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IN writing about the old experimenting days at
Menlo Park, Mr. F. R. Upton says:
"Edison's day is twenty-four hours long, for
he has always worked whenever there was anything
to do, whether day or night, and carried a
force of night workers, so that his experiments
could go on continually. If he wanted
material, he always made it a principle to have
it at once, and never hesitated to use special
messengers to get it. I remember in the early
days of the electric light he wanted a mercury
pump for exhausting the lamps. He sent me to
Princeton to get it. I got back to Metuchen
late in the day, and had to carry the pump over
to the laboratory on my back that evening, set
it up, and work all night and the next day
getting results."
This characteristic principle of obtaining
desired material in the quickest and most
positive way manifested itself in the search that
Edison instituted for the best kind of bamboo
for lamp filaments, immediately after the
discovery related in a preceding chapter. It is
doubtful whether, in the annals of scientific
research and experiment, there is anything quite
analogous to the story of this search and the
various expeditions that went out from the
Edison laboratory in 1880 and subsequent
years, to scour the earth for a material so
apparently simple as a homogeneous strip of
bamboo, or other similar fibre. Prolonged and
exhaustive experiment, microscopic examination,
and an intimate knowledge of the nature of wood
and plant fibres, however, had led Edison to
the conclusion that bamboo or similar fibrous
filaments were more suitable than anything else
then known for commercial incandescent lamps,
and he wanted the most perfect for that purpose.
Hence, the quickest way was to search the
tropics until the proper material was found.
The first emissary chosen for this purpose was
the late William H. Moore, of Rahway, New
Jersey, who left New York in the summer of
1880, bound for China and Japan, these
being the countries pre- eminently noted for the
production of abundant species of bamboo. On
arrival in the East he quickly left the cities
behind and proceeded into the interior,
extending his search far into the more remote
country districts, collecting specimens on his
way, and devoting much time to the study of the
bamboo, and in roughly testing the relative
value of its fibre in canes of one, two,
three, four, and five year growths. Great
bales of samples were sent to Edison, and after
careful tests a certain variety and growth of
Japanese bamboo was determined to be the most
satisfactory material for filaments that had been
found. Mr. Moore, who was continuing his
searches in that country, was instructed to
arrange for the cultivation and shipment of
regular supplies of this particular species.
Arrangements to this end were accordingly made
with a Japanese farmer, who began to make
immediate shipments, and who subsequently
displayed so much ingenuity in fertilizing and
cross- fertilizing that the homogeneity of the
product was constantly improved. The use of
this bamboo for Edison lamp filaments was
continued for many years.
Although Mr. Moore did not meet with the
exciting adventures of some subsequent
explorers, he encountered numerous difficulties
and novel experiences in his many months of
travel through the hinterland of Japan and
China. The attitude toward foreigners thirty
years ago was not as friendly as it has since
become, but Edison, as usual, had made a
happy choice of messengers, as Mr. Moore's
good nature and diplomacy attested. These
qualities, together with his persistence and
perseverance and faculty of intelligent
discrimination in the matter of fibres, helped
to make his mission successful, and gave to him
the honor of being the one who found the bamboo
which was adopted for use as filaments in
commercial Edison lamps.
Although Edison had satisfied himself that
bamboo furnished the most desirable material thus
far discovered for incandescent-lamp filaments,
he felt that in some part of the world there
might be found a natural product of the same
general character that would furnish a still more
perfect and homogeneous material. In his study
of this subject, and during the prosecution of
vigorous and searching inquiries in various
directions, he learned that Mr. John C.
Brauner, then residing in Brooklyn, New
York, had an expert knowledge of indigenous
plants of the particular kind desired. During
the course of a geological survey which he had
made for the Brazilian Government, Mr.
Brauner had examined closely the various species
of palms which grow plentifully in that country,
and of them there was one whose fibres he thought
would be just what Edison wanted.
