History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 155

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840

USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 155
USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 155

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Mr. Stephen Haines Plum, the subject of this sketch, received a good common-school education in his native place, and manifesting at an early age a desire to pursue a business life, he was placed in a shoe manufacturing establishment, where he remained until he reached the age when he could establish a business for himself. So successful was he from the outset that he eventually opened a place of business in the city of New York, and soon extended his opera- tion throughout the Southern and Western States. Mr. Plum was among the first of the manufacturers of Newark who made for that city the great reputation which it has always enjoyed at the South and the West for the production of goods and merchandise of the finest quality. After devoting himself assiduously and successfully to mercantile and manufacturing pursuits until about the year 1850, he gradually with- drew therefrom, contented with the success which had attended his business, and resolved to invest hisample means in enterprises least likely to bring with them care and anxiety. Among other things, he became largely interested in the Newark Gas-Light Company,

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

of which he has been for several years, and still is, a director. He was also stockholder and director of the New Jersey Fire Insurance Company, and of the Mechanics' Fire Insurance Company, both of which institutions enjoyed great prosperity, and ceased to do business, the former in 1883 and the latter in 1882. He was also a director of the St. Mark's Fire Insurance Company of New York. Although now in his eighty-fifth year, Mr. Plum pos- sesses great activity both of body and mind, and may be seen every day upon the street attending per- sonally to his business affairs and apparently in the full enjoyment of life.

Citizens' Gas-Light Company .- In I>67 a strong disposition was shown to establish a competition with the old gas company, and in the succeeding winter a large deputation of Newark citizens visited Trenton to urge the passage by the Legislature of an act in- corporating the Citizens' Gas-Light Company of New- ark. By an urgent effort the charter was procured, and approved by the Governor March 16, 1868. It named as incorporators the following gentlemen : Mo- ses Bigelow, William H. Murphy, John McGregor, John Hall, Andrew A. Smalley, George A. Clark, Nehemiah Perry, John H. G. Hawes, Orson Wilson, Isaac Pomeroy, Frederick G. Agens, James F. Bond, Frederick Stevens, James M. Purand, William B. Kinney, James H. Tichenor and David Anderson. Messrs. Bigelow, Murphy, Smalley. llawes and Me- Gregor were appointed commissioners for receiving subscriptions for one hundred thousand dollars, to constitute the capital stock of the company, in shares of fifty dollars each. Power was given in the charter to increase the capital to five hundred thousand dol- lars, and to lay pipes and furnish gas to any of the townships of Essex County adjoining the city of Newark, except the town of East Orange. By a sup- plement passed in 1869, the company was further em- powered to lay pipes across the bed of the Passaic River to the works of the East Newark Gras-Light Company, and sell gas to that company. An increase of five hundred thousand dollars was also authorized to the capital stock, making the full capital one mil- lion of dollars.

The books were opened for subscriptions on the 16th and 17th of April, 1868, at the office of King & Bond, and the amount necessary was promptly raised.

On April 30, 1868, the stockholders met for the election of directors, and on the Ist of May the board was organized, as follows: President, William H. Murphy ; Secretary, James F. Bond; Treasurer, An- drew A. Smalley ; Directors, William II. Murphy, George Peters, Francis Mackin, John Mctiregor, James L. Hays, A. A. Smalley, Orson Wilson, James F. Bond, Charles Engle.

The works were immediately commenced on Front Street, and speedily completed and put into operation. The bitter opposition manifested to the application for a charter by the rival company subsided soon

after the establishment of the new works, and the two companies, finding that the growth of the city afforded an ample demand for the supply of gas fur- nished by the additional facilities, suspended animos- ities and worked together in a friendly way for their mutual advantage, each furnishing gas to private consumers or for puldie purposes in its respective territory.

The Citizens' Gas-Light Company has for several years been managed by Mr. Andrew A. Smalley, the present president and superintendent, to whose jndg- ment and experience the success of the company has been mainly due. Mr. S. H. Condit is the vice-presi- dent; Mr. Jabez Cook, treasurer; and Mr. C. L. Nel- son, secretary. The board of directors is composed of Messrs. A. A. Smalley, Stephen H. Condit, Jabez Cook, John L. Blake, Charles A. Lighthipe, llenry C. Kelsey, George A. Halsey, Edmund L. Joy and Henry Powles.

