CENTIMETERS

.Up«

A SELECTIVE MICROFILM EDITION PARTY (1911-1919)

Thomas E. Jeffrey Senior Editor

Brian C. Shipley Theresa M. Collins Linda E. Endersby Editors

David A. Ranzan Indexing Editor

Janette Pardo Richard Mizelle Peter Mikulas Indexers

Paul B. Israel

Director and General Editor

Sponsors

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey National Park Service, Edison National Historic Site New Jersey Historical Commission Smithsonian Institution

A UPA Collection from

Hjj LexisNexis-

7500 Old Georgetown Road • Bctliesda, MD 20814-6126 LJ„on signature used with permission ofMcGrnw-Edison Company

Thomas A. Edison Papers at

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey endorsed by

National Historical Publications and Records Commission 18 June 1981

^cording or taP^g. of inrommionstora’gc and retrieval systems— without written permission of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

The original documents in this edition are from the archives at the Edison National Historic Site at West Orange, New Jersey.

ISBN 978-0-88692-887-2

THOMAS A. EDISON PAPERS STAFF (2007)

Director and General Editor

Paul Israel

Senior Editor Thomas Jeffrey

Associate Editors Louis Carlat Theresa Collins

Assistant Editor David Hochfelder

Indexing Editor David Ranzan

Consulting Editor Linda Endersby

Visiting Editor Amy Flanders

Editorial Assistants

Alexandra Rimer Kelly Enright Eric Barry

Outreach and Development (Edison Across the Curriculum)

Theresa Collins

Business Manager Rachel Weissenburger

BOARD OF SPONSORS (2007)

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Richard L. McCormick Ziva Galili Ann Fabian Paul Clemens

New Jersey Historical Commission Marc Mappen

National Park Service

Maryanne Gerbauckas Michelle Ortwein

Smithsonian Institution Harold Wallace

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD (2007)

Robert Friedel, University of Maryland Louis Galambos, Johns Hopkins University Susan Hockey, Oxford University Thomas P. Hughes, University of Pennsylvania Ronald Kline, Cornell University Robert Rosenberg, John Wiley & Sons Marc Rothenberg, Joseph Henry Papers, Smithsonian Institution Philip Scranton, Rutgers University/Hagley Museum Merritt Roe Smith, Massachusetts Institute ofTcchnology

FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTORS

We thankfully acknowledge the vision and support of Rutgers University and the Thomas A. Edison Papers Board of Sponsors.

This edition was made possible by grant funds provided from the New Jersey Historical Commission, National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and The National Endowment for the Humanities. Major underwriting has been provided by the Barkley Fund, through the National Trust for the Humanities, and by The Charles Edison Foundation.

We are grateful for the generous support of the IEEE Foundation, the Hyde & Watson Foundation, the Martinson Family Foundation, and the GE Foundation. We acknowledge gifts from many other individuals, as wel! as an anonymous donor; the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies; and the Edison Electric Institute. For the assistance of all these organizations and individuals, as well as for the indispensable aid of archivists, librarians, scholars, and collectors, the editors are most grateful.

A Note on the Sources The pages which have been filmed are the best copies available. Every technical effort possible has been made to ensure legibility.

PUBLICATION AND MICROFILM COPYING RESTRICTIONS

Reel duplication of the whole or of any part of this film is prohibited. In lieu of transcripts, however, enlarged photocopies of selected items contained on these reels may be made in order to facilitate research.

EDISON GENERAL FILE SERIES

1915

Edison General File Series 1915

E-15-01

E-15-02

E-15-03

E-15-04

E-15-05

E-15-06

E-15-07

E-15-08

E-15-09

E-15-10

Advertising

Advice

Articles

Autograph and Photograph Requests

Automobile

Aviation [not selected]

Battery, Primary Battery, Storage - General

Battery, Storage - Edison Storage Battery Company Battery, Storage - Foreign

E-l 5-1 1 Battery, Storage - Submarines

E-15-12 Birthday Greetings

E-1 5-1 3 Book and Journal Orders

E-1 5-14 Business Propositions [not selected]

E-1 5-1 5 Cement

E-1 5-1 6 Cement House

E-1 5-1 7 Charities and Loans

E-1 5-1 8 Chemicals , t

E-1 5-1 9 Christmas and New Year Greetings [not selected] E-1 5-20 Cigarettes

E-1 5-21 Clubs and Societies

E-1 5-22 Condensite Company of America

E-1 5-23 Copyright [not selected]

E-1 5-24 Deafness

E-1 5-25 Edison, T. A.

