and attainments38. In his early youth he had earned his livelihood39 in a tool factory; and, apparently40 with his savings41, he went to Princeton, where he studied electricity under no less a teacher than the famous Joseph Henry. At the outbreak of the war in 1861 he was president of one of the Presbyterian synodical colleges in the South, whose buildings passed into the hands of the Government. Going to Europe, he returned to New York in 1863, and, becoming interested with a relative in financial matters, his connection with the Gold Exchange soon followed, when it was organized. The indicating mechanism he now devised was electrical, controlled at central by two circuit-closing keys, and was a prototype of all the later and modern step-by-step printing telegraphs, upon which the distribution of financial news depends. The "fraction" drum of the indicator could be driven in either direction, known as the advance and retrograde movements, and was divided and marked in eighths. It geared into a "unit" drum, just as do speed-indicators42 and cyclometers. Four electrical pulsations were required to move the drum the distance between the fractions. The general operation was simple, and in normally active times the mechanism and the registrar were equal to all emergencies. But it is obvious that the record had to be carried away to the brokers' offices and other places by messengers; and the delay, confusion, and mistakes soon suggested to Doctor Laws the desirability of having a number of indicators at such scattered43 points, operated by a master transmitter, and dispensing44 with the regiments45 of noisy boys. He secured this privilege of distribution, and, resigning from the exchange, devoted his exclusive attention to the "Gold Reporting Telegraph," which he patented, and for which, at the end of 1866, he had secured fifty subscribers. His indicators were small oblong boxes, in the front of which was a long slot, allowing the dials as they travelled past, inside, to show the numerals constituting the quotation28; the dials or wheels being arranged in a row horizontally, overlapping47 each other, as in modern fare registers which are now seen on most trolley48 cars. It was not long before there were three hundred subscribers; but the very success of this device brought competition and improvement. Mr. E. A. Callahan, an ingenious printing-telegraph operator, saw that there were unexhausted possibilities in the idea, and his foresight49 and inventiveness made him the father of the "ticker," in connection with which he was thus, like Laws, one of the first to grasp and exploit the underlying50 principle of the "central station" as a universal source of supply. The genesis of his invention Mr. Callahan has told in an interesting way: "In 1867, on the site of the present Mills Building on Broad Street, opposite the Stock Exchange of today, was an old building which had been cut up to subserve the necessities of its occupants, all engaged in dealing25 in gold and stocks. It had one main entrance from the street to a hallway, from which entrance to the offices of two prominent broker4 firms was obtained. Each firm had its own army of boys, numbering from twelve to fifteen, whose duties were to ascertain51 the latest quotations from the different exchanges. Each boy devoted his attention to some particularly active stock. Pushing each other to get into these narrow quarters, yelling out the prices at the door, and pushing back for later ones, the hustle52 made this doorway53 to me a most undesirable54 refuge from an April shower. I was simply whirled into the street. I naturally thought that much of this noise and confusion might be dispensed55 with, and that the prices might be furnished through some system of telegraphy which would not require the employment of skilled operators. The conception of the stock ticker dates from this incident."
Mr. Callahan's first idea was to distribute gold quotations, and to this end he devised an "indicator." It consisted of two dials mounted separately, each revolved56 by an electromagnet, so that the desired figures were brought to an aperture57 in the case enclosing the apparatus, as in the Laws system. Each shaft58 with its dial was provided with two ratchet wheels, one the reverse of the other. One was used in connection with the propelling lever, which was provided with a pawl to fit into the teeth of the reversed ratchet wheel on its forward movement. It was thus made impossible for either dial to go by momentum59 beyond its limit. Learning that Doctor Laws, with the skilful60 aid of F. L. Pope, was already active in the same direction, Mr. Callahan, with ready wit, transformed his indicator into a "ticker" that would make a printed record. The name of the "ticker" came through the casual remark of an observer to whom the noise was the most striking feature of the mechanism. Mr. Callahan removed the two dials, and, substituting type wheels, turned the movements face to face, so that each type wheel could imprint61 its characters upon a paper tape in two lines. Three wires stranded62 together ran from the central office to each instrument. Of these one furnished the current for the alphabet wheel, one for the figure wheel, and one for the mechanism that took care of the inking and printing on the tape. Callahan made the further innovation of insulating his circuit wires, although the cost was then forty times as great as that of bare wire. It will be understood that electromagnets were the ticker's actuating agency. The ticker apparatus was placed under a neat glass shade and mounted on a shelf. Twenty-five instruments were energized63 from one circuit, and the quotations were supplied from a "central" at 18 New Street. The Gold & Stock Telegraph Company was promptly64 organized to supply to brokers the system, which was very rapidly adopted throughout the financial district of New York, at the southern tip of Manhattan Island. Quotations were transmitted by the Morse telegraph from the floor of the Stock Exchange to the "central," and thence distributed to the subscribers. Success with the "stock" news system was instantaneous.
