batteries
Mr. Hammer tells a characteristic anecdote of Edison: "A careless boy
passing through the station whistling a tune and swinging carelessly a
hammer in his hand, rapped a carboy of sulphuric acid which happened to
be on the floor above a 'Jumbo' dynamo. The blow broke the glass carboy,
and the acid ran down upon the field magnets of the dynamo, destroying
the windings of one of the twelve magnets. This accident happened while
I was taking a vacation in Germany, and a prominent scientific man
connected with the company cabled Mr. Edison to know whether the machine
would work if the coil was cut out. Mr. Edison sent the laconic reply:
'Why doesn't he try it and see?' Mr. E. H. Johnson was kept busy not
only with the cares and responsibilities of this pioneer English
plant, but by negotiations as to company formations, hearings before
Parliamentary committees, and particularly by distinguished visitors,
including all the foremost scientific men in England, and a great
many well-known members of the peerage. Edison was fortunate in being
represented by a man with so much address, intimate knowledge of the
subject, and powers of explanation. As one of the leading English papers
said at the time, with equal humor and truth: 'There is but one Edison,
and Johnson is his prophet.'"

As the plant continued in operation, various details and ideas of
improvement emerged, and Mr. Hammer says: "Up to the time of the
construction of this plant it had been customary to place a single-pole
switch on one wire and a safety fuse on the other; and the practice of
putting fuses on both sides of a lighting circuit was first used here.
Some of the first, if not the very first, of the insulated fixtures were
used in this plant, and many of the fixtures were equipped with ball
insulating joints, enabling the chandeliers--or 'electroliers'--to be
turned around, as was common with the gas chandeliers. This particular
device was invented by Mr. John B. Verity, whose firm built many of
the fixtures for the Edison Company, and constructed the notable
electroliers shown at the Crystal Palace Exposition of 1882."

We have made a swift survey of developments from the time when the
system of lighting was ready for use, and when the staff scattered to
introduce it. It will be readily understood that Edison did not sit
with folded hands or drop into complacent satisfaction the moment he
had reached the practical stage of commercial exploitation.