E-1 5-26 Edison Chemical Works

E-1 5-27 Edison Club [not selected]

E-1 5-28 Edison Crushing Roll Company [not selected]

E-1 5-29 Edison Portland Cement Company

E-1 5-30 Edison Pulverized Limestone Company [not selected]

E-1 5-31 Edison Star [not selected]

E-1 5-32 Education [not selected]

E-1 5-33 Electric Light

E-1 5-34 Electric Pen [not selected]

E-1 5-35 Employment

E-1 5-36 Equipment and Supplies

E-1 5-37 Exhibitions

E-1 5-38 Family

E-1 5-39 Fan Mail [not selected]

E-1 5-40 Financial

E-1 5-41 Ford, Henry

E-1 5-42 Foreign Language Documents [not selected]

E-1 5-43 Fort Myers

E-1 5-44 Glenmont

E-1 5-45 Health and Diet

E-1 5-46 Honors and Awards

E-1 5-47 Insurance [not selected]

E-1 5-48 Invitations [not selected]

E-1 5-49 Lectures [not selected]

E-1 5-50 Legal - General

E-1 5-51 Legal - Legal Department Weekly Reports

E-1 5-52 Legal - Litigation

E-1 5-53 Milan, Ohio [not selected]

E-1 5-54 Miner's Safety Lamp

E-1 5-55 Mining - General [not selected]

E-1 5-56 Mining - Metals and Other Minerals

E-1 5-57 Mining - Ore Milling

E-1 5-58 Motion Pictures

E-1 5-59 Name Use

E-1 5-60 Naval Consulting Board

E-1 5-61 New York Concentrating Wor ks

E-1 5-62 Outgoing Correspondence

E-1 5-63 Patents

E-1 5-64 Personal

E-1 5-65 Phonograph - General

E-1 5-66 Phonograph - Edison Phonograph Works E-15-67 Politics

E-1 5-68 Port Huron , t „

E-1 5-69 Proudfoot’s Commercial Agency [not selected]

E-1 5-70 Radio

E-1 5-71 Real Estate

E-1 5-72 Religion and Spiritualism

E-1 5-73 School Children Letters [not selected]

E-1 5-74 Secretary - Meadowcroft, W. H.

E-1 5-75 Secretary - Miller, H. F. [not selected]

E-1 5-76 Stock and Bond Offerings E-1 5-77 Telescribe

E-1 5-78 Thomas A. Edison, Inc. - General E-1 5-79 Thomas A. Edison, Inc. - Fire E-1 5-80 Visitors

E-1 5-81 Warren County Warehouse Company [not selected]

E-1 5-82 West Orange Laboratory E-1 5-83 World War I E-1 5-84 X-Rays

Edison General File Series 1915. Advertising (E-15-01)

This folder contains correspondence from advertising managers and publishers. The correspondents include Arthur R. Birchard, president of the Candlestick Publishing Co., and Frederick K. Babson, a distributor of Edison phonographs.

Less than 10 percent of the documents, including all letters bearing substantive marginalia by Edison, have been selected. The unselected material consists primarily of unsolicited correspondence that received a perfunctory response or no reply from Edison.

v 7TTr- 2o~*rCS>-

uear "r* “Ui&U“- e*<)Vuu^ ^ — \

Your letter of the 12th, also result sheet from exper- I

iment carried on in the Orange store at hand. The Orange exper- /

iment is certainly very interesting. The only additional infor- /

mation.is the question as to the amount spent in the different / means of making sales, so as to make a comparison as to the most/ economical method. /

I judge the Orange store has not found it practical nor advisable to spend any money in local newspaper advertising. /As a rule, the advertising newspaper rates in small towns are very high and local newspapers in suburban towns tributary to large pities are very little read, so that it would be' almost impossible to make a very good comparison in a town like Orange. Howvor, it is certainly a very convincing proof that there are numerous ways of rea.ching the public in small towns besides through the adver¬ tising" mediums . z'

I thank you very much for this report-' and shall make use of it in the very near future at our meeting- of branch managers.