Accordingly, Mr. Brauner was sent for and
dispatched to Brazil in December, 1880,
to search for and send samples of this and such
other palms, fibres, grasses, and canes as,
in his judgment, would be suitable for the
experiments then being carried on at Menlo
Park. Landing at Para, he crossed over into
the Amazonian province, and thence proceeded
through the heart of the country, making his way
by canoe on the rivers and their tributaries,
and by foot into the forests and marshes of a
vast and almost untrodden wilderness. In this
manner Mr. Brauner traversed about two
thousand miles of the comparatively unknown
interior of Southern Brazil, and procured a
large variety of fibrous specimens, which he
shipped to Edison a few months later. When
these fibres arrived in the United States they
were carefully tested and a few of them found
suitable but not superior to the Japanese
bamboo, which was then being exclusively used in
the manufacture of commercial Edison lamps.
Later on Edison sent out an expedition to
explore the wilds of Cuba and Jamaica. A two
months' investigation of the latter island
revealed a variety of bamboo growths, of which a
great number of specimens were obtained and
shipped to Menlo Park; but on careful test
they were found inferior to the Jap- anese
bamboo, and hence rejected. The exploration of
the glades and swamps of Florida by three men
extended over a period of five months in a minute
search for fibrous woods of the palmetto
species. A great variety was found, and over
five hundred boxes of specimens were shipped to
the laboratory from time to time, but none of
them tested out with entirely satisfactory
results.
The use of Japanese bamboo for carbon filaments
was therefore continued in the manufacture of
lamps, although an incessant search was
maintained for a still more perfect material.
The spirit of progress, so pervasive in
Edison's character, led him, however, to
renew his investigations further afield by
sending out two other men to examine the bamboo
and similar growths of those parts of South
America not covered by Mr. Brauner. These
two men were Frank McGowan and C. F.
Hanington, both of whom had been for nearly
seven years in the employ of the Edison
Electric Light Company in New York. The
former was a stocky, rugged Irishman,
possessing the native shrewdness and buoyancy of
his race, coupled with undaunted courage and
determination; and the latter was a veteran of
the Civil War, with some knowledge of forest
and field, acquired as a sportsman. They left
New York in September, 1887, arriving in
due time at Para, proceeding thence twenty-
three hundred miles up the Amazon River to
Iquitos. Nothing of an eventful nature
occurred during this trip, but on arrival at
Iquitos the two men separated; Mr. McGowan
to explore on foot and by canoe in Peru,
Ecuador, and Colombia, while Mr. Hanington
returned by the Amazon River to Para. Thence
Hanington went by steamer to Montevideo, and
by similar conveyance up the River de la Plata
and through Uruguay, Argentine, and Paraguay
to the southernmost part of Brazil, collecting
a large number of specimens of palms and
grasses.
The adventures of Mr. McGowan, after
leaving Iquitos, would fill a book if related
in detail. The object of the present narrative
and the space at the authors' disposal,
however, do not permit of more than a brief
mention of his experiences. His first objective
point was Quito, about five hundred miles
away, which he proposed to reach on foot and by
means of canoeing on the Napo River through a
wild and comparatively unknown country teeming
with tribes of hostile natives. The dangers of
the expedition were pictured to him in glowing
colors, but spurning prophecies of dire
disaster, he engaged some native Indians and a
canoe and started on his explorations, reaching
Quito in eighty-seven days, after a thorough
search of the country on both sides of the Napo
River. From Quito he went to Guayaquil,
from there by steamer to Buenaventura, and
thence by rail, twelve miles, to Cordova.
From this point he set out on foot to explore
the Cauca Valley and the Cordilleras.
Mr. McGowan found in these regions a great
variety of bamboo, small and large, some
species growing seventy-five to one hundred feet
in height, and from six to nine inches in
diameter. He collected a large number of
specimens, which were subsequently sent to
Orange for Edison's examination. After about
fifteen months of exploration attended by much
hardship and privation, deserted sometimes by
treacherous guides, twice laid low by fevers,
occasionally in peril from Indian attacks, wild
animals and poisonous serpents, tormented by
insect pests, endangered by floods, one hundred
and nineteen days without meat, ninety-eight
days without taking off his clothes, Mr.
