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Show lEDilM IS TO i BE OBSERVED HERE; i Electricians Will Do Honor to Renowned Inventor of Modern Lamps. j It is a long jump from a kerosene-filled kerosene-filled lamp to a gas-tilled tuogstcn Mazda Maz-da lamp, but thanks to Thomas A, Edison Edi-son the world has made that jump successfully, suc-cessfully, and it was just thirty-seven years ago today that the great inventor introduced the first incandescent lamp. October 21 is FdisoJi day throughout i the country and is being observed every- j where today in lion or of Mr. Edison : and hhi achievement. j Kdison 's first lamp was nothing to , compare with the brilliant lamps of to- j day, but it was wonderful in those days j when the old lamplighter went around, the town every night and lighted up the street lamps of flickering gas and pungent oil. There were no electric ' signs those days, nor electric vehicles, and shop windows were mostly in tho dark and the interiors of business ', places were dimly lighted with open ' Bame gas and small kerosene lamps. Fvon the latter were far from being as good as those of today. In. the largest cities of the country electric arc lamps were being installed, but they were of small candlepower and gave a feeble light at best and on moonlight nights they were not lighted at all. Some of the inventive minds of the country set to work to discover a way to subdivide the electric current so that small lamps could be made, but after many tests they all agreed it couldn't be done. It was then that Edison took up the work and carried it through to successful conclusion. It took lots of work and his competent com-petent staff of assistants worked day and night with Mr. Edison in going over and over the gTouud in the search for a small electric lamp. After a thousand experiments they discovered they needed a carbon material, ma-terial, one that would readily carbonize, carbon-ize, last a reasonable time in service and which offered enough resistance to the current to be heated to incandescence incan-descence by the passage of the current. It seemed that it would take forever to find this material. Edison tried linen, paper threads and scores of other things, even taking a few hairs from the red beard of one of his assistants; but none of these things contained the essentials. But one day Edison picked up a palm leaf and, pulling a few fibers from it, made another experiment, and when the current was turned in the lamp glowed with a strong light and exhaustive tests proved that at last the incandescent had ,been discovered. Edison's famous exhibition of his complete electric lighting system, when the laboratory grounds were illuminated illumi-nated by 700 lamps, took place early in December, 1879, and attracted thousands thou-sands of people from all over the country. coun-try. The lamp itself was not all there was of the work, however. There was much to be done in the way of wiring systems, sys-tems, insulation materials, sockets, fixtures, fix-tures, measuring instruments and scores of other things to perfect; but after this was once done the growth of electric elec-tric lighting progressed rapidly and lamp after lamp was introduced to the world in rapid succession, each better than its predecessor, until now the "white light',1 Mazda seems almost perfection. per-fection. Today will be known throughout the length and breadth of the United States as Edison day, and it is generally being be-ing observed by the electrical industry. Here in Salt Lake the Utah Power & Light company and other electrical interests in-terests are making special displays of Edison lamps and calling attention to the event in other ways as a mark of honor and respect to Mr. Edison. |