/( yxj II ■ 1

ADVERTISING

; DEPARTMENT! f FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES

_ _ _ I 1 - - - 1 WtrDDPP AND

W. E. MOFFETT

. MANAGER

THE BUYING POWER

CIRCULATION 1

ELIMINATES

431 FIFTH AVE.. PITTSBURGH. PA.

CONKLIN

BRUNSWICK BUILDING NEW YORK

STEGER BUILDING

CHICAGO

Mr. Thomas A. Edison, „ ,X-'tA'U5*'<1

Edison Phonograph Co., / VU<*' A - / .

g ^ i Jr— -Hl'r

Dear Mr. EdiBon: U'*** )

When the word ESr£eh oomes to mind, /

gsray^ K^irho^Stiiisir S VJS? J^SUSSi^Sff £ S“ c

»Slut«S »0» ttot the aame

vented Eleotrioity is the builder of the Edison Musio Box.

They may think it must be. Thomas s^e°youndoS't IZl ^tftf just’ think hut

saferAsfs ss s

ofSyour prestige, seoured through ohannels other than producing musio.

This is one reason I think you should advertise to the greatpuhliothat read the daily newspapers, developed thinkers that read the Pittsburg

leader. Yours sinoerely,

THE PITTSHJS& 1EAEER,

Advertising Manager.

WUi/G

Mr. Thomas A. Edison #2.

I think your dealers would oatoh the spirit if you would start the hall rolling, and would soon have sales reoordB to equal other machines .

I have a oorking good co-operative plan all worked out for you when you give the signal, and I know the thousands of Leader readers who know of EdiBon, the maker of chained lighting will he in a receptive mood to read a- hout the same Edison and his music maker.

Yours sincerely.

wem/g

0<2^ <6^/9^

, (/^

Q^f x~d

Osc^ff-td. ^a,£<^K - -

^^yiX^-O^dr . . - ;• - - "7 T/”7 .

^f2- -

.■ . cdLvjj.

P A T R I O T I S M

HOME AND COUNTRY

v<a?v«

oJLL

I possible thing, will you kindly 'secure the for the December number of our magazine which sc ember 18th. You know how much I admire Mr. i believer in and user of the phonograph L work in 1887 when I hired a phonograph paying a rental of $60.00 a year for its use at a time when it could not Be bougnt at any price. From that day to this I have been a great believer in it and have always had one in rajs home where my children might enjoy it.

The enclosed taken from Collier's of December 11th, we will reproduce in a double page spread in our magazine making our own plates and sill reproduce it exactly as per enclosed copy. For this service, we will make a charge of only one page inetend of tyro. 1 am very anxious indeed to get this order as it will help me secure some more business end it will give me pleasure to have the opportuni¬ ty of presenting the wonderful new Edison to our readers.

As you know; we reach a very high class clientele. Our readers are made up of The Sons of American Revolution, Grand Army Men and patriotic bodies everywhere. I am enclosing with this a copy

ARB/GMW

eltfJveUr £tolt^mn$ ftogi

(3^x\

,Ur. Thomas A. Edison, Orange, New Jersey.

5

December thirteen nineteen Fifteen

yjtjC yf,U ^

Lt t < i*. "tl

tU, ^pu<n'' ^ vt,

V/e licve read with a great deal^of'^lSereBt the advertisement enclosed and note particularly that the prices of the talking machines range from §100 to $400, specializing one at *250.

As an inventor you are no doubt familiar with the feet that gold can be extracted from sea water. It is an expensive .process,

nf f»oid extracted does not warrant the method, so

Don't you think the 30,000 people who buy the new York Even¬ ing Post paying 5 cents for it on Saturdays (3 cents other days) con- etftute a Swertile field for advertising a talking machine v^ich is not within the reach of people of very moderateincomefl?DoeBthebig profit from the talking machine business come from, the sale of records.

In writing you I am prompted by the knowledge that you are in full sympathy with the successful publication of a newBpaperllte be SoniSTM and records of still greater success depend upon the mess ure of advertising value placed upon it by its readers.

I think that those responsible for ■*"*»•**** fall to

rra kf^us e° o f ^a^newf paper ^ v ir t ua lly^ lOO^e f f ic lent] as is the Evening Post,

ry truly yours, /

Advertising Manager.

Edison General File Series 1915. Advice (E-15-02)

This folder contains correspondence from inventors and others asking for Edison's advice on technical matters or his assistance in improving or promoting inventions. Comments by Edison on the incoming letters include remarks about the profits earned by inventors, references to specific technologies and scientific phenomena, and referrals to other parties. The correspondents include N.L. Wine, a resident of Fort Myers, Florida.

