[D8724AAI], Letter from James Thomas Cragin to Thomas Alva Edison, September 5th, 1887
https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/D8724AAI
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Metadata
- Title
- [D8724AAI], Letter from James Thomas Cragin to Thomas Alva Edison, September 5th, 1887
- Editor's Notes
- "One of my neighbors built a barn two years ago and used a very poor quality of 10d cut nails in its construction -- in fact they [----] pot-metal. This summer his barn was struck by lightning, tearing off some of the boards, but did not set the barn on fire. Those nails, so far as examined, are now as tough as the best wrought nails, which suggests the idea that even the poorest quality of iron may be toughened by a strong current of electricity. ## This may be no new idea to you, but it occurred to me that as you are deep in the study of electricity, it might be well to write you. Now, if the suggestion I have offered should be worth anything to you in a financial sense, would you please remember who made mention of it to you, as I am a poor man with a large family to raise and educate, and my dollars and few and hard-earned." Marginalia by TAE: "Electricity heating poor iron burns out the carbon and anneals & improves the iron"
- Author
- Cragin, James Thomas
- Recipient
- Edison, Thomas Alva
- Date
- 1887-09-05
- Type
- Letter
- Folder ID
- D8724-F
- Microfilm ID
- 119:732
- Document ID
- D8724AAI
- Publisher
- Thomas A. Edison Papers, School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University
- Has Version
- Archive.org Viewer, Microfilm Series Reel 119