The impetus that led to Edison's work in Brockton initially emanated from the highly significant technical and economic problems he had long been experiencing with his 2-wire stations in In Europe. It also evolved out of some of the menacing problems he continued to have with similar - but also "far from complete" - facilities he was trying toperfect in London, England, Appleton, Wisconsin, Sunbury, Pennsylvania and New York City.
Even though the mass-produced "free" light bulbs Edison felt obliged to provide his earliest customers at this time had attained a relatively high level of efficiency and durability, the relatively unsafe, crude and inflexible means by which current was still being produced and distributed left a very great deal to be desired. More than occasionally, for example, wire resistance, fuse problems and accompanying voltage drops in the New York facility - which had to be very carefully monitored and constantly "tweaked" by electricians - were resulting in "black days." Meanwhile, as both customers and workers were sometimes being injured - if not actually killed - by flaws in the New York system, his light bulbs - vs. the above systemic imperfections relating to the economic and safe generation and distribution of electricity - were being incorrectly perceived as the primary culprit....
It should be noted here, that an unfortunate personal shortcoming of this period in Edison's career was that, even though he clearly knew better, he decided to allow his Edison Construction Company to promote his still far from perfect New York plant as an entirely viable model for world-wide commercial use. But even with its truly marvelous "Jumbo" generator, underground wiring, etc., it possessed most of the same pretensions inherent in all of his previous 2-wire feeder operations..
Significantly, until Edison designed his Brockton, Massachusetts operation, all of his previous plants were fundamentally experimental - and incapable of transmitting economically viable quantities of electrical power for more than a couple of thousand feet from their respective generating stations. Moreover, he was fully aware that none of them were then capable of servicing the unique configuration patterns of the vast majority of the communities that were then rapidly emerging throughout the modern world.
In fact, the challenge of perfecting a centralized system that would bepractically anduniversally satisfactory to all of humanityat this time was so great that some of Edison's sophisticated economic backers tried to convince him to maintain his upon enhancing his already successful isolated (on-site) 3-wire operations....
Fortunately, this incertitude was marvelously eradicated when the irrepressible inventor came up with the design for his first standardized, centralized 3-wirefeeder system - in Brockton.
Unfortunately, while Edison's development of his Brockton fait accompli were of heroic proportion, it was during this period in his life that he was being hammered at every turn by fiercest types of critics and cutthroat competitors imagineable. Also during this most prolific period of his career, he was constantly plagued by the illness and impending death of his beloved wife.
Meanwhile, as reporters from prominent newspapers - including the New York Times - were gleefully lampooning him and eminent scientists were still questioning his ability to come up with a truly viable substitute for the gas lighting industry, the shrewd owners of the latter organizations were constantly trying to find ways to divert, undermine, and, or, co-opt him.
But while most men would have been rattled by these circumstances, this implacable young genius remained sharply focused upon his short term goals and his long range mission. A related quote from Volume 134 of Edison's 3,400 diaries reveals the extraordinary intensity of his commitment in the following terse manner: "Object, ....to effect imitation of all done by gas, so as to replace lighting by gas by lighting by electricity...."
Passionately dedicated to capturing the world market for electricity, it is not surprising that Edison remained doggedly obsessed with making a popular success out of his humongous 2-wire experiment in the Pearl Street section of lower New York City.
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