chapter13.txt

CHAPTER XIII







A WORLD-HUNT FOR FILAMENT MATERIAL







IN writing about the old experimenting days at



Menlo Park, Mr. F. R. Upton says: "Edison's day



is twenty-four hours long, for he has always worked



whenever there was anything to do, whether day or



night, and carried a force of night workers, so that



his experiments could go on continually. If he wanted



material, he always made it a principle to have it at



once, and never hesitated to use special messengers



to get it. I remember in the early days of the electric



light he wanted a mercury pump for exhausting the



lamps. He sent me to Princeton to get it. I got



back to Metuchen late in the day, and had to carry



the pump over to the laboratory on my back that



evening, set it up, and work all night and the next



day getting results."







This characteristic principle of obtaining desired



material in the quickest and most positive way manifested



itself in the search that Edison instituted for



the best kind of bamboo for lamp filaments, immediately



after the discovery related in a preceding



chapter. It is doubtful whether, in the annals of



scientific research and experiment, there is anything



quite analogous to the story of this search and the



various expeditions that went out from the Edison



laboratory in 1880 and subsequent years, to scour



the earth for a material so apparently simple as a



homogeneous strip of bamboo, or other similar fibre.



Prolonged and exhaustive experiment, microscopic



examination, and an intimate knowledge of the



nature of wood and plant fibres, however, had led



Edison to the conclusion that bamboo or similar



fibrous filaments were more suitable than anything



else then known for commercial incandescent lamps,



and he wanted the most perfect for that purpose.



Hence, the quickest way was to search the tropics



until the proper material was found.







The first emissary chosen for this purpose was the



late William H. Moore, of Rahway, New Jersey, who



left New York in the summer of 1880, bound for



China and Japan, these being the countries pre-



eminently noted for the production of abundant



species of bamboo. On arrival in the East he quickly



left the cities behind and proceeded into the interior,



extending his search far into the more remote country



districts, collecting specimens on his way, and



devoting much time to the study of the bamboo, and



in roughly testing the relative value of its fibre in



canes of one, two, three, four, and five year growths.



Great bales of samples were sent to Edison, and after



careful tests a certain variety and growth of Japanese



bamboo was determined to be the most satisfactory



material for filaments that had been found. Mr.



Moore, who was continuing his searches in that



country, was instructed to arrange for the cultivation



and shipment of regular supplies of this particular



species. Arrangements to this end were accordingly



made with a Japanese farmer, who began to make



immediate shipments, and who subsequently displayed



so much ingenuity in fertilizing and cross-



fertilizing that the homogeneity of the product was



constantly improved. The use of this bamboo for



Edison lamp filaments was continued for many years.







Although Mr. Moore did not meet with the exciting



adventures of some subsequent explorers, he encountered



numerous difficulties and novel experiences



in his many months of travel through the hinterland



of Japan and China. The attitude toward foreigners



thirty years ago was not as friendly as it has



since become, but Edison, as usual, had made a



happy choice of messengers, as Mr. Moore's good



nature and diplomacy attested. These qualities,



together with his persistence and perseverance and



faculty of intelligent discrimination in the matter



of fibres, helped to make his mission successful, and



gave to him the honor of being the one who found



the bamboo which was adopted for use as filaments



in commercial Edison lamps.







Although Edison had satisfied himself that bamboo



furnished the most desirable material thus far



discovered for incandescent-lamp filaments, he felt



that in some part of the world there might be found



a natural product of the same general character that



would furnish a still more perfect and homogeneous



material. In his study of this subject, and during the



prosecution of vigorous and searching inquiries in



various directions, he learned that Mr. John C.



Brauner, then residing in Brooklyn, New York, had



an expert knowledge of indigenous plants of the



particular kind desired. During the course of a geological



survey which he had made for the Brazilian



Government, Mr. Brauner had examined closely the



various species of palms which grow plentifully in



that country, and of them there was one whose fibres



he thought would be just what Edison wanted.







Accordingly, Mr. Brauner was sent for and dispatched



to Brazil in December, 1880, to search for



and send samples of this and such other palms, fibres,



grasses, and canes as, in his judgment, would be suitable



for the experiments then being carried on at



Menlo Park. Landing at Para, he crossed over into



the Amazonian province, and thence proceeded



through the heart of the country, making his way by



canoe on the rivers and their tributaries, and by foot



into the forests and marshes of a vast and almost



untrodden wilderness. In this manner Mr. Brauner



traversed about two thousand miles of the comparatively



unknown interior of Southern Brazil, and procured



a large variety of fibrous specimens, which he



shipped to Edison a few months later. When these



fibres arrived in the United States they were carefully



tested and a few of them found suitable but not



superior to the Japanese bamboo, which was then



being exclusively used in the manufacture of commercial



Edison lamps.







Later on Edison sent out an expedition to explore



the wilds of Cuba and Jamaica. A two months'



investigation of the latter island revealed a variety



of bamboo growths, of which a great number of specimens



were obtained and shipped to Menlo Park; but



on careful test they were found inferior to the Jap-



anese bamboo, and hence rejected. The exploration



of the glades and swamps of Florida by three men



extended over a period of five months in a minute



search for fibrous woods of the palmetto species. A



great variety was found, and over five hundred boxes



of specimens were shipped to the laboratory from



time to time, but none of them tested out with entirely



satisfactory results.







The use of Japanese bamboo for carbon filaments



was therefore continued in the manufacture of lamps,



although an incessant search was maintained for a



still more perfect material. The spirit of progress,



so pervasive in Edison's character, led him, however,



to renew his investigations further afield by sending



out two other men to examine the bamboo and



similar growths of those parts of South America not



covered by Mr. Brauner. These two men were Frank



McGowan and C. F. Hanington, both of whom had



been for nearly seven years in the employ of the



Edison Electric Light Company in New York. The



former was a stocky, rugged Irishman, possessing the



native shrewdness and buoyancy of his race, coupled



with undaunted courage and determination; and the



latter was a veteran of the Civil War, with some



knowledge of forest and field, acquired as a sportsman.



They left New York in September, 1887, arriving



in due time at Para, proceeding thence twenty-



three hundred miles up the Amazon River to Iquitos.



Nothing of an eventful nature occurred during this



trip, but on arrival at Iquitos the two men separated;



Mr. McGowan to explore on foot and by canoe in



Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, while Mr. Hanington



returned by the Amazon River to Para. Thence



Hanington went by steamer to Montevideo, and by



similar conveyance up the River de la Plata and



through Uruguay, Argentine, and Paraguay to the



southernmost part of Brazil, collecting a large number



of specimens of palms and grasses.







The adventures of Mr. McGowan, after leaving



Iquitos, would fill a book if related in detail. The



object of the present narrative and the space at the



authors' disposal, however, do not permit of more



than a brief mention of his experiences. His first



objective point was Quito, about five hundred miles



away, which he proposed to reach on foot and by



means of canoeing on the Napo River through a wild



and comparatively unknown country teeming with



tribes of hostile natives. The dangers of the expedition



were pictured to him in glowing colors, but spurning



prophecies of dire disaster, he engaged some native



Indians and a canoe and started on his explorations,



reaching Quito in eighty-seven days, after a



thorough search of the country on both sides of the



Napo River. From Quito he went to Guayaquil,



from there by steamer to Buenaventura, and thence



by rail, twelve miles, to Cordova. From this point



he set out on foot to explore the Cauca Valley and



the Cordilleras.







Mr. McGowan found in these regions a great variety



of bamboo, small and large, some species growing



seventy-five to one hundred fee...