Less than 1 percent of the documents, including all items bearing substantive marginalia by Edison, have been selected.

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[ATTACHMENT/ENCLOSURE]

Hr. Thomas Edison.

Woroestor, Hass., Jan. 20th ^J.915 .

My dear Sir: r\ / (&—i 'cJP-c-eX*

I have taken out over fifty parents on cotton n inery. Ho cotton mill can run in this country without my in¬ ventions. Every yardaf cotton made in this country, the yam is spun on my spinner Ipt forty ygars^ ^

iny way cotton yarn can

Vc <-vc/

I want to ask^-cnl If therj jis "be twisted with electricity.' this country. Could an electros fir/ run machine in such a way as toTo^^ct-wi-Jft ep.ch

iindles in

^^undjgie^ gptfxcigtig

ilpdle so as to _ _ „ _ * l>ir

run 250 spindles so as tc'"c[p away’' with -apiridle hands. an^be-l-t l <I»-»U U5 *•">* I

ings to run the spindles. I have had spindles run four years I in my oilless hearings four years and not one^cop-trf'o'il. Apd save 1/4 of the powe-r. If spindles can he (ran hy electricity it surely will save much power. Perhaps you know aWt the Arguto Oilleas hearings made in Philadelphia. I got a u^ent on that hearing Hay 31, 1892. Sold it to the Arguto C^. I could not tun spindles in it and I sold it. I have one now' that spindles will run in fine and no dirt or oil. It costs $200,000 every year for oil to oil the spindles in this country, as much more to do the oilling. I have the only oillesB hearing that has a record of running loose pullies and shafting 10 years and not one drop of oil. I intend to sell it to the same parties. It has been on the market over 20 years, hundreds and thousands of thbm and never proved a failure in any place.

Yours very truly,

l3igned) W. T. CARROLL.

[ATTACHMENT/ENCLOSURE]

A WONDERFUL INVENTION

W. T. Carroll has discovered a process to harden Rock Maple for shafting and machinery bearings, spools, bobbins and thread boards for textile machinery.

Bearings made from hardened rock maple will never require any oil after they are first started, will wear longer than any metal bearing, will never rough the shaft.

These Bearings have been tested with the graphite and bronze bearings made in Bound Brook N. J. In every case the

HARDENED ROCK MAPLE PROVED SUPERIOR.

For further information direct to W. T. CARROLL,

P. 0. BOX 579. Residence, 13 Sever St., Worcester, Mass.

THE CARROLL OILLESS BEARING COMPANY

MANUFACTURE THE

ORIGINAL CARROLL OILLESS BEARINGS.

"The loose pulleys you furnished us fitted with the Carroll Oilless bearings are giving us perfect satisfaction. They have run 10 hours a day at 300 revolutions a minute since September, 1902, and have not had any attention, nor been oiled since put in by you. We had previously used several kinds of bushings in these pulleys which carry a 6 in. belt, and had a great deal of trouble in keeping them in order.”

"The smaller bearings you put on our drills are also entirely satisfactory"

W. C. YOUNG MFG. CO., W. C. Young, President, Worcester.

“In February, 1892 we put in our factory three Carroll Oilless bearings for Idlers. 10 in. x 6 in. running on a 1 in. shaft. These rolls carry a heavy belt 50 ft. long, transmitting 25 horse power, and turn 1200 times per minute, and run every working day for 9 years before '■ renewal, without oil or care — thus a great \ saving to us. I consider the bearing as near perfect as possible.”

GLOBE CORSET CO., John E. Lancaster, PREsident, Worcester.

W. T. CARROLL, Manager.

13 SEVER STREET, WORCESTER, MASS. P. O. BOX 679.

[ATTACHMENT/ENCLOSURE]

Worcester, May 18, 1911.

W. T. Carroll, Mgr.

Dear Sir:-

' In reply to your letter of May 15, asking about the result of the Carroll oilless bear¬ ings, will say that a few months ago we installed in one of our idler Pulleys one of your oilless bearings. -This was run for some months, and since, we have been installing the same kind of bearings in all our idlers as fast as the other bearings wear out. I am glad to say they have given us no trouble whatever, required no at¬ tention and are entirely satisfactory.

Yours truly,

Bridge ft Structural Co.