It was at this juncture65 that Edison reached New York, and according to his own statement found shelter at night in the battery-room of the Gold Indicator Company, having meantime applied66 for a position as operator with the Western union. He had to wait a few days, and during this time he seized the opportunity to study the indicators and the complicated general transmitter in the office, controlled from the keyboard of the operator on the floor of the Gold Exchange. What happened next has been the basis of many inaccurate67 stories, but is dramatic enough as told in Mr. Edison's own version: "On the third day of my arrival and while sitting in the office, the complicated general instrument for sending on all the lines, and which made a very great noise, suddenly came to a stop with a crash. Within two minutes over three hundred boys—a boy from every broker in the street—rushed up-stairs and crowded the long aisle68 and office, that hardly had room for one hundred, all yelling that such and such a broker's wire was out of order and to fix it at once. It was pandemonium69, and the man in charge became so excited that he lost control of all the knowledge he ever had. I went to the indicator, and, having studied it thoroughly70, knew where the trouble ought to be, and found it. One of the innumerable contact springs had broken off and had fallen down between the two gear wheels and stopped the instrument; but it was not very noticeable. As I went out to tell the man in charge what the matter was, Doctor Laws appeared on the scene, the most excited person I had seen. He demanded of the man the cause of the trouble, but the man was speechless. I ventured to say that I knew what the trouble was, and he said, 'Fix it! Fix it! Be quick!' I removed the spring and set the contact wheels at zero; and the line, battery, and inspecting men all scattered through the financial district to set the instruments. In about two hours things were working again. Doctor Laws came in to ask my name and what I was doing. I told him, and he asked me to come to his private office the following day. His office was filled with stacks of books all relating to metaphysics and kindred matters. He asked me a great many questions about the instruments and his system, and I showed him how he could simplify things generally. He then requested that I should call next day. On arrival, he stated at once that he had decided to put me in charge of the whole plant, and that my salary would be $300 per month! This was such a violent jump from anything I had ever seen before, that it rather paralyzed me for a while, I thought it was too much to be lasting71, but I determined to try and live up to that salary if twenty hours a day of hard work would do it. I kept this position, made many improvements, devised several stock tickers, until the Gold & Stock Telegraph Company consolidated72 with the Gold Indicator Company." Certainly few changes in fortune have been more sudden and dramatic in any notable career than this which thus placed an ill-clad, unkempt, half-starved, eager lad in a position of such responsibility in days when the fluctuations in the price of gold at every instant meant fortune or ruin to thousands.
