Chapter Twelve Thomas Edison

  Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) was the greatest inventor and entrepreneur of his time, holding numerous important patents for inventions. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" by the world media, he was the first inventor to apply the principles of mass production and large-scale teamwork to the process of invention, and is credited with establishing the first industrial research laboratory.

  Edison had over 2,000 inventions in his lifetime, including the phonograph, motion picture camera and tungsten light bulb. The numerous companies he founded included General Electric, which is still one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world.

  Edison had just passed his 70th birthday, but was still vigorous. On this particular evening he happened to be working in the General Electric laboratory with some of his engineers on a crucial military project; as a matter of fact, if it hadn't been for the General Electric laboratory's inability to get anywhere with this project, Edison wouldn't have stayed in New York so long.

  Since his marriage to Mina Miller in 1886, Edison lived most of his life at "Glenmont", a large estate in West Orange, New Jersey, which he had designed and built.

  What had Edison and the General Electric Company's laboratory assistants stumped was the mechanical device on torpedoes. The invention of steam torpedoes in 1904 made torpedoes the second most powerful naval weapon after cannons by the time World War I began.

  Edison and General Electric Company had to solve the problem of the military's trigger-type torpedo misfire, the trigger-type torpedo was triggered by collision with the target, causing the detonator on the front of the torpedo to be activated, but when the force of the collision was too great, it often caused the firing pin and guide rail to deform, unable to smoothly ignite the propellant charge, resulting in a dud.

  Edison, who had been working with the engineers in the lab for almost a week, forgetting to eat and sleep, now had more white hair on his head, but still couldn't make a breakthrough.

  The porter in the hall downstairs telephoned up that a young man wished to see Mr. Thomas Edison on important business!

  The one who answered the phone was Charles Edison, who had been accompanying his father in the laboratory for a week. Charles was the second son of Edison and his second wife, and he had just graduated from university and was still interning at General Electric's laboratory.

  This guy's temper is just like his old man, a young fellow who has been driven almost crazy by a week of continuous experimentation, couldn't help but roar at the telephone receiver that his old man had improved and invented.

  "Good grief! Haven't I told you people before, whether it's during work hours or after?! Mr. Edison is not to be disturbed when he's in the lab! Is old William on duty tonight? Does he want to continue working at General Electric?! Get rid of him quickly, whatever it is can wait until tomorrow morning!"

  The young man, although hot-tempered, handled things quite methodically. After Edison's death in the previous life, among his six children, it was Charles who took over General Electric Company. This guy even ran for governor later on and can be considered one of Edison's most accomplished children. However, at this time, he was only in his twenties and had not yet reached that level of cultivation.

  Edison didn't hear the phone call Charles made, one of the greatest inventors in human history, usually doesn't notice external things when thinking, and his almost deaf hearing also objectively affects his attention.

  Charles slammed down the phone and turned around, but before he had taken a few steps, the phone rang again. The young man, who looked like his own father, suddenly burst into anger, rushed over, grabbed the receiver and shouted:

  "William, have you gone mad? Aren't you afraid of being sent packing tomorrow?"

  A strange young voice came from the receiver.

  "I don't care who you are, if I don't see Mr. Edison tonight, the one who will be fired tomorrow won't be old William at the door, but you, sir! I have important business to discuss with Mr. Edison and I must see him in person tonight!"

  The English on the phone was fluent and confident, with a tone full of self-assurance and arrogance. Charles's anger flared up upon hearing it, his instincts urging him to slam down the receiver, but then the young man's voice came through again.

  "Mr. Charles, I advise you not to hang up the phone, I know Mr. Edison and his assistants are troubled by the torpedo problem, I have a prescription for him here!"

  "How did you know about the torpedo? Don't think that just because you know what my father is researching, you can make something up to scare people! Many people know about torpedoes! Anyone can brag!"

  Charles was obviously a bit overbearing, at this point the other party had come to find him, and it shouldn't be just a casual visit, Charles didn't want to be overwhelmed by the other party, after all he was also an Edison junior who graduated from electrical engineering!

  The young man in the receiver was obviously a bit impatient, "You don't believe it, my invention of this torpedo mechanical device is the same for anyone!" The other party hung up the phone with a bang!