C. T. WRIGHT, Supt

PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT CO.

JAMESTOWN, N. Y.

UAtl. 2fVh, I9IET.

no-6114.

Sub: Conversion of ooal into

/v / ' v electricity

^ssr

Ur. Thomas 'Edison Esq.

Orange, II. Y.

Dear Sir:-

ijo be brief, we have with us several persons who have devoted time and thought to the study of the direct conversion of coal into eleotriolty.

The question arose at a recent meeting whether or not it was within the range of possibility to make the transfer from ooal to electrical energy commercial^eoonomioal .

Would you care to give an opinion on this topic?

Do you thlhfc the ohemlcal prooess the most lifcely path of

solution?

A reply to this letter would be very much appreciated.

Very truly yours

product Improvement Co.

( ajb a* •t&sAAd&JL)

, \ as edk

Vv^*d o* &

February J4, ■&*■£ '"*'’**'

/^^*T\ X

Mr. Thomas A. Edison, / _. (f \ C— . «*.

Orange, New Jersey. I I /) t> O } }

Dear Sir: l J '

A young electrician of m^^ccquaintance who has been exper¬ imenting for the past five or~s£x years, has discovered a process by which he tempers 98 per oent-pure “PPf “e hardness of steel; hy using a 10 per cent alloy he produces a product as hard as tool-steel.

He has no workshop and hut little money. He has not adver¬ tised his discovery, and such demonstration work as he has done has been done in the kitchen of his home with his wife as his assistant.

A short time ago he consulted an attorney with a view to patenting the process or formula. The attorney has since informed him that it cannot he patented for the reason that, even with a knowledge of the formula, one unlearned in the us e” of the&lat t er cfnnot get the results. This attorney has told him however, that if he will name a price at which he will he willing to sell his formula and teach another its use he, the attorney, for 20 per cent of the sale price, thinks he can find a buyer.

it seems to me that it is not unreasonable to believe that further experiment may enable this boy to perfect the process so that the element of skill that now seems necessary may be eliminated.

The reason I am writing you about this is that if anyone, are qualified to pass upon the possibilities of this discovery, to judge its probable value and application and X shall appreciate it if you will tell me what you think of it; what in your opinion it should be worth and the t>est way to make use of the discovery and at the same time secure the discoverer against the loss of what seems to me should be a very valuable discovery.

11. m

Offer,	Montclair Co-operative Society	Directors DR. W. W. WILSON
EMERSON P.WRR.I.,-	CASH GROCERY	DR. MIRIAM B. KENNEDY
8AMUBfe!i.fe'A,^”a"'	MARKET AND GENERAL STORE j	PERCY H. THOMAS o*f THE OFFICERS
A;.Ir,,,“r'r	517 BLOOMFIELD AVENUE. MONTCLAIR. N. J. Pur. Fed. -Wh.r.MCuun,." Full M.eur.	LEROY DYAt^

Montclair, J*t

February 10 th; 1915. '

Ur. Thomas EdiBon West Orange

Edison, U

" ■

nAo*«r~-

(OM‘C

My dear Sir j-

Two or three years ago yon were qiioted as expressing opinion .tat

a w02ps witf y°u uPon thia "

subjeot some day a£ your’^oonvenienoe?

With our utmost endeavors the salary chasge- for handling our goods is around ten to twelve aents for every dollar's worth of goods we pass out. It has seemed to me that a way ou*ht to he found to out out a substantial portion of this, and at the same time in¬ crease the flow so as to reduce the percentage of overhead.

Respectfully,

ADDRESS

EMERSON P- HARRIS

10 ROCKLEDCE ROAD,

Haroh 26th. 1915,

of

About ten o'clock this morning a man calling himself hy the i u-tian came to the laboratory ana asked to see Edison. He was a stran¬ ger ana in accordance with our usual custom I n tn see him. He said he was a chemist and had been i»iug =■ =i= of separating carbons from oil combining it with hydrogen and thereby pro¬ ducing Carbolic Acid, ana by some elaboration of processes he could pro¬ duce synthetic rubber.

