[D8724AAI], Letter from James Thomas Cragin to Thomas Alva Edison, September 5th, 1887

https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/D8724AAI

View document with UniversalViewer   → View document on Archive.org  → Re-use this digital object via a IIIF manifest

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"

Date

1887-09-05

Type

Folder/Volume ID

D8724-F

Microfilm ID

119:732

Document ID

D8724AAI

Publisher

Thomas A. Edison Papers, School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University
Download CSV | JSON