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

Six years ago the illumination by means of the electric light was scarcely dreamed of, and was only known as a possible, but scarcely practical or econom- ical, method. During the last five years, however, an unparalleled advance has been made in electrie sei- ence, revealing as if by magic the possibilities of a new industry, growing day by day and increasing in im- portance until it has absorbed, throughout the land, millions of capital, and given employment to thou- sands of men.

Newark has been closely identified with the success of the electric light since its first introduction to the publie, and many of the improvements made from time to time have been put forth by Newarkers. or men whose knowledge of electricity has been gained in this eity.

United States Electric Light Company .- The immense works of the United States Electric Light Company, on Morris and Essex Railroad Avenue, and those of the Edison Company, in East Newark, are two of the largest of their kind in the world.

The United States Electric Light Company is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of New York, and their works here are managed by Mr. Edward Weston, an English chemist, who came to Newark in Is78. He organized the Weston Electric Light Company in 1879, and established a factory in Washington Street. This was destroyed by fire, and the site of the present works was purchased, and a large four-story building erected. A visitor to the works is astonished at their immense size, and is still more surprised to learn that the room is inadequate, and that the factories will soon be extended by the addition of several stories to the old building. The company employs in busy seasons from ten to twelve hundred men.

The generating machines, which are constructed of very heavy castings, are made chiefly on the first floor of the main shop, where most of the large lathes,

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GAS AND ELECTRIC LIGHT IN NEWARK

drill-presses and heavy machines are situated. This department is now turning out five or six machines per day. The new and handsome are lamps are made on the upper floors of the same building, as is nearly all of the light metal-work used in the two systems of lighting.

Various marvelous devices, including an automatic current regulator for electric lighting stations, acting in the same capacity as the governor of a steam-en- gine, are here constructed, and on one of the upper floors all the most delicate mechanical work is per- formned, and a great deal of it partakes of the nature of fine jewelry or watch making. Some of the machinery used is wonderfully perfect in action and construction, and so positive in its action that when it is set a boy can run it.

The most interesting department of the works is Mr. Weston's private division, which is known as the laboratory. It is divided into a number of separate rooms, and every new thing made in the factory is first put into practical form here. One of the rooms is devoted to draughting, another to pattern and model making, while in a third the business office of the laboratory is situated, adjoining Mr. Weston's li- brary and private office. The rear room in this de- partment is called the chemical laboratory, and in it a number of men are engaged in pursuing investiga- tions and putting in practice new details of the work.

The operations in this establishment are chictly in the departments devoted to the manufacture of the incandescent lamps and the various appliances con- nerted with that system. The manufacture of the in- candescent lamp, in all its intricate details, is one of the most interesting processes imaginable, and in- volves a countless number of operation- between the blowing of the fragile bulbs and the final testing of the completed lamp. These lights are intended for . Electro-Metallurgy," and at once became fascinated in-door illumination, and are rated at sixteen candle- power cach, and are guaranteed to burn at least one thousand hours. In fact no new lamps are made, or new features allowed to go out to the public, until the principle has been tested in the laboratory for one thousand conseentive hours, Fourteen lamps per horse-power is the best result ever attained in incan- descent lighting, and this result is now umformly afforded with the new form of lamps as perfected by Mr. Weston.

An innumerable quantity of small details are in- volved in the completion of a system of electric light- ing, and the endeavor has been to perfect them and at the same time simplify the system as much as pos- sible. In this direction Mr. Weston has been singu- larly successful, as the result will attest.

delphia, Chicago and St. Louis, the capitol at Albany, and the Parliament buildings at Ottawa, Canada.

The full capacity of the works is about twelve hun- dred lamps per day. The mechanical department of these extensive works is under the management of Mr. George Toby, the general superintendent.