Edison, barely twenty-one years old, was a keen observer of the stirring events around him. "Wall Street" is at any time an interesting study, but it was never at a more agitated73 and sensational74 period of its history than at this time. Edison's arrival in New York coincided with an active speculation in gold which may, indeed, be said to have provided him with occupation; and was soon followed by the attempt of Mr. Jay Gould and his associates to corner the gold market, precipitating75 the panic of Black Friday, September 24, 1869. Securing its import duties in the precious metal and thus assisting to create an artificial stringency76 in the gold market, the Government had made it a practice to relieve the situation by selling a million of gold each month. The metal was thus restored to circulation. In some manner, President Grant was persuaded that general conditions and the movement of the crops would be helped if the sale of gold were suspended for a time; and, this put into effect, he went to visit an old friend in Pennsylvania remote from railroads and telegraphs. The Gould pool had acquired control of $10,000,000 in gold, and drove the price upward rapidly from 144 toward their goal of 200. On Black Friday they purchased another $28,000,000 at 160, and still the price went up. The financial and commercial interests of the country were in panic; but the pool persevered77 in its effort to corner gold, with a profit of many millions contingent78 on success. Yielding to frantic79 requests, President Grant, who returned to Washington, caused Secretary Boutwell, of the Treasury80, to throw $4,000,000 of gold into the market. Relief was instantaneous, the corner was broken, but the harm had been done. Edison's remarks shed a vivid side-light on this extraordinary episode: "On Black Friday," he says, "we had a very exciting time with the indicators. The Gould and Fisk crowd had cornered gold, and had run the quotations up faster than the indicator could follow. The indicator was composed of several wheels; on the circumference81 of each wheel were the numerals; and one wheel had fractions. It worked in the same way as an ordinary counter; one wheel made ten revolutions, and at the tenth it advanced the adjacent wheel; and this in its turn having gone ten revolutions, advanced the next wheel, and so on. On the morning of Black Friday the indicator was quoting 150 premium, whereas the bids by Gould's agents in the Gold Room were 165 for five millions or any part. We had a paper-weight at the transmitter (to speed it up), and by one o'clock reached the right quotation. The excitement was prodigious82. New Street, as well as Broad Street, was jammed with excited people. I sat on the top of the Western union telegraph booth to watch the surging, crazy crowd. One man came to the booth, grabbed a pencil, and attempted to write a message to Boston. The first stroke went clear off the blank; he was so excited that he had the operator write the message for him. Amid great excitement Speyer, the banker, went crazy and it took five men to hold him; and everybody lost their head. The Western union operator came to me and said: 'Shake, Edison, we are O. K. We haven't got a cent.' I felt very happy because we were poor. These occasions are very enjoyable to a poor man; but they occur rarely."
There is a calm sense of detachment about this description that has been possessed83 by the narrator even in the most anxious moments of his career. He was determined to see all that could be seen, and, quitting his perch84 on the telegraph booth, sought the more secluded85 headquarters of the pool forces. "A friend of mine was an operator who worked in the office of Belden & Company, 60 Broadway, which were headquarters for Fisk. Mr. Gould was up-town in the Erie offices in the Grand Opera House. The firm on Broad Street, Smith, Gould & Martin, was the other branch. All were connected with wires. Gould seemed to be in charge, Fisk being the executive down-town. Fisk wore a velvet86 corduroy coat and a very peculiar vest. He was very chipper, and seemed to be light-hearted and happy. Sitting around the room were about a dozen fine-looking men. All had the complexion87 of cadavers88. There was a basket of champagne89. Hundreds of boys were rushing in paying checks, all checks being payable90 to Belden & Company. When James Brown, of Brown Brothers & Company, broke the corner by selling five million gold, all payments were repudiated91 by Smith, Gould & Martin; but they continued to receive checks at Belden & Company's for some time, until the Street got wind of the game. There was some kind of conspiracy92 with the Government people which I could not make out, but I heard messages that opened my eyes as to the ramifications93 of Wall Street. Gold fell to 132, and it took us all night to get the indicator back to that quotation. All night long the streets were full of people. Every broker's office was brilliantly lighted all night, and all hands were at work. The clearing-house for gold had been swamped, and all was mixed up. No one knew if he was bankrupt or not."
Edison in those days rather liked the modest coffee-shops, and mentions visiting one. "When on the New York No. 1 wire, that I worked in Boston, there was an operator named Jerry Borst at the other end. He was a first-class receiver and rapid sender. We made up a scheme to hold this wire, so he changed one letter of the alphabet and I soon got used to it; and finally we changed three letters. If any operator tried to receive from Borst, he couldn't do it, so Borst and I always worked together. Borst did less talking than any operator I ever knew. Never having seen him, I went while in New York to call upon him. I did all the talking. He would listen, stroke his beard, and say nothing. In the evening I went over to an all-night lunch-house in Printing House Square in a basement—Oliver's. Night editors, including Horace Greeley, and Henry Raymond, of the New York Times, took their midnight lunch there. When I went with Borst and another operator, they pointed94 out two or three men who were then celebrated95 in the newspaper world. The night was intensely hot and close. After getting our lunch and upon reaching the sidewalk, Borst opened his mouth, and said: 'That's a great place; a plate of cakes, a cup of coffee, and a Russian bath, for ten cents.' This was about fifty per cent. of his conversation for two days."
