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Edison: His Life and Inventions by Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin

CHAPTER XX

319 words  |  Chapter 35

EDISON PORTLAND CEMENT NEW developments in recent years have been more striking than the general adoption of cement for structural purposes of all kinds in the United States; or than the increase in its manufacture here. As a material for the construction of office buildings, factories, and dwellings, it has lately enjoyed an extraordinary vogue; yet every indication is confirmatory of the belief that such use has barely begun. Various reasons may be cited, such as the growing scarcity of wood, once the favorite building material in many parts of the country, and the increasing dearness of brick and stone. The fact remains, indisputable, and demonstrated flatly by the statistics of production. In 1902 the American output of cement was placed at about 21,000,000 barrels, valued at over $17,000,000. In 1907 the production is given as nearly 49,000,000 barrels. Here then is an industry that doubled in five years. The average rate of industrial growth in the United States is 10 per cent. a year, or doubling every ten years. It is a singular fact that electricity also so far exceeds the normal rate as to double in value and quantity of output and investment every five years. There is perhaps more than ordinary coincidence in the association of Edison with two such active departments of progress. As a purely manufacturing business the general cement industry is one of even remote antiquity, and if Edison had entered into it merely as a commercial enterprise by following paths already so well trodden, the fact would hardly have been worthy of even passing notice. It is not in his nature, however, to follow a beaten track except in regard to the recognition of basic principles; so that while the manufacture of Edison Portland cement embraces the main essentials and familiar processes of cement-making, such as crushing, drying, mixing, roasting, and grinding, his versatility and originality, as exemplified in the conception and
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Chapters

1. Chapter 1 2. INTRODUCTION 3. INTRODUCTION 4. CHAPTER I 5. CHAPTER II 6. CHAPTER III 7. CHAPTER IV 8. 1890. The expiration of the leading Bell telephone patents, five years 9. CHAPTER V 10. CHAPTER VI 11. CHAPTER VII 12. CHAPTER VIII 13. CHAPTER IX 14. introduction. There he made the acquaintance of Professor Tyndall, 15. CHAPTER X 16. 1. Letter writing and all kinds of dictation without the aid of a 17. 2. Phonographic books, which will speak to blind people without effort 18. 5. The 'Family Record'--a registry of sayings, reminiscences, etc., by 19. 7. Clocks that should announce in articulate speech the time for going 20. 8. The preservation of languages by exact reproduction of the manner of 21. 9. Educational purposes; such as preserving the explanations made by a 22. 10. Connection with the telephone, so as to make that instrument an 23. introduction from Mr. Jay Gould, who then controlled the Union Pacific, 24. CHAPTER XI 25. CHAPTER XII 26. introduction of his lighting system, when he spent a large part of his 27. CHAPTER XIII 28. CHAPTER XIV 29. 1882. Outside of Menlo Park this was the first regular station for 30. INTRODUCTION OF THE EDISON ELECTRIC LIGHT 31. CHAPTER XVI 32. CHAPTER XVII 33. CHAPTER XVIII 34. CHAPTER XIX 35. CHAPTER XX 36. introduction of some bold and revolutionary methods and devices, have 37. CHAPTER XXI 38. CHAPTER XXII 39. introduction. Nevertheless, he accepted the principle as valuable, and 40. CHAPTER XXIII 41. introduction of the underground Edison system in New York made an appeal 42. CHAPTER XXIV 43. CHAPTER XXV 44. CHAPTER XXVI 45. CHAPTER XXVII 46. CHAPTER XXVIII 47. introduction of the light was carried on with such strenuous and 48. CHAPTER XXIX 49. INTRODUCTION TO THE APPENDIX 50. Chapter XXI, it will be unnecessary to repeat it here. Suffice it to say 51. 1. As to the additional reference letters, I is a condenser J the source 52. 10. Duration on account of its dependability. 11. Its high practical

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