  Charles was holding a transmitter, still in a daze. How did this guy even know about mechanical devices? At that moment, Edison finally noticed the abnormality on this side and walked over with a tired face to ask:

  "Who's looking for me? What's wrong, Charles, did a cat bite your tongue?"

  "Father, the doorman just came in and said a strange young man was here to see you about an invention related to torpedo machinery. He had an astonishingly arrogant tone, and before I could say no, he slammed down the phone!"

  "Ah? Edison, who was at his wit's end over the torpedo mechanical device, was shocked and hastily rushed over to grab the phone and turn the handle. "Switchboard! Get me the front desk, quick!"

  The phone was quickly connected, and Edison asked in a row, "I am Thomas Edison, who is on duty at the gate? Quickly stop the young man who just made the call!"

  A bright and cheerful laughter came from the phone, a young man said in fluent English,

  "Mr. Edison, please don't hurry, I'm still here. My name is Wang Geng. I suddenly thought of an invention related to torpedo mechanics and rushed over to see you in the evening. Is it convenient for you to meet me?"

  "Who's Wang Gang? Chinese? Convenient, convenient, I'll get Charles to come pick you up! Don't go anywhere! Uh-huh! That's it!" Edison hung up the phone and turned around with a suspicious look on his face towards his son Dao.

  "This young man is actually a Chinese, never mind, Charles you quickly go and invite him up, it's too chaotic here, just to the third floor conference room! I'll wait for you in the conference room, oh right, you pay the taxi fare at the entrance for him!"

  "Taxi fare? Wang Geng?" Charles, being the obedient son he was, hastily left the laboratory, thinking to himself, why does this name sound so familiar? Hadn't he seen it in the newspaper before?

  Edison washed his hands, instructed the laboratory assistants to continue the experiment, took off his white coat and put on his overcoat, and came to the conference room on the third floor.

  Soon Charles led in a young Chinese man wearing a trench coat and hat.

  "Hello, you must be the great inventor Mr. Edison, I'm Wang Geng, a Chinese overseas student, currently a junior at West Point Military Academy, graduating this summer!" The tall and handsome young Chinese man took off his hat and extended his hand in friendship!

  At the age of 70, Edison was one of Wang Gang's idols since childhood. No matter what his knowledge and character were like, his contributions to humanity were enough to make up for all the flaws in his character. What Wang Gang remembered most deeply was that Edison had promised in his previous life that if Nikola Tesla could complete the improvement of direct current generators, Edison would reward him with $50,000.

  And when Tesla had almost redesigned and completed the direct current generator a year later, Edison actually owed him money and said it was American humor. That was in 1919, which means this story hadn't happened yet, and Wang Gang didn't want Tesla's tragedy to happen to himself.

  So Wang Geng's plan for tonight is to not let the rabbit escape, and earlier letting Edison pay for his taxi fare was just a small matter.

  "I'm delighted to meet you, Mr. Wang Gang! You look so young! I haven't met many Chinese youths, but they're mostly very clever, though not many speak English as well as you do. Charles is only a few years older than you, yet he looks like a high school student!" Edison said, gesturing for him to take a seat while giving his own son a sideways glance.

  "Coffee or tea?" Edison asked with a smile, "I spend most of my time in the lab, so I don't come to this side of the conference room often! Do you smoke?" The old man opened the cigarette case on the tea table and offered cigarettes to the Chinese youth.

  "Ah ha, thank you, tea and coffee are nothing, the key is that when pulling an all-nighter, this is a must-have!" Wang Gang's eyes lit up, not being polite at all, directly pulled out a cigarette from Edison's camel cigarette case, smiling as he said.

  Charles also came back to his senses at this moment and hastily lit matches for both his father and the Chinese guest.

  "Charles, would you mind bringing us two cups of coffee?" Edison said, looking at the handsome young Chinese man in front of him who was taking a big drag on his cigarette, and gestured with his hand.

  Charles nodded and quietly closed the door behind him. When there were guests present, in front of his 70-year-old father's dignified face, Edison's children still behaved themselves and didn't dare to be presumptuous.

  "So, Mr. Wang Geng, you said you have an invention about the mechanical device of a torpedo that you want to talk to me about?" Edison asked eagerly as he looked at Wang Geng.