The work of Edison on the gold-indicator had thrown him into close relationship with Mr. Franklin L. Pope, the young telegraph engineer then associated with Doctor Laws, and afterward a distinguished96 expert and technical writer, who became President of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1886. Each recognized the special ability of the other, and barely a week after the famous events of Black Friday the announcement of their partnership97 appeared in the Telegrapher of October 1, 1869. This was the first "professional card," if it may be so described, ever issued in America by a firm of electrical engineers, and is here reproduced. It is probable that the advertisement, one of the largest in the Telegrapher, and appearing frequently, was not paid for at full rates, as the publisher, Mr. J. N. Ashley, became a partner in the firm, and not altogether a "sleeping one" when it came to a division of profits, which at times were considerable. In order to be nearer his new friend Edison boarded with Pope at Elizabeth, New Jersey98, for some time, living "the strenuous99 life" in the performance of his duties. Associated with Pope and Ashley, he followed up his work on telegraph printers with marked success. "While with them I devised a printer to print gold quotations instead of indicating them. The lines were started, and the whole was sold out to the Gold & Stock Telegraph Company. My experimenting was all done in the small shop of a Doctor Bradley, located near the station of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Jersey City. Every night I left for Elizabeth on the 1 A.M. train, then walked half a mile to Mr. Pope's house and up at 6 A.M. for breakfast to catch the 7 A.M. train. This continued all winter, and many were the occasions when I was nearly frozen in the Elizabeth walk." This Doctor Bradley appears to have been the first in this country to make electrical measurements of precision with the galvanometer, but was an old-school experimenter who would work for years on an instrument without commercial value. He was also extremely irascible, and when on one occasion the connecting wire would not come out of one of the binding100 posts of a new and costly101 galvanometer, he jerked the instrument to the floor and then jumped on it. He must have been, however, a man of originality102, as evidenced by his attempt to age whiskey by electricity, an attempt that has often since been made. "The hobby he had at the time I was there," says Edison, "was the aging of raw whiskey by passing strong electric currents through it. He had arranged twenty jars with platinum103 electrodes held in place by hard rubber. When all was ready, he filled the cells with whiskey, connected the battery, locked the door of the small room in which they were placed, and gave positive orders that no one should enter. He then disappeared for three days. On the second day we noticed a terrible smell in the shop, as if from some dead animal. The next day the doctor arrived and, noticing the smell, asked what was dead. We all thought something had got into his whiskey-room and died. He opened it and was nearly overcome. The hard rubber he used was, of course, full of sulphur, and this being attacked by the nascent104 hydrogen, had produced sulphuretted hydrogen gas in torrents105, displacing all of the air in the room. Sulphuretted hydrogen is, as is well known, the gas given off by rotten eggs."
Another glimpse of this period of development is afforded by an interesting article on the stock-reporting telegraph in the Electrical World of March 4, 1899, by Mr. Ralph W. Pope, the well-known Secretary of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, who had as a youth an active and intimate connection with that branch of electrical industry. In the course of his article he mentions the curious fact that Doctor Laws at first, in receiving quotations from the Exchanges, was so distrustful of the Morse system that he installed long lines of speaking-tube as a more satisfactory and safe device than a telegraph wire. As to the relations of that time Mr. Pope remarks: "The rivalry106 between the two concerns resulted in consolidation107, Doctor Laws's enterprise being absorbed by the Gold & Stock Telegraph Company, while the Laws stock printer was relegated108 to the scrap-heap and the museum. Competition in the field did not, however, cease. Messrs. Pope and Edison invented a one-wire printer, and started a system of 'gold printers' devoted to the recording109 of gold quotations and sterling110 exchange only. It was intended more especially for importers and exchange brokers, and was furnished at a lower price than the indicator service.... The building and equipment of private telegraph lines was also entered upon. This business was also subsequently absorbed by the Gold & Stock Telegraph Company, which was probably at this time at the height of its prosperity. The financial organization of the company was peculiar and worthy111 of attention. Each subscriber46 for a machine paid in $100 for the privilege of securing an instrument. For the service he paid $25 weekly. In case he retired112 or failed, he could transfer his 'right,' and employees were constantly on the alert for purchasable rights, which could be disposed of at a profit. It was occasionally worth the profit to convince a man that he did not actually own the machine which had been placed in his office.... The Western union Telegraph Company secured a majority of its stock, and Gen. Marshall Lefferts was elected president. A private-line department was established, and the business taken over from Pope, Edison, and Ashley was rapidly enlarged."