He took out of his pocket a printed letter in imitation of typewrit- ing certifying that he had studied at Cooper Union. From the way he talked I thought he wanted a position as chemist. Mr. Edison was up-stairs in room 12 and I took the _ letter up to^himjmd JoldJiim

_ . . . I went down-stairs

n. He said“he was not looking for a Job,

down-stairB. Mr. Edison said he was very sorry that Mr. Mahan had not turned up ten days ago as he could have given him work. T WCT,r in the hhll and told Mr. Mahan. He said he was not look: _ but thought Mr. Edison would be interested in talking this matter over. Just at this time Mr. Stanley Doggett of Hew York had ccsne in with his Secretary to see Hr. Edison about placing some further orders for Aniline Secretary ^see doim_atairB ind told me to tell Mr. Doggett and his

Secretary to follow him in the library and said he would see Mr. Mahan after they were through.

„ When Mr. Doggett and his secretary left I brought Mr. Mahan into the

library and introduced him to Mr. Edison, who sat in his own chair and nahan took another chair nearby, and began explaining to him what he alleged he could do. He stated as a bald proposition that he could sep¬ arate pure carbon from oil and with hydrogen turn it into Carbolic Acid. Mr. Edison said he doubted it could be done commercially, and Mr. Mahan said he could do it. He then took out of his pocket a small memorandum book about 3 l/2" by 4 l/2", and took out of it a sheet of note paper upon which there was some writing. He unf o lie dth isan d was , goingto show it to Mr. Edison, but Mr. Edison stopped him and said, Have you applied for a patent?" Mr. Mahan said he had not. Mr. Edison then said hePwould not look at the paper nor would he listen to any explanation of the process unt il Mr. Mahan had filed an application for a patent, as he did not want to have any mis -unde r standings wi th othe r Renters and •hVin-t* -f-Vipr-P hacl ’been •nrevious attempts to make troubles 1 or nim uy ex- pl'ainingrun-proteote§r inventions. Mr. Edison told him to file his appli¬ cation for patent and then he would be willing to discuss the natter with him. Mr. Mahan seemed to be non-plused, and attempted to say something further about the matter but Mr. Edison was firm and turned away from him and said he would not listen to any explanation until Mr. Mahan had filed an application for a patent. He still persisted, and I said very firmly thatMr. Edison was absolutely firm in his determination on this point, and it was no use for Mr. Mahan to explain to Mr. Edison or me.

Mr. Mahan then spoke about a process for producing synthetic her and took another paper out of his pocket-book and attengtedtoshow it to Mr Edison, but Mr. Edison swung his chair around to the right and bent his head down in the oppositl direction to where Ur., Mahan was standi np and absolutely refused to look at it or listen to him. I told Mr. Mahan it was absolutely no use to persist and with some unwillingness he left.

Both Mr. Edison and I were under the impression that Mr. Mahan had some ultirior object in view in his persistent effort to force the ex¬ planation of his process on Mr. Edison. 'ifpJJ.djUcufo

VILLAGE 03? BROHXVILLE, H. Y.

April 3rd 1915.

Thos. A. 33dison, Esq.,

Llewellyn Park,

Orange, M. T.

Lear Sir:-

Belative to attaching direct current trolley wire guys to eyebolts in 12" trees,- will you advise if there can he damage done to said trees, providing strain insulators are suitable.

And oblige.

Street Commissioner.

[ J Qt '

. ..

?

HERMAN S. WHITCOMB

PENNSYLVANIA BUILDING PHILADELPHIA

May 5th, 1915.

Thomas A. Edison Esq., East Orange, New Jersey.

Dear Mr. Edison:

-TW- ^v-

Although my business Js "industrial develop¬ ment" plus a little "practicing of law I have been much inter¬ ested in certain studies. One line is-mathematics in conjunc¬ tion with natures laws.

In my experiments I was much interested in the calcula¬ tion of conical surfaces. I have belelved that if mathematics are exact there should be no approximations. I am not pre¬ pared to say our system of mathematics are right. I am not prepared to admit our decimal system is the best* In fact, have a very dear friend, an educated and wealthy. Chinaman, who does things in higher mathematics undreamed of in our univer¬ sities. What his system is I do not know. I know it is not our decimel system. I know it seems superior.

