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THE reader who has followed the foregoing
narrative may feel that inasmuch as it is
intended to be an historical document, an
appropriate addendum thereto would be a digest of
all the inventions of Edison. The desirability
of such a digest is not to be denied, but as
there are some twenty-five hundred or more
inventions to be considered (including those
covered by caveats), the task of its
preparation would be stupendous. Besides, the
resultant data would extend this book into
several additional volumes, thereby rendering it
of value chiefly to the technical student, but
taking it beyond the bounds of biography.
We should, however, deem our presentation of
Mr. Edison's work to be imperfectly executed
if we neglected to include an intelligible
exposition of the broader theoretical principles
of his more important inventions. In the
following Appendix we have therefore endeavored
to present a few brief statements regarding Mr.
Edison's principal inventions, classified as
to subject- matter and explained in language as
free from technicalities as is possible. No
attempt has been made to conform with strictly
scientific terminology, but, for the benefit of
the general reader, well-understood
conventional expressions, such as "flow of
current," etc., have been employed. It
should be borne in mind that each of the
following items has been treated as a whole or
class, generally speaking, and not as a digest
of all the individual patents relating to it.
Any one who is sufficiently interested can
obtain copies of any of the patents referred to
for five cents each by addressing the
Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D.
C.
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