At this juncture General Lefferts, as President of the Gold & Stock Telegraph Company, requested Edison to go to work on improving the stock ticker, furnishing the money; and the well-known "Universal" ticker, in wide-spread use in its day, was one result. Mr. Edison gives a graphic113 picture of the startling effect on his fortunes: "I made a great many inventions; one was the special ticker used for many years outside of New York in the large cities. This was made exceedingly simple, as they did not have the experts we had in New York to handle anything complicated. The same ticker was used on the London Stock Exchange. After I had made a great number of inventions and obtained patents, the General seemed anxious that the matter should be closed up. One day I exhibited and worked a successful device whereby if a ticker should get out of unison114 in a broker's office and commence to print wild figures, it could be brought to unison from the central station, which saved the labor115 of many men and much trouble to the broker. He called me into his office, and said: 'Now, young man, I want to close up the matter of your inventions. How much do you think you should receive?' I had made up my mind that, taking into consideration the time and killing116 pace I was working at, I should be entitled to $5000, but could get along with $3000. When the psychological moment arrived, I hadn't the nerve to name such a large sum, so I said: 'Well, General, suppose you make me an offer.' Then he said: 'How would $40,000 strike you?' This caused me to come as near fainting as I ever got. I was afraid he would hear my heart beat. I managed to say that I thought it was fair. 'All right, I will have a contract drawn117; come around in three days and sign it, and I will give you the money.' I arrived on time, but had been doing some considerable thinking on the subject. The sum seemed to be very large for the amount of work, for at that time I determined the value by the time and trouble, and not by what the invention was worth to others. I thought there was something unreal about it. However, the contract was handed to me. I signed without reading it." Edison was then handed the first check he had ever received, one for $40,000 drawn on the Bank of New York, at the corner of William and Wall Streets. On going to the bank and passing in the check at the wicket of the paying teller118, some brief remarks were made to him, which in his deafness he did not understand. The check was handed back to him, and Edison, fancying for a moment that in some way he had been cheated, went outside "to the large steps to let the cold sweat evaporate." He then went back to the General, who, with his secretary, had a good laugh over the matter, told him the check must be endorsed119, and sent with him a young man to identify him. The ceremony of identification performed with the paying teller, who was quite merry over the incident, Edison was given the amount in bundles of small bills "until there certainly seemed to be one cubic foot." Unaware120 that he was the victim of a practical joke, Edison proceeded gravely to stow away the money in his overcoat pockets and all his other pockets. He then went to Newark and sat up all night with the money for fear it might be stolen. Once more he sought help next morning, when the General laughed heartily121, and, telling the clerk that the joke must not be carried any further, enabled him to deposit the currency in the bank and open an account.
Thus in an inconceivably brief time had Edison passed from poverty to independence; made a deep impression as to his originality and ability on important people, and brought out valuable inventions; lifting himself at one bound out of the ruck of mediocrity, and away from the deadening drudgery122 of the key. Best of all he was enterprising, one of the leaders and pioneers for whom the world is always looking; and, to use his own criticism of himself, he had "too sanguine123 a temperament124 to keep money in solitary125 confinement126." With quiet self-possession he seized his opportunity, began to buy machinery127, rented a shop and got work for it. Moving quickly into a larger shop, Nos. 10 and 12 Ward11 Street, Newark, New Jersey, he secured large orders from General Lefferts to build stock tickers, and employed fifty men. As business increased he put on a night force, and was his own foreman on both shifts. Half an hour of sleep three or four times in the twenty-four hours was all he needed in those days, when one invention succeeded another with dazzling rapidity, and when he worked with the fierce, eruptive energy of a great volcano, throwing out new ideas incessantly128 with spectacular effect on the arts to which they related. It has always been a theory with Edison that we sleep altogether too much; but on the other hand he never, until long past fifty, knew or practiced the slightest moderation in work or in the use of strong coffee and black cigars. He has, moreover, while of tender and kindly129 disposition130, never hesitated to use men up as freely as a Napoleon or Grant; seeing only the goal of a complete invention or perfected device, to attain37 which all else must become subsidiary. He gives a graphic picture of his first methods as a manufacturer: "Nearly all my men were on piece work, and I allowed them to make good wages, and never cut until the pay became absurdly high as they got more expert. I kept no books. I had two hooks. All the bills and accounts I owed I jabbed on one hook; and memoranda131 of all owed to myself I put on the other. When some of the bills fell due, and I couldn't deliver tickers to get a supply of money, I gave a note. When the notes were due, a messenger came around from the bank with the note and a protest pinned to it for $1.25. Then I would go to New York and get an advance, or pay the note if I had the money. This method of giving notes for my accounts and having all notes protested I kept up over two years, yet my credit was fine. Every store I traded with was always glad to furnish goods, perhaps in amazed admiration132 of my system of doing business, which was certainly new." After a while Edison got a bookkeeper, whose vagaries133 made him look back with regret on the earlier, primitive134 method. "The first three months I had him go over the books to find out how much we had made. He reported $3000. I gave a supper to some of my men to celebrate this, only to be told two days afterward that he had made a mistake, and that we had lost $500; and then a few days after that he came to me again and said he was all mixed up, and now found that we had made over $7000." Edison changed bookkeepers, but never thereafter counted anything real profit until he had paid all his debts and had the profits in the bank.