EDWARD WESTON. - This distinguished inventor was born May 9, 1×50, at Brinn Castle, near tiswestry, in the county of Shropshire, England. His parents were moderately well-to-do and owned a farm. His father was a man of remarkable mechanical genins, well skilled in the use of tools and distinguished for his ability to work in both wood and metals. At the death of his grandfather some dispute arose as to the division of the estate ; long and tedious legal proceed- ings ensued, which terminating unfavorably for his father, the family moved from Shropshire to Wolver- hampton, in the county of Stafford-hire. In this way, at a very early period of his life, the boy was brought into intimate contact with the large indus- tries carried on in that town, and soon made the acquaintance of a large number of the more prominent manufacturers. He attended for some time the schools of the Established Church, but subsequently received instruction from a very able man named Lucas. Later on he attended St. Peter's Collegiate Institute, and was here under the care of Mr. Henry Orton. B.A., who was a diligent student of science, and whose example and teaching greatly stimulated the boy's desire for scientific knowledge, so giving an inerensed impetus to his natural inclinations. During this early period he manifested a peculiar interest in all kinds of machinery with which he was brought in contact, and soon began the construction of models of steam-engines and other machines. When about nine years of age he obtained a copy of Suell's " Elements of

with the subject, devoting much time to the experi- mental study of the same. In this way a great many che nleal facts were brought to his attention, which became possessed of absorbing interest for him. He took up with great ardor the study of chemistry, and fitted up a room in his parents' house, where most of his spare hours were spent in the pursuit of this science. From theso experiments in electro-metal- lurgy he also drifted into other experiments In elee- tricity, which led to the construction of a variety of current. He huil induction coils, electric motors and galvanic batteries of various types, and took great delight in showing them to his friends and nequaint- ances. To illustrate with what perseverance and per- sistouve his experimental work was carried on, the following may be instanred: Its first battery con- sisted of two cells, the rapper plates of which were two old scale pans, and the zine plates euch thin sheets of zine as were readily obtainahlo in those days. He was somewhat disappointed at the smallness of

The Weston incandescent system is now in use in numerous places in the city, and le giving perfert satisfaction. It is in extensive use in hundreds of places in New York, the largest plant being in the post-office. Among other large public buildings using the light in this country are the post-offices at l'hila- I the spark obtained from these relle, and desired to

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

produce more startling results. His ambition was to obtain that most powerful combination of elements used in the Grove or Bunsen cell. Platinum was of cours . ont of the question, but where to obtain the carbon in such form as was desired caused considera- ble perplexity. Obtaining his carbon in the form of rough blocks from the neighboring gas-works, the young experimenter essayed to cut his plates there- from with the aid of a saw, but was soon compelled to abandon this method, the well-known great density and hardness of the material operated upon rendering it one of extreme difficulty. Not to be thwarted in his purpose, however, he thereupon set to work to chip out from the obdurate material pieces of the required shape and size, and after days of patient and persistent toil seenred the result he sought. The porou- cells were easily obtained from a neighboring telegraph-office, while the zinc plates came from zine works in the town where he lived. Armed with this apparatns, much more powerful than anything he had before,-he commenced the construction of electric bells and similar apparatus, and actually erected a small telegraph line, in which the insulators consisted of the necks of glass vials, through which the wire was passed.

About this time he became deeply interested in solving the problem of steam propulsion on common roads, and being acquainted with some prominent engineers, he soon acquired a knowledge of some of the most serious difficulties to be overcome. He suggested the use of rubber tires for avoiding the cutting up of the roads, but owing to the expensive nature of the experiments, could not, of course, undertake them.

Before he was sixteen years of age he had acquired a knowledge of most of the common facts of electricity, and had accumulated such a variety of apparatus that he was enabled to give a public lecture, which attracted a great deal of attention.