McGowan returned to America, broken in health
but having faithfully fulfilled the commission
intrusted to him. The Evening Sun, New
York, obtained an interview with him at that
time, and in its issue of May 2, 1889,
gave more than a page to a brief story of his
interesting adventures, and then commented
editorially upon them, as follows:
"A ROMANCE OF SCIENCE"
"The narrative given elsewhere in the Evening
Sun of the wanderings of Edison's missionary
of science, Mr. Frank McGowan, furnishes a
new proof that the romances of real life surpass
any that the imagination can frame.
"In pursuit of a substance that should meet the
requirements of the Edison incandescent lamp,
Mr. McGowan penetrated the wilderness of the
Amazon, and for a year defied its fevers,
beasts, reptiles, and deadly insects in his
quest of a material so precious that jealous
Nature has hidden it in her most secret
fastnesses.
"No hero of mythology or fable ever dared such
dragons to rescue some captive goddess as did
this dauntless champion of civilization.
Theseus, or Siegfried, or any knight of the
fairy books might envy the victories of
Edison's irresistible lieutenant.
"As a sample story of adventure, Mr.
McGowan's narrative is a marvel fit to be
classed with the historic jour- neyings of the
greatest travellers. But it gains immensely in
interest when we consider that it succeeded in
its scientific purpose. The mysterious bamboo
was discovered, and large quantities of it were
procured and brought to the Wizard's
laboratory, there to suffer another wondrous
change and then to light up our pleasure- haunts
and our homes with a gentle radiance."
A further, though rather sad, interest
attaches to the McGowan story, for only a
short time had elapsed after his return to
America when he disappeared suddenly and
mysteriously, and in spite of long-continued
and strenuous efforts to obtain some light on the
subject, no clew or trace of him was ever
found. He was a favorite among the Edison
"oldtimers," and his memory is still
cherished, for when some of the "boys" happen
to get together, as they occasionally do, some
one is almost sure to "wonder what became of
poor `Mac.' " He was last seen at
Mouquin's famous old French restaurant on
Fulton Street, New York, where he lunched
with one of the authors of this book and the late
Luther Stieringer. He sat with them for two
or three hours discussing his wonderful trip,
and telling some fascinating stories of
adventure. Then the party separated at the Ann
Street door of the restaurant, after making
plans to secure the narrative in more detailed
form for subsequent use--and McGowan has not
been seen from that hour to this. The trail of
the explorer was more instantly lost in New
York than in the vast recesses of the Amazon
swamps.
The next and last explorer whom Edison sent out
in search of natural fibres was Mr. James
Ricalton, of Maplewood, New Jersey, a
school-principal, a well- known traveller,
and an ardent student of natural science. Mr.
Ricalton's own story of his memorable
expedition is so interesting as to be worthy of
repetition here:
"A village schoolmaster is not unaccustomed to
door-rappings; for the steps of belligerent
mothers are often thitherward bent seeking
redress for conjured wrongs to their darling
boobies.
"It was a bewildering moment, therefore, to
the Maplewood teacher when, in answering a rap
at the door one afternoon, he found, instead of
an irate mother, a messenger from the laboratory
of the world's greatest inventor bearing a
letter requesting an audience a few hours later.
"Being the teacher to whom reference is made,
I am now quite willing to confess that for the
remainder of that afternoon, less than a problem
in Euclid would have been sufficient to
disqualify me for the remaining scholastic duties
of the hour. I felt it, of course, to be no
small honor for a humble teacher to be called to
the sanctum of Thomas A. Edison. The
letter, however, gave no intimation of the
nature of the object for which I had been
invited to appear before Mr. Edison....
"When I was presented to Mr. Edison his way
of setting forth the mission he had designated
for me was characteristic of how a great mind
conceives vast undertakings and commands great
things in few words. At this time Mr. Edison
had discovered that the fibre of a certain bamboo
afforded a very desirable carbon for the electric
lamp, and the variety of bam- boo used was a
product of Japan. It was his belief that in
other parts of the world other and superior
varieties might be found, and to that end he had
dispatched explorers to bamboo regions in the
valleys of the great South American rivers,
where specimens were found of extraordinary
quality; but the locality in which these
specimens were found was lost in the limitless
reaches of those great river-bottoms. The
great necessity for more durable carbons became a
desideratum so urgent that the tireless inventor
decided to commission another explorer to search
the tropical jungles of the Orient.