The factory work at this time related chiefly to stock tickers, principally the "Universal," of which at one time twelve hundred were in use. Edison's connection with this particular device was very close while it lasted. In a review of the ticker art, Mr. Callahan stated, with rather grudging135 praise, that "a ticker at the present time (1901) would be considered as impracticable and unsalable if it were not provided with a unison device," and he goes on to remark: "The first unison on stock tickers was one used on the Laws printer. [2] It was a crude and unsatisfactory piece of mechanism and necessitated136 doubling of the battery in order to bring it into action. It was short-lived. The Edison unison comprised a lever with a free end travelling in a spiral or worm on the type-wheel shaft until it met a pin at the end of the worm, thus obstructing137 the shaft and leaving the type-wheels at the zero-point until released by the printing lever. This device is too well known to require a further description. It is not applicable to any instrument using two independently moving type-wheels; but on nearly if not all other instruments will be found in use." The stock ticker has enjoyed the devotion of many brilliant inventors—G. M. Phelps, H. Van Hoevenbergh, A. A. Knudson, G. B. Scott, S. D. Field, John Burry—and remains138 in extensive use as an appliance for which no substitute or competitor has been found. In New York the two great stock exchanges have deemed it necessary to own and operate a stock-ticker service for the sole benefit of their members; and down to the present moment the process of improvement has gone on, impelled139 by the increasing volume of business to be reported. It is significant of Edison's work, now dimmed and overlaid by later advances, that at the very outset he recognized the vital importance of interchangeability in the construction of this delicate and sensitive apparatus. But the difficulties of these early days were almost insurmountable. Mr. R. W. Pope says of the "Universal" machines that they were simple and substantial and generally satisfactory, but adds: "These instruments were supposed to have been made with interchangeable parts; but as a matter of fact the instances in which these parts would fit were very few. The instruction-book prepared for the use of inspectors140 stated that 'The parts should not be tinkered nor bent141, as they are accurately142 made and interchangeable.' The difficulties encountered in fitting them properly doubtless gave rise to a story that Mr. Edison had stated that there were three degrees of interchangeability. This was interpreted to mean: First, the parts will fit; second, they will almost fit; third, they do not fit, and can't be made to fit."
[Footnote 2: This I invented as well.—T. A. E.]
This early shop affords an illustration of the manner in which Edison has made a deep impression on the personnel of the electrical arts. At a single bench there worked three men since rich or prominent. One was Sigmund Bergmann, for a time partner with Edison in his lighting143 developments in the United States, and now head and principal owner of electrical works in Berlin employing ten thousand men. The next man adjacent was John Kruesi, afterward engineer of the great General Electric Works at Schenectady. A third was Schuckert, who left the bench to settle up his father's little estate at Nuremberg, stayed there and founded electrical factories, which became the third largest in Germany, their proprietor144 dying very wealthy. "I gave them a good training as to working hours and hustling," says their quondam master; and this is equally true as applied to many scores of others working in companies bearing the Edison name or organized under Edison patents. It is curiously145 significant in this connection that of the twenty-one presidents of the national society, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, founded in 1884, eight have been intimately associated with Edison—namely, Norvin Green and F. L. Pope, as business colleagues of the days of which we now write; while Messrs. Frank J. Sprague, T. C. Martin, A. E. Kennelly, S. S. Wheeler, John W. Lieb, Jr., and Louis A. Ferguson have all been at one time or another in the Edison employ. The remark was once made that if a famous American teacher sat at one end of a log and a student at the other end, the elements of a successful university were present. It is equally true that in Edison and the many men who have graduated from his stern school of endeavor, America has had its foremost seat of electrical engineering.
