Edison as I know him, by Henry Ford, in collaboration with Samuel Crowther.

EDISON As I KNOW HIM

in the development of the incandescent lampbut as a source of supply, not as an investigator.
"Once after I had carbonized everything possible and impossible under the sun for lamp filaments, I asked Mackenzie for a handful of his
bushy red beard. We had been trying everything
and hair might just do. The beard carbonized
well and when the Edison-Mackenzie hair lamps
were brought up to incandescence, they had a
splendid richness in red rays. Oddly enough, a
few years later, some inventor actually took out a
patent for making incandescent lamps with carbonized hair for filaments!"
Edison has a quick sense of humor. He always
finds a funny side and will illustrate any point
with a story and usually a funny one. He never
gets too serious to laugh, and in camp at night
around the fire if he gets started on stories he will
keep going until one or two in the morning-for
he never notes the passing of time.
He cannot understand a man without a sense
of humor. Most of the financiers that he dealt
with in the early days were remarkable for being
without any sense of humor at all. They used
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