"This brings me then to the first meeting of
Edison, when he set forth substantially as
follows, as I remember it twenty years ago,
the purpose for which he had called me from my
scholastic duties. With a quizzical gleam in
his eye, he said: `I want a man to ransack
all the tropical jungles of the East to find a
better fibre for my lamp; I expect it to be
found in the palm or bamboo family. How would
you like that job?' Suiting my reply to his
love of brevity and dispatch, I said, `That
would suit me.' `Can you go to-morrow?'
was his next question. `Well, Mr. Edison,
I must first of all get a leave of absence from
my Board of Education, and assist the board to
secure a substitute for the time of my absence.
How long will it take, Mr. Edison?' `How
can I tell? Maybe six months, and maybe five
years; no matter how long, find it.' He
continued: `I sent a man to South America to
find what I want; he found it; but lost the
place where he found it, so he might as well
never have found it at all.' Hereat I was
enjoined to proceed forthwith to court the Board
of Education for a leave of absence, which I
did successfully, the board considering that a
call so important and honorary was entitled to
their unqualified favor, which they generously
granted.
"I reported to Mr. Edison on the following
day, when he instructed me to come to the
laboratory at once to learn all the details of
drawing and carbonizing fibres, which it would
be necessary to do in the Oriental jungles.
This I did, and, in the mean time, a set of
suitable tools for this purpose had been ordered
to be made in the laboratory. As soon as I
learned my new trade, which I accomplished in a
few days, Mr. Edison directed me to the
library of the laboratory to occupy a few days in
studying the geography of the Orient and,
particularly, in drawing maps of the tributaries
of the Ganges, the Irrawaddy, and the
Brahmaputra rivers, and other regions which I
expected to explore.
"It was while thus engaged that Mr. Edison
came to me one day and said: `If you will go
up to the house' (his palatial home not far
away) `and look behind the sofa in the library
you will find a joint of bamboo, a specimen of
that found in South America; bring it down and
make a study of it; if you find something equal
to that I will be satisfied.' At the home I
was guided to the library by an Irish servant-
woman, to whom I communicated my knowledge of
the definite locality of the sample joint. She
plunged her arm, bare and herculean, behind the
aforementioned sofa, and holding aloft a section
of wood, called out in a mood of discovery:
`Is that it?' Replying in the affirmative,
she added, under an impulse of innocent
divination that whatever her wizard master laid
hands upon could result in nothing short of an
invention, `Sure, sor, and what's he going
to invint out o' that?'
"My kit of tools made, my maps drawn, my
Oriental geography reviewed, I come to the
point when matters of immediate departure are
discussed; and when I took occasion to mention
to my chief that, on the subject of life
insurance, underwriters refuse to take any risks
on an enterprise so hazardous, Mr. Edison
said that, if I did not place too high a
valuation on my person, he would take the risk
himself. I replied that I was born and bred in
New York State, but now that I had become a
Jersey man I did not value myself at above
fifteen hundred dollars. Edison laughed and
said that he would assume the risk, and another
point was settled. The next matter was the
financing of the trip, about which Mr. Edison
asked in a tentative way about the rates to the
East. I told him the expense of such a trip
could not be determined beforehand in detail,
but that I had established somewhat of a
reputation for economic travel, and that I did
not believe any traveller could surpass me in
that respect. He desired no further assurance
in that direction, and thereupon ordered a
letter of credit made out with authorization to
order a second when the first was exhausted.
Herein then are set forth in briefest space the
preliminaries of a circuit of the globe in quest
of fibre.
