additional
customers had been connected and the demand for the new light was
increasing very rapidly. Although Edison had successfully operated
several dynamos in multiple arc two years before--i.e., all feeding
current together into the same circuits--there was not, at this early
period of experience, any absolute certainty as to what particular
results might occur upon the throwing of the current from two or more
such massive dynamos into a great distributing system. The sequel
showed the value of Edison's cautious method in starting the station by
operating only a single unit at first.

He decided that it would be wise to make the trial operation of a second
"Jumbo" on a Sunday, when business houses were closed in the district,
thus obviating any danger of false impressions in the public mind in the
event of any extraordinary manifestations. The circumstances attending
the adding of a second dynamo are thus humorously described by Edison:
"My heart was in my mouth at first, but everything worked all right....
Then we started another engine and threw them in parallel. Of all the
circuses since Adam was born, we had the worst then! One engine would
stop, and the other would run up to about a thousand revolutions, and
then they would see-saw. The trouble was with the governors. When
the circus commenced, the gang that was standing around ran out
precipitately, and I guess some of them kept running for a block or two.
I grabbed the throttle of one engine, and E. H. Johnson, who was the
only one present to keep his wits, caught hold of the other, and we shut
them off." One of the "gang" that ran, but, in this case, only to
the end of the room, afterward said: "At the time it was a terrifying
experience, as I didn't know what was going to happen. The engines and
dynamos made a horrible racket, from loud and deep groans to a hideous
shriek, and the place seemed to be filled with sparks and flames of all
colors. It was as if the gates of the infernal regions had been suddenly
opened."

This trouble was at once attacked by Edison in his characteristic and
strenuous way. The above experiment took place between three and four
o'clock on a Sunday afternoon, and within a few hours he had gathered
his superintendent and men of the machine-works and had them at work on
a shafting device that he thought would remedy the trouble. He says: "Of
course, I discovered that what had happened was that one set was running
the other as a mo