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281
Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
196
He
was
retained
in
their
service,
and
that
of
the
Western
Union
Telegraph
Company,
as
a
salaried
inventor,
they
having
the
option
of
buying
all
his
telegraphic
inventions
at
a
price
to
be
agreed
upon.
At
their
expense
a
large
electrical
factory
was
established
under
his
direction
at
Newark,
New
Jersey,
where
he
was
free
to
work
out
his
ideas
and
manufacture
his
apparatus.
Now
that
he
was
emancipated
from
drudgery,
and
fairly
started
on
the
walk
which
Nature
had
intended
for
him,
he
rejoiced
in
the
prolific
freedom
of
his
mind,
which
literally
teemed
with
projects.
His
brain
was
no
longer
a
prey
to
itself
from
the
'local
action,'
or
waste
energy
of
restrained
ideas
and
revolving
thoughts.
[The
term
'local
action'
is
applied
by
electricians
to
the
waste
which
goes
on
in
a
voltaic
battery,
although
its
current
is
not
flowing
in
the
outer
circuit
and
doing
useful
work.]
If
anything,
he
attempted
too
much.
Patents
were
taken
out
by
the
score,
and
at
one
time
there
were
no
less
than
forty-five
distinct
inventions
in
progress.
The
Commissioner
of
Patents
described
him
as
'the
young
man
who
kept
the
path
to
the
Patent
Office
hot
with
his
footsteps.'
His
capacity
for
labouring
without
rest
is
very
remarkable.
On
one
occasion,
after
improving
his
Gold
and
Stock
Quotation
Printer,
an
order
for
the
new
instruments,
to
the
extent
of
30,000
dollars,
arrived
at
the
factory.
The
model
had
acted
well,
but
the
first
instruments
made
after
it
proved
a
failure.
Edison
thereupon
retired
to
the
upper
floor
of
the
factory
with
some
of
his
best
workmen,
and
intimated
that
they
must
all
remain
there
until
the
defect
was
put
right.
After
sixty
hours
of
continuous
toil,
the
fault
was
remedied,
and
Edison
went
to
bed,
where
he
slept
for
thirty-six
hours.
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