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1
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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2
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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3
brokers
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| n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排… | |
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4
broker
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| n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排 | |
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5
investors
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| n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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6
deplored
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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8
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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9
insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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10
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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11
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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12
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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13
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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14
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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15
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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16
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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17
fluctuations
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| 波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 ) | |
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18
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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19
negotiation
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| n.谈判，协商 | |
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20
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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21
wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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22
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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23
premium
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| n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的 | |
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24
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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25
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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26
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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27
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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28
quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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29
quotations
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| n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价 | |
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30
notations
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| 记号，标记法( notation的名词复数 ) | |
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31
inadequacy
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| n.无法胜任，信心不足 | |
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32
indicator
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| n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器 | |
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33
prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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34
cynosure
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| n.焦点 | |
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35
registrar
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| n.记录员，登记员；(大学的)注册主任 | |
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36
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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37
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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38
attainments
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| 成就，造诣； 获得( attainment的名词复数 )； 达到； 造诣； 成就 | |
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39
livelihood
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| n.生计，谋生之道 | |
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40
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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41
savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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42
indicators
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| （仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号 | |
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43
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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44
dispensing
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| v.分配( dispense的现在分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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45
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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46
subscriber
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| n.用户，订户；（慈善机关等的）定期捐款者；预约者；签署者 | |
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47
overlapping
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| adj./n.交迭（的） | |
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48
trolley
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| n.手推车，台车；无轨电车；有轨电车 | |
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49
foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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50
underlying
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| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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51
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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52
hustle
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| v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌) | |
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53
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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54
undesirable
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| adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子 | |
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55
dispensed
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| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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56
revolved
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想 | |
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57
aperture
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| n.孔，隙，窄的缺口 | |
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58
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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59
momentum
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| n.动力，冲力，势头；动量 | |
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60
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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61
imprint
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| n.印痕，痕迹；深刻的印象；vt.压印，牢记 | |
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62
stranded
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| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
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63
energized
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| v.给予…精力，能量( energize的过去式和过去分词 )；使通电 | |
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64
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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65
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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66
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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67
inaccurate
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| adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的 | |
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68
aisle
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| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
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69
pandemonium
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| n.喧嚣，大混乱 | |
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70
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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71
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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72
consolidated
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| a.联合的 | |
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73
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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74
sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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75
precipitating
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| adj.急落的，猛冲的v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的现在分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
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76
stringency
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| n.严格，紧迫，说服力；严格性；强度 | |
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77
persevered
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| v.坚忍，坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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78
contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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79
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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80
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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81
circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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82
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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83
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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84
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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85
secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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86
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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87
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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88
cadavers
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| n.尸体( cadaver的名词复数 ) | |
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89
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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90
payable
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| adj.可付的，应付的，有利益的 | |
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91
repudiated
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| v.（正式地）否认( repudiate的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝接受；拒绝与…往来；拒不履行（法律义务） | |
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92
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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93
ramifications
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| n.结果，后果( ramification的名词复数 ) | |
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94
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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95
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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96
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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97
partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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98
jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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99
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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100
binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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101
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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102
originality
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| n.创造力，独创性；新颖 | |
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103
platinum
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| n.白金 | |
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104
nascent
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| adj.初生的，发生中的 | |
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105
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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106
rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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107
consolidation
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| n.合并,巩固 | |
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108
relegated
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| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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109
recording
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| n.录音，记录 | |
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110
sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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111
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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112
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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113
graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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116
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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teller
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| n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员 | |
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endorsed
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| vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品 | |
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unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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122
drudgery
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| n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作 | |
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sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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memoranda
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| n. 备忘录, 便条 名词memorandum的复数形式 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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vagaries
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| n.奇想( vagary的名词复数 )；异想天开；异常行为；难以预测的情况 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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grudging
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| adj.勉强的，吝啬的 | |
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necessitated
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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obstructing
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| 阻塞( obstruct的现在分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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inspectors
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| n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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143
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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