"It so happened that the day on which I set
out fell on Washington's Birthday, and I
suggested to my boys and girls at school that
they make a line across the station platform near
the school at Maplewood, and from this line I
would start eastward around the world, and if
good-fortune should bring me back I would meet
them from the westward at the same line. As I
had often made them `toe the scratch,' for
once they were only too well pleased to have me
toe the line for them.
"This was done, and I sailed via England and
the Suez Canal to Ceylon, that fair isle to
which Sindbad the Sailor made his sixth
voyage, picturesquely referred to in history as
the `brightest gem in the British Colonial
Crown.' I knew Ceylon to be eminently
tropical; I knew it to be rich in many
varieties of the bamboo family, which has been
called the king of the grasses; and in this
family had I most hope of finding the desired
fibre. Weeks were spent in this paradisiacal
isle. Every part was visited. Native wood
craftsmen were offered a premium on every new
species brought in, and in this way nearly a
hundred species were tested, a greater number
than was found in any other country. One of the
best specimens tested during the entire trip
around the world was found first in Ceylon,
although later in Burmah, it being indigenous
to the latter country. It is a gigantic
tree-grass or reed growing in clumps of from one
to two hundred, often twelve inches in
diameter, and one hundred and fifty feet high,
and known as the giant bamboo (Bambusa
gigantia). This giant grass stood the highest
test as a carbon, and on account of its
extraordinary size and qualities I extend it
this special mention. With others who have
given much attention to this remarkable reed, I
believe that in its manifold uses the bamboo is
the world's greatest dendral benefactor.
"From Ceylon I proceeded to India, touching
the great peninsula first at Cape Comorin, and
continuing northward by way of Pondicherry,
Madura, and Madras; and thence to the
tableland of Bangalore and the Western
Ghauts, testing many kinds of wood at every
point, but particularly the palm and bamboo
families. From the range of the Western
Ghauts I went to Bombay and then north by the
way of Delhi to Simla, the summer capital of
the Himalayas; thence again northward to the
headwaters of the Sutlej River, testing
everywhere on my way everything likely to afford
the desired carbon.
"On returning from the mountains I followed
the valleys of the Jumna and the Ganges to
Calcutta, whence I again ascended the
Sub-Himalayas to Darjeeling, where the
numerous river-bottoms were sprinkled
plentifully with many varieties of bamboo, from
the larger sizes to dwarfed species covering the
mountain slopes, and not longer than the grass
of meadows. Again descending to the plains I
passed eastward to the Brahmaputra River,
which I ascended to the foot-hills in Assam;
but finding nothing of superior quality in all
this northern region I returned to Calcutta and
sailed thence to Rangoon, in Burmah; and
there, finding no samples giving more excellent
tests in the lower reaches of the Irrawaddy, I
ascended that river to Mandalay, where,
through Burmese bamboo wiseacres, I gathered
in from round about and tested all that the
unusually rich Burmese flora could furnish. In
Burmah the giant bamboo, as already mentioned,
is found indigenous; but beside it no superior
varieties were found. Samples tested at several
points on the Malay Peninsula showed no new
species, except at a point north of Singapore,
where I found a species large and heavy which
gave a test nearly equal to that of the giant
bamboo in Ceylon.
"After completing the Malay Peninsula I had
planned to visit Java and Borneo; but having
found in the Malay Peninsula and in Ceylon a
bamboo fibre which averaged a test from one to
two hundred per cent. better than that in use at
the lamp factory, I decided it was unnecessary
to visit these countries or New Guinea, as my
`Eureka' had already been established, and
that I would therefore set forth over the return
hemisphere, searching China and Japan on the
way. The rivers in Southern China brought
down to Canton bamboos of many species, where
this wondrously utilitarian reed enters very
largely into the industrial life of that people,
and not merely into the industrial life, but
even into the culinary arts, for bamboo sprouts
are a universal vegetable in China; but among
all the bamboos of China I found none of
superexcellence in carbonizing qualities. Japan
came next in the succession of countries to be
explored, but there the work was much
simplified, from the fact that the Tokio
Museum contains a complete classified collection
of all the different species in the empire, and
there samples could be obtained and tested.
