Inspirations
Steve Mitnick is President of Lines Up, Inc. and Executive Editor of Public Utilities Fortnightly. Rachel Moore is Senior Staff Writer at PUF. They coauthored the book “Front Lines to Power Lines.”
The year 1878 saw many changes in the United States. A savvy typist for instance could now enjoy the luxury of both upper- and lower-case letters due to the introduction of the Remington No. 2 typewriter, which featured the first shift key. And another savvy inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, patented his celebrated phonograph invention in February of that year.
The midpoint of the Golden Age, it seems fitting that a golden opportunity would emerge. The summer of 1878 also saw a brilliant phenomenon occur in the United States, a total solar eclipse. Many traveled from the eastern seaboard and indeed Europe to the Rocky Mountains, to best witness the moon block out the sun. Among them, the aforementioned inventor, Thomas Edison, on his way both to test his work and to discover his next source of inspiration.
Eclipse of July 29, 1878
It was the twenty-eighth of July. Edison rode uncomfortably beneath the canvas of a sweltering covered wagon. Sitting on his left, under a carefully resting hand, was his newest invention, the tasimeter, a "measurer of infinitesimal pressure" as he called it. Edison had spent his travels to the Midwest discussing its use with his companion, the physicist George Barker, and some other interested parties on their expedition.