Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 29, Number 36, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 4 November 1908 — Page 7

s JS ■MBHOMAS A. EDISON, T known as the “father of invention in America,” is worth close to $50,000-,-1 000, it is said. To cap the climax of his career -of turning out thousands of useful contrivances, he has retired from the His life is now being devoted to the pursuits of science, merely for" the enjoyment which he gleans from that sort of thing. He has awarded himself a life commission of roving into the depths of pure science and • he is steering clear of the commercialism which was previously attached to his inventions. He figures that he has already more than his share of worldly goods and it ig his aim to live from his early accumulations for the rest *of his life. All his life he has been

devoting himself to the invention of money-making devices, which, when put upon the market, drew into his coffers great amounts of coin of the realm. Hence the laboratory at Llewellyn, N. J., which for years has been his constant habitation, sees little of hint these days. In the darkened rooms of that laboratory he often worked for five days and nights at a stretch, with little or no sleep, on some problem which had been glvetr him'Tof solution. ■ ■ ~ ~ ‘ The country’s men of money declare that there have been few puzzles which Edison failed to solve, whether they were of chemical, electrical or mechanical nature. Now, however, finances have been put behind him and he is delving into various subjects regardless of the money consideration attached to them.. In fact things have come . his wav so. easily . ip. the..past few. years that there are few frerosdeft’’for him to conquer, hence his retirement. To-day, at the age of 61 years, he is roving the country seeking chemical problems which he may solve for his own amusement, No man in the, world’s history has, solved as many intricate puzzles in the realm-of inventions as has Edison, and most of his achievements have been in the line of electricity, hut despite his many marvels with the mysterious currents, he has not the love for that, study that he, has developed for chemistry. While there was plenty of mysteriousness about electricity to draw' the whole intellect of an inventor, Edison has taken far more interest in the study of chemistry, and, it is re®cord:d, no chemist the world over is quite as efficient as Mr. Edison. Chemistry was the first science to captivate the wonderful intellect of this man, but he says himself that he has never had the chance to delve Into Its mysteries „wlUi- - the-f&rtUa ,mind- - he- possessea,And now he -is taking advantage of the opportunity which made itself by reason of his marvelous success in all lines of invention. He is now taking life more easily than since the time he started out to etfrn his living as a newsboy at the ago of 12 years. His education was a limited one, but, . thanks to his mother, he received the essentials of a grammar school education. , - He promised his friends that since his announced retirement he would give up slaving days, nights, Sundays and holidays in his laboratory at Llewellyn and he has kept his promise faithfully. He invades the dark corners of his workshop only when some-fanciful problem in chemistry presents itself and he feelslmpelled to got' at the bottom of it. • This fall Mr. Edison took., jaunts about the country in pursuit of some of the pleasure #bich his years ofwork comphHed him to miss. He promised himself that he would something of the world. He aimed to travel a great deal during the remaining years of his life, and he has already laid out a route of travel which will probably occupy his /time for several years to come

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Early in 1909 he plans to repair to his newly-pur-chased Florida home where he will pass the late winter months and early spriHg. He took rnpeh interest in planning, for this Florida home, for it was almost the first time he had anv particular longing for a.home of high clhss type. He had previously been so wrapped up in his works,pf inyentipu that.a.hame-to-him. was--, " a mere vision put aside, in a moment by the appearanceof a problem which needed solving. Towards the last of August he departed for the Pacific coast with his family, and he announced on leaving New York that he would be there perhaps a month if the west interested him to that extent. It is hard to interest Thomas A. Edison, and his friends and family know it. He has seen so much more of the wonderful accomplishments of mechanics, chemistry and electricity that there are few problems which can prove of interest.' , - That the life of Thomas A. Edison has entered anew epoch was’evidenced by his recent visit on- a fun-mak-ing tour on Long Island, where he spent three days. Soon after that visit, however, the' spell of delving into chemistry took possession of him. and he repaired to his laboratory and was not seen for several days among his friends. Then he departed for the Pacific coast, and Florida will see him early in 1909. ‘ ‘ To the art of telegraphy Edison has given many inventions of the greatest imaginable efficiency. The automatic repeater was an evolution of Edison’s ideas ana also the <Ttradnirdg"telegraph;~lTrinting~ telegraphr ' etc. It was in his early life, soon after he left the employ of the telegraph companies of the- country. Later in life he perfected machines for quadruplex and sextuplex telegraphic transmission; the carbon telegraph transmitter; the microtasimeter for detection qf small changes in temperature; the phonograph, the aerophone, the incandescent light system, the kinetescope find hundreds of other inventions of somewhat similar nature. • If one scans the average American home of he -sees dozens of Edison inventions in every-day use ' and many which the housewife finds she cannot get along without. The visitor, entering the hall of a big apartment building is admitted to the flat he wishes to visit by a tap upon an electric bell, the evolution of Edison’s experiments with place is -i t s