Suffice, there is much to be said of the circle in the square.. Given, a wheel revolving upon an axijj, the length of which is exactly the same as. the diameter of the wheel and we find some astonishing results. If the wheel is revolved vertically it will be found the "pull" (or push) of gravity soon stops it. Now, turn the wheel so that it is horizontal, and revolve it. It will

at once be noted how much- less1 resistance there is. Now, shorten

the axis of the wheel so that it is not the same length as the

1 merit . Inf fact, some queer" stunts and results will become ^ apparent,. Please mark this, however, THAT THE CIRCUMFR3NCS 07 ^De«« VSSfL«D^°^SmS5ET,GIRCLE* POTHER, THAT IB WE TAKE A LINE PROM THE APEX OP THE POINT OP THE AXIS, THENCE TO THE EDGE OP THE CIRC SMFRENCE OP THE WHEEL , THENCE, TO THE POINT OP THE OPPO¬ SITE POINT OP THE AXIS, THENCE, AGAIN TO THE OPPOSITE EDGE OP THE CIRCUMFRENCE OP THE WHEEL, THENCE, TO THE FIRST POINT OP THE AXIS, TO THE PLACE OR POINT OP BEGINNING. HENCE, WE HAVE HERE THE WHEEL AS A CIRCLE WITHIN THE SQUARE, EXEMPLIPYTNG- THE PRINCIPLE OF THE GYROSCOPE DEFYING- A DEGREE~BRAVI TY.

The application. If I am right, no fly-wheel should be vertical. All should be horizontal and the axis should always be the same length as the diameter of the wheel.

The saving in power. I have not worked it our accurately.

To date it would seem to be the unit "8" for the old principle as against "39" if the principle herein set forth is followed.

This exemplification of the principle herein set forth will colnside with "the square in the circle* which I have read of in all the works of the ancients the principle seeming to be univer¬ sally understood and expressed in "sign symbols" j p u Mexioo

HERMAN S. "WHITCOMB

PENNSYLVANIA BUILDING PHILADELPHIA

China, India and in fact nearly every country of antiquity.

I would be very delighted if through your hard headed sense and splendid organization you could demonstrate this principle as a step in advance in mechanics.

I am always your admirer and well-wisher.

Very respectfully,

APARTMENT 630 NUMBER 130, POST AVE FONE 6966 AUDUBON

NEWYORK JUNE 2 1915 wvwU a

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*ANY YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE I HEARD YOUR^SIGrT O^Er] ^

/m mr\ thomas edisonmy DEAR g|R

\ /MANY YEARS HAVE PASSED SINUt i ntwt»

A TELEGR^PrfTRCUIT.BUT WHETHER WORKING WITH YOU DIRECT OR LISTENING TO |

OLD dERE BORST SENDING TO YOU, I REALY FORGET, BUT IT WAS WAY BACK IN

1868 _ I THEN HAD BEEN TELEGRAPHING SINCE 1863— 7 $

| RECALL WHEN , IN 1874 .BILL WliLLI AMS AND ED JOHNSON SOLD YOUR "DUPLICATING INK" . THE LAST TIME I HAD THE PLEASURE OF SEEING YOU WAS ONE NIGHT IN 1878 AT THE OLD SWITCHBOARD IN 195. YOU WERE WAITING THERE FOR GRIFFITH WHOM YOU HAD JUST TAKEN IN YOUR EMPLOY.

| WAS PUT INTO INTERFERENCE WITH YOUR CURRENT-DISTRIBUTOR PATENT WHEN I APPLIED FOR A SIMILAR DEVICE>CALLING IT A VOLTAGE DISTRIB¬ UTOR BUT THE PATENT WAS FINALLY GRANTED ME. THAT w6s IN 1887.LATER I SECURED ANOTHER PATENT CALLED A NEGATIVE POLE STEP-BACK. ALL OF MY PATENTS HAVE LONG SINCE EXPIRED. I HAVE SEVERAL TO GO FORWARD IN AN ENDEAVOR TO GET TO THE FRONT ! AGAIN.

| HAD SEVERAL PLANTS WITH THAT VOLTAGE DISTRIBUTOR *{*<**' RUNNING IN 1894, ONE AT DETROIT, ONE AT CHELSEA .MASS , AND ANOTHER AT WASH I NGTON. AT THE LATTER CITY I PURPOSED ERECTING A PLANT OF A THOUSAND LIGHTS AT THE NATIONAL HOTEL .1 USED AN EDISON DYNAMO OF 44 16CP LAMP CAPAC ITY.A WESTINGHOUSE ENGINE OF 12 HP AND A COUPLE OF MY VOLTAGE DISTRIBUTORS, I SUCCEEDED IN DEVELOPING 144 BEAUTIFUL 16 CANDLE POWER LAMPS AND WOULD HAVE FILLED THE 1000 FROM THAT 44 LIGHT MACHINE BUT THE OPPOSITION PUT ME OUT OF BUSINESS THERE AND ELSEWHERE BY GETTING THE BOARD OF UNDERWRITERS TO PRONOUNCE THE SYSTEM UNSAFE. I SAW THE LETTER THEY SENT TO BURTON AND CROSBY, THE PROPRS OF THE NATIONAL HOTEL. IT READ, SUBSTANTIALLY, AS FOLLOWS:

