[MU035], Letter from Francis Robbins Upton to Elijah Wood Upton, November 16th, 1879

https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/MU035

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Title

[MU035], Letter from Francis Robbins Upton to Elijah Wood Upton, November 16th, 1879

Editor's Notes

Maria & Charles have been spending today with us and we have enjoyed their being here very much. Just at the present I am very much elated at the prospects of the Electric Light. During the past week Mr. Edison has succeeded in obtaining the first lamp that answers the purpose we have wished it for. It is cheap much more so than we even hoped to have. The light is obtained from a piece of charred paper which is bent thus [drawing] The burner is made from common card board and cut to about the size shown. This is then sealed in a glass bulb and the air exhausted and then a current of electricity passed through it which heats it to brilliant whiteness so that it will give a light equal to that from a good sized gas burner. The making of such a burner has made the stock of the Electric Light Co. advance in value, $400 has been offeref for shares and there are no sellers. The last week has made all my prospects very bright and I hope they will continue so. I expect that there will be an exhibiton given in the course of a few weeks. The wire is laid to my house and I shall light up my parlor. If yo wnted to show one or two of your pictures you could lend them to me and I would hang them in the best place in my palor. Ahem! As matters are turning out I am glad over and over again that I did not spend the year in German for I now am put in the way of getting a living far beyond what I there dreamed was possible. I am a thorough master of all tha is concerned so far as making a good light. We think as far as price is concerned that we can sell it so as to compete with gas at 50 cts a thousand feet.
Supplied year

Recipient

Date

1879-11-16

Type

Folder/Volume ID

MU02-F

Microfilm ID

95:572

Document ID

MU035

Publisher

Thomas A. Edison Papers, School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University
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