perhaps heated by electricity, the, heating device being Edison's invention also. On the sitting room table is a phonograph, evolved by Edison. Then there “Is the f elephoheT parts. of which are products of • Ills wonderful intellect. Those are the principal devices about the household of the middle-class Aniecjpan, for which the World fnu'SJ"- thank Thomas A. Edison, but, besides these, there are dozens of other

small contrivances which few persons know as his, inventions. ' - Edison Is known as one of the country’s most noted men, and, it is recorded, the fame of the inventor seldom attaches' itself to his name until after his remains are laid to rest, therefore even greater credit should be given Him, for he is a world-famed character despite ‘Thirfact that he is not dead, bqyn -at Milan, CL, February 11, 1847. He was the favorite son and his parents Samuel and Nancy E. Edison, while they took great pride in their boy, found themselves incapable of giving him the education that such a bright lad deserved. His mother, however, realized. that his intellect was above the average of that of a lad of his age, and having had a fairly good education, as learning went in those days, tutored him at home in reading, writing and arithmetic. At the age of 12 years home ties were broken and he left the hearth which he had known since his birth to take up a position as newsboy on the Grand Trunk railway. He fell In with many railway telegraph operators, and his love for the mysterious about that vocation led him to study it at the instance of his friends among the knights of the key. Soon he went into telegraphy actively as an operator and, though he was yet a veVy young man, he clicked off messages in all parts of \the United States . an ( d Canada. . Soon familiarity with- led him to see flaws in them and the possibility for' evolving new ideas to add efficiency to the system. Telegraphy then was young and there was plenty of opportunity for a f wide-awake person to add improvements to the system. ’ . '

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A few years as an operator sufficed to show him where there was an opening for his ideas. He established a workshop at Newark, N. J., working there evenings while he was employed as a telegraph operator near by. In 1876 he removed to Menlo, N. J., and later to West Orange, N. J. 1 In. 1873 he married Miss Mary G. Stillwell, and his pr.Tno Tir>xy is in tha .town where he established himself—when his work first showed signs of success —West Orange, N. J. Many honors were conferred upon Mr, Edison in his later years. The French government, because of a- - which he conferred, bestowed upon him the titles of chevalier officer, and afterwards he was made honorary commander of the Legion of Honor. In 1903 he was appointed honorary chief consulting engineer of the St. Louis world’s fair. AGAINST AM BIDEXT E rTt yT i- —Sir James Crichton-Browne, lecturing recently at Cambridge; said that in the present movement in England and Germany in favor of ambidexterity .he fancied he detected the old taint of faddism. Ambidexterity on a large scale is impossible and undesirable, according to Sir James. It was by the superior need of his right hand that man gained'the victory and to try to undo his dextral preeminence is simply to fly in the face of evolution. There has been no instance, said Sir James, of any tribe, community or people that has grown out bf it or broken away from it and found salvation in ambidexterity. A recently published Jjook alleged that the Japanese were by law and practice ambidextrdus, but he had the authority of the Japanese ambassador emphatically to depy this.