"IF YOU ALLOW THE PENNOCK SYSTEM TO RUN ANOTHER NIGHT _WE SHALL CABCEL YOUR FIRE INSURANCE" IT WAS GOOD-NIGHT FOR ME.

SEC SHEET

OF LATE YEARS I HAVE ENDEAVORED TO GET MY WARES BEFORE THE PUBLIC IN THE LINE OF AN UNSINKABLE TOPEDO-PROOF OCEAN-GOING VESSEL.

I INCLOSE WHAT LITERATURE I HAVE ON THE SUBJECT. IT MAY BE POSSIBLE THAT YOU WOULD ASSIST ME .BY FURNISHING THE FUNDS TO equip AN OFFICE WORKING MODEL. IT WILL COST ?2000.WITH IT THE SUCCESS | WOULD MAKE IT I WOULD AGREE TO TURN THE ENTERPRISE OVER TO YOUR¬ SELF AND FRIENDS FOR PROMOTION.

| WOULD NOT THINK OF ADDRESSING YOU THUS AFTER SO MANY YEARS (BUT PSHAW ■ I ' HAVE ALWAYS KEPT TRACK OF YOUR GREAT SUCCESSES AND ROOTED FOR THEM)""

WERE IT NOT FOR THE FACT OF THE INTERVIEW, WRITTEN BY MARSHALL,

AND PRINTED IN THE NEWYORK TIMES LAST SUNDAY, IT IS A CLASSIC AND I WISH A RESOUNDING PHONOGRAPH COULD SHOUT IT OUT FROM EVERY HOUSETOP IN THE LAND. YOUR PLAN OF PREPAREDNESS FOR WAR, YET SEEMINGLY UNPREPARED IS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER READ ON THAT IMPORTANT SUBJECT.

ALLOW ME TO CONGRATULATE YOU ON I IT.

I ALSO SEND GREETINGS. MANY HAPPY DAYS. — . .

AND ALL SORT OF THING.

I AM MY DEAR TOM

SINCERELY YOUR WELL WISHER

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Southern express company

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we lmve more or less difficulty because of encountering a letter which one of the old time iron lightning rod companies' salesmen carry with them-said to have been written by you and stating that lightning conductors should be insulated from the building. The only reason this class of competitors makes use of your letter is in order to sell insulators at a fancy price thus securing greater profit for themselves.

We have spent many years in building up a strictly honorable and legitimate businessin this lino throughout the United States and Canada and altho over fifty thousand buildings arc protected with our goods not a single one of them lias ever been destroyed by lightning or even set afire, iou will find herewith printed affidavit on little blue slip and we are indeed glad to state that our perfect record is still unbroken.

lly the way, if the writer is not mistaken, you very kindly accorded our general eastern sales manager Mr. S. P. Dunlap a personal interview sometime ago at which time he showed you our flat cable and you spoke very favorably of it, but of course we recognize, as you stated to Mr. Dunlap, that you ennnot consistently give out written approvals-of any one manufacturer's goods. Should you attempt to do so you would be swamped with similar requests from all over the world.

We do foel, however, that it is hardly riglit that the representatives of the companies whose past record is not the best, companies who have had more than one man in our state penitentiaries from time to time for dishonest practices, -ta be making capital out of your letter, in other words taking advantage of your high standing to advance their most questionable business methods.

Briefly the purpose of a lightning conductor is to drain the electricity off the building so that there may not be a sufficient accumulation to make possible a disruptive discharge

v"

Mr.

E. #2

Kfe*.‘*-==:ssSsai,S52i?cr-

to insulate the lightning donduct or, and the fact that w® a

niiHolut elv unbroken record of success in the use of our a covering a period of a number of years, it would certainly indicate that the method of not using insulators is practical and right.

insulators by the concerns referred to above.

Thanking you in advance for your advice, we are,

vnm M

Yours very truly,

NATIONAL STANDARD COMPANY.

President.

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