"Now the last of the important
bamboo-producing countries in the globe circuit
had been done, and the `home-lap' was in
order; the broad Pacific was spanned in
fourteen days; my natal continent in six; and
on the 22d of February, on the same day, at
the same hour, at the same minute, one year to
a second, `little Maude,' a sweet maid of
the school, led me across the line which
completed the circuit of the globe, and where I
was greeted by the cheers of my boys and girls.
I at once reported to Mr. Edison, whose
manner of greeting my return was as
characteristic of the man as his summary and
matter-of- fact manner of my dispatch. His
little catechism of curious inquiry was embraced
in four small and intensely Anglo-Saxon
words--with his usual pleasant smile he
extended his hand and said: `Did you get
it?' This was surely a summing of a year's
exploration not less laconic than Caesar's
review of his Gallic campaign. When I replied
that I had, but that he must be the final judge
of what I had found, he said that during my
absence he had succeeded in making an artificial
carbon which was meeting the requirements
satisfactorily; so well, indeed, that I
believe no practical use was ever made of the
bamboo fibres thereafter.
"I have herein given a very brief resume of my
search for fibre through the Orient; and during
my connection with that mission I was at all
times not less astonished at Mr. Edison's
quick perception of conditions and his instant
decision and his bigness of conceptions, than I
had always been with his prodigious industry and
his inventive genius.
"Thinking persons know that blatant men never
accomplish much, and Edison's marvellous
brevity of speech along with his miraculous
achievements should do much to put bores and
garrulity out of fashion."
Although Edison had instituted such a costly
and exhaustive search throughout the world for
the most perfect of natural fibres, he did not
necessarily feel committed for all time to the
exclusive use of that material for his lamp
filaments. While these explorations were in
progress, as indeed long before, he had given
much thought to the production of some artificial
compound that would embrace not only the required
homogeneity, but also many other qualifications
necessary for the manufacture of an improved type
of lamp which had become desirable by reason of
the rapid adoption of his lighting system.
At the very time Mr. McGowan was making his
explorations deep in South America, and Mr.
Ricalton his swift trip around the world,
Edison, after much investigation and
experiment, had produced a compound which
promised better results than bamboo fibres.
After some changes dictated by experience, this
artificial filament was adopted in the
manufacture of lamps. No radical change was
immediately made, however, but the product of
the lamp factory was gradually changed over,
during the course of a few years, from the use
of bamboo to the "squirted" filament, as the
new material was called. An artificial compound
of one kind or another has indeed been
universally adopted for the purpose by all
manufacturers; hence the incandescing conductors
in all carbon-filament lamps of the present day
are made in that way. The fact remains,
however, that for nearly nine years all Edison
lamps (many millions in the aggregate) were
made with bamboo filaments, and many of them for
several years after that, until bamboo was
finally abandoned in the early nineties, except
for use in a few special types which were so made
until about the end of 1908. The last few
years have witnessed a remarkable advance in the
manufacture of incandescent lamps in the
substitution of metallic filaments for those of
carbon. It will be remembered that many of the
earlier experiments were based on the use of
strips of platinum; while other rare metals were
the subject of casual trial. No real success
was attained in that direction, and for many
years the carbon-filament lamp reigned supreme.
During the last four or five years lamps with
filaments made from tantalum and tungsten have
been produced and placed on the market with great
success, and are now largely used. Their price
is still very high, however, as compared with
that of the carbon lamp, which has been vastly
improved in methods of construction, and whose
average price of fifteen cents is only one-tenth
of what it was when Edison first brought it
out.
With the close of Mr. McGowan's and Mr.
Ricalton's expeditions, there ended the
historic world-hunt for natural fibres. From
start to finish the investigations and searches
made by Edison himself, and carried on by
others under his direction, are remarkable not
only from the fact that they entailed a total
expenditure of about $100,000,
(disbursed under his supervision by Mr.
Upton), but also because of their unique
inception and thoroughness they illustrate one of
the strongest traits of his character--an
invincible determination to leave no stone
unturned to acquire that which he believes to be
in existence, and which, when found, will
answer the purpose that he has in mind.
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