An Agreement to Improve the Electric Plant

Operating an electric station did not mean its equipment was beyond improvement. On June 11, 1884, representatives of the Shamokin company met Edison and his associates in New York. The surviving signed agreement addressed machinery, wiring, broken lamps and money, turning the practical troubles of a young plant into a detailed set of commitments.

Edison proposed taking back one H dynamo and two engines and replacing them with two S dynamos and a larger engine. Additional equipment included feeder equalizers, speed indicators, a regulator, switches and station wiring. The document also called for foundations, steam piping, belting and labor. The intended improvement involved a connected system, not a single replacement machine.

Excessive lamp breakage received its own provision. The Edison light and lamp companies were to arrange reimbursement, with the amount settled after the proposed changes reduced the problem. A new survey would examine the distribution of conductors; if redistribution proved necessary, that work was to be done without expense to the Shamokin company.

The final arrangement called for the return of $1,600 in Shamokin bonds, while the local committee undertook improvements estimated at about $1,908 and the discharge of existing indebtedness. S. B. Eaton, William H. Douty, L. Robertson and John Mullen signed. Their agreement records what the parties undertook to do, not proof that every replacement, reimbursement and financial obligation was completed.