The question of a profession now became a serious matter for his parents to decide. The boy naturally tended strongly toward mechanical engineering, but his parents did not like him to follow this pursuit. While the matter was still under consideration a prominent dentist named Owen, who was well ac- quainted with the family, and who had noticed the boy's mechanical genins and skill, considered that it would be a wise thing for him to learn dental surgery, thinking that he would there have abundant scope for his abilities. With this idea in view, young Weston was placed in his care, but it was soon discovered that the young man's tastes lay naturally in quite another direction, and that he very much disliked the business. His parents now desired him to take up the study of medicine, and conformably thereto made an arrangement with Drs. Edward H. and J. M. Cole- man, both men of distinguished ability in their call- ing and both possessing considerable taste for science. Under their care the young man pursued his medical

studies, his taste for scientific knowledge thereby naturally being fostered. The system of medical education in England is rather different from what it is in this country. In addition to attending lectures, it is necessary, in order to graduate there as a fully- fledged medical practitioner, to be associated for the space of at least three years with some duly qualified practitioner in regular practice. Usually these two requirements are met during the same time, the student of medicine while attending lectures, giving part of his time to attending to minor surgical eases and other general work of an assistant to some regular practitioner. In young Weston's case it soon became evident that he would never follow medicine as a profession, since most of his spare hours were still devoted to his favorite studies, and because the drudg- ery of his profession and the uncertainty still linger- ing about its results were equally distasteful to him. Medicine is pre-eminently an art, and will not, because of the complexity of the phenomena with which it deals, attain to the dignity of a science for many years yet to come.

The apparent want of stability on young Weston's part led to considerable trouble with his parents ; they never seemed to have completely understood the boy's feelings, or they would certainly not have en- deavored to force him into a profession he evidently disliked. After giving three years of his time to his final studies, and finding little sympathy with any with whom he was brought in contact, he determined to eut loose from his home and strike out for himself. This he considered he could do better by leaving England entirely. He therefore packed up his things, and left for this country some time in the month of May, 1870.

lle arrived in America with comparatively little money, some few books and some of his favorite ap- paratus, and a few letters of recommendation. Armed with these letters, he started for some of the institu- tions of learning in and around New York, and applied for a situation, among others, to Professor Chandler, of Columbia College. Chandler treated him with great consideration, but could not offer him anything to do. He gave him letters to a number of concerns in New York, which Weston next visited, but without receiving the least encouragement.

After several months of fruitless effort he began to recognize the difficulties attendant upon beginning life anew in a new country, but he did not become discouraged. He finally managed to secure a situa- tion with a small firm of manufacturing chemists in New York, where he remained abont a year. Ile gave up this position to accept that of chemist and electrician to the American Nickel-l'lating Company, who were then doing business in Howard Street. Here his skill found wider scope, and many of the most important processes which are now commonly in use in nickel-plating are due to his intimate knowledge of the principles underlying the art and

award Meton

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GAS AND ELECTRIC LIGHT IN NEWARK.

to his inventive genius. Had Weston at that time fully recognized the advantages of patenting his inventions, and properly covered these various pro- cesses, he would at this day be in receipt of a princely income from this source ; as it was, they became public property by use.

In 1872 he began the study of dynamo-electric machines, primarily with the view of applying them for electro-metallurgical purposes. In Derem- ber of this year he engaged in the nickel-plating business on his own account, and continued in it until 1575. During these years he constructed and put to practical use a variety of forms of dynami- electric machines. In 1873 he prepared the first copper-coated carbons, which are now so generally used throughout the world in the are form of electric lighting. In the carly part of this year he also invented the dise armature. This latter invention has probably done more to solve the question of the construction of efficient and economical dynamo- electric machines than any other used or known in the whole art, and by its use he has been able to build a simple > hunt-wound dynamo-electric machine, in which the electro-motive force at the terminals is practically constant, no matter what the load, within practical working limits, imposed upon the machine may be. This is of vast importance in incandescent lighting, since such a machine is practically auto- matic in its regulation and must necessarily he extremely efficient and theoretically almost perfect. In 1875 he took out his first patent, which was for an improvement in the modes used in nickel-plating. In this year he gave up the business of electro-plating, and moved to Newark. Here he formed a copartner- ship with Messrs. Stevens, Roberts and Havell, of that city, for the manufacture of dynamo-electric machines for electro-plating, electrotyping, electric lighting and other purposes. He was, beyond a doubt, the first man who succeeded in producing a true dynamo-electric machine which would serve for electro-metallurgical work, this being accomplished by the use of an ingenious automatic cut-out, which prevented a reversal of polarity and consequent change in direction of the current, thus getting over one of the serious defects in the machine.

The business commenced in a comparatively small way in Washington Street, Newark, and here was organized the first factory in this country devoted exclusively to dynamo-electric machines and other similar apparatus. The business grew an rapidly that on July 10, 1877, a company, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars, was organized to con- duet the business, and the facilities for turning out machines became greatly increased.

The simplicity and general excellence of this machine, together with its exceedingly low first cost, almost completely revolutionized the art of electro- plating in this country. The old galvanic batteries, which were so costly to maintain, and so variable in

their action, have been almost entirely superseded by this powerful and simple regular-working machine. The saving in zinc, acids and mercury alone has been something enormous, and now scarcely any electrotyping or plating establishment of any magni- tude is run without the use of a machine of this kind.

In 1878, Mr. Weston made several very important improvements in nickel-plating, which became generally adopted, and are highly spoken of by the highest authorities in this line. The character of the nickel obtained by Mr. Weston's improved process is radically different from any obtained before. The metallic nickel deposited by this process is remarkable for its malleability, and proves that pure nickel, when deposited from a proper solution, can be made nearly as soft as copper. The rights to this process were acquired by the Weston Malleable Nickel Company, a company organized with a capital ot fifty thousand dollars ; but the patent was subsequently sold for a large sum to another concern. who desired to obtain control of it.

From 1875 up to the present time Mr. Weston has given a great deal of attention to the production of light and the transmission of power by electricity. He began a series of experiments in the arc and incandescent systems of electric lighting as early as 1875. In 1876 he constructed quite a number of incandescent lamps having many features of novelty and great value. One of the most important in this connection was the invention of the so-called hydro- carbon treatment process. It is a curious fact that while Mr. Maxim obtained the credit for this inven- tion and Mr. Sawyer obtained the patent, Mr. Weston was the one who made the invention, and it has only been after a long contest in the Patent-Office, extend- ing over several years, that he has been able to ob- tain his rights. The carbons for incandescent lamps. except such as are made from the material known as tamidine, to be referred to later on, which have passed through the first stage of their manufacture, that of baking, are so little homogeneous in structure that were they placed in a lamp and the current applied, instead of acquiring the same brilliancy all over, they would individually exhibit variable degrees of lumi- nosity, and in a very short time would give way at the brightest and therefore weakest spot. Again, these carbons, besides being non-homogeneous, are also of different electric resistances, which has, as a conse- quence, that when a number of lamps containing these carbons are placed in the same electric circuit, the lamps themselves present different degrees of luminosity, some being very bright, while others are comparatively dull. To obviate these two difficulties, which, if not overcome, wonkl render practical incan- descent lighting well-nigh impossible, the carbons must undergo some process whereby, in the first place, the defects of structure are equalized, rendering them consequently of uniform resistance throughout, and in the next place brought to a certain standard

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

resistance. In this way the carbon in each lamp of uumerous applications in the arts, outside of the one a series will be of uniform luminosity thoughout, and . for which it was originally designed. For the latter all the lamps in the series will emit an equal amount of light. These two important results are secured by the use of Weston's hydro-carbon treatment process. The carbons as they come baked from the furnace are properly mounted in glass globes, the air partially exhausted, the current gradually applied and a small quantity of hydro-carbon vapor admitted. The glow- ing carbon decomposes the vapor, its carbon coustitu- ent becoming deposited upon the incandescent strips. The sections of high resistance become brighter and hotter, and therefore receive more of this deposit, the resistance of the section thereby becoming lowered, until finally the same degree of luminosity is pos. sessed by all sections of the carbon. The carbon deposit now continues uniformly all over until the incandescent strip has reached the standard resist- ance, when an automatic contrivance operates to shut off the current. The carbon is